whitesoxfan99

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Nov 23, 2015 -> 09:17 PM) I wouldn't be opposed to firing Groce mid season. Need to find a coach though to recruit that 17 class. The 17 class is stacked The 2017 class is actually why I would have been fine with firing Groce after last year if they could have made a good hire. Now whoever you get is going to be way behind on recruiting those kids.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 23, 2015 -> 09:03 PM) I'm totally on board with firing Groce now or at the end of the year. They have some talent on the roster. They have a decent PG locked in for next year. Let a new guy sell a vision that the program is turning around. Groce can't sell that message anymore. It'll hurt when Finkes brother passes on Illinois for another program because Illinois continues to suck. If Groce isn't fired after this year or they retain Cubit (or even worse both) I am just done with following Illinois athletics because it will be obvious they just don't care. Zook was here two years too long, Weber at least two years too long, Beckman should have been canned after year one (but at least we kept him long enough for him to complete embarrass the university) and you can make a case that Groce should have been fired after last year but there will be zero excuse if he isn't fired after this year.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 23, 2015 -> 09:01 PM) Weber is a better coach than Groce, not that it matters. Probably but he also did way more damage to the Illinois basketball program than Groce did (of course starting from very different places) but whoever takes over the job next year will have as good of a roster as what Weber left for Groce whereas the roster Weber took over was infinitely better than the one he left.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 23, 2015 -> 08:57 PM) We're going to win this game. It'd be impossible not too. But losing at half to Chicago State is still the worst lost in Illinois history. They're that bad. Tennessee State would be up there. Quite a few really bad losses in the last 7 or 8 years sadly.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 23, 2015 -> 08:53 PM) If this holds it would be the worst loss in Illinois history. Groce should be fired tomorrow AM. This program has sucked for 9 years now. Illinois is the king of letting coaches stay too long. Weber inherited a top 15 program and we haven't had a team at that level since Dee's senior year 10 years ago. Two terrible hires in a row and now you have a program that is a complete after thought in the college basketball world. And I'd like to revisit the discussion from last year where someone posted that even in hindsight they wouldn't not hire Weber because of the 04-05 season. Given that we didn't win the title that year I would give up that season in a heartbeat (and that might be my favorite team in any sport ever) if it meant we could hire a real coach and didn't have to deal with the last 9 years of Weber/Groce. Hell, maybe a different coach wins the title with that team.

It is too bad that I think Groce's staff is also a joke and we don't have an AD right now because they need to consider just going to an interim coach at this point.

You better have a stud coach lined up already if you are going to fire Les Miles and pay him $15 mil to go away.

Jeff Fisher should be out of a job tomorrow morning. Awful football coach.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Nov 22, 2015 -> 04:01 PM) Foregoing that FG earlier cost us the game. Broncos did the same thing though.

Oh, and I'm not a believer that you need a great PG to win but it would be nice to at least have a good one which our last 2 coaches were unable to recruit other than McCamey (Abrams isn't terrible and he'd be a massive upgrade over Tate and Lewis but he isn't particularly good either). And it really isn't that difficult to find a competent PG so I have no idea who Weber and Groce have struggled so much with this (seriously Chester Frazier is the best you can do in the first 3 years when you have Deron and Dee to sell, Michael Orris? (choosing Orris over Van Vleet), Jaylon Tate, not recruiting Ulis hard until Kentucky is on him?). This stuff just isn't the rocket science Weber and Groce make it seem like at times.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 21, 2015 -> 10:28 PM) Chatanooga just hit 5 threes to close out the game. My f***ing god This team is just horrendous on D. Some of that is injury related but they are also poorly coached and I hate Groce's defensive scheming. We should have new football and basketball coaches again next year. Maybe one of the two will be our first good coach since Self left.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 21, 2015 -> 12:56 AM) This. I genuinely hate watching him play right now. His sole offensive move seems to be pump fake, jump into defender, hope the refs bail him out. So annoying.

Mirotic has been garbage this year. Stop with the constant flopping and flailing your arms and make an actual basketball move if you are capable of it please.

QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 20, 2015 -> 08:30 PM) They changed some foul rules two years ago and it sucked to start the season but eventually dissolved back to normalcy. Hope it does the same this year. I don't. I want them to stick to actually cleaning up freedom of movement. If it makes for a s***ty season (where Illinois isn't great anyways) but makes college basketball a better product in the long run I'm all for it. The games right now all are brutal to watch though.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 01:02 PM) . Why why why on earth did the ncaa this this was a good idea? Watching Minnesota vs Temple live now and Minnesota hit the bonus with 14 minutes left in the first half. They made so many awesome rules this year to improve the game greatly. But then inexplicably decided to give terrible refs way more power by saying they have to call every touch foul. The game is unwatchable right now. Why would they think this is a good idea? I'm ok if the refs actually stick with it and call the game like this all year and make the teams adjust. In the past they have tried to clean up the hand checking and grabbing for the first month of the season and then they revert back to calling the game really loosely later in the year. I can live with a year of bad basketball if it makes the players and coaches actually adjust long term.

What a brutal way to lose. Impossible to get two better looks to win it than Hill's layup and Finke's put back dunk attempt.

Jeff Fisher should be fired tomorrow. Awful football coach at this point.

It is remarkable how poorly coached the Rams are.

The Bears coaching staff is destroying the Rams' coaching staff today. The game has really passed Fisher by. He sucks and trying to involve Welker as much as they are today is just dumb.

Stanford eliminated from playoff contention.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 14, 2015 -> 02:46 PM) Haha this is one of the worst reffing crews I've ever seen. I'd love to have a conversation with that replay official and ask him what he saw and then call him a f***ing moron regardless of what his answer is.

And it isn't going to affect the result but Illinois gets f***ed by the refs again. Wow, that is in one of the most inexcusable blown calls I have ever seen.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 14, 2015 -> 10:34 AM) Mostly agree with this. They need to make a move before recruiting dries up and the next guy has to start from scratch. Sadly we all know he'll get a pass this year given the injuries. Maybe that's fair since that would be 4 years with his guys. I'm trying not to overreact after last night. Big programs lose to little guys every year in the first game or two and figure it out by the end of the year. I'm pretty sure UNC one year was upset by a nobody and eventually won the championship. Obviously not where Illinois is headed, but this doesn't have to be a precursor of things to come. Re: Thomas, i'd disagree on Beckman. I mean the guy wasn't a good coach (clearly) but the program is in a better spot now than it was at anytime post 2006-7. They have depth. They have a solid core. They have decent players with a few really nice players. They went to a bowl and have a good chance to go again this year. Illinois isn't getting a coach that will make them title contenders in 2 seasons. They needed a guy to come right the ship and that's what they got. I definitely overreacted a little bit last night but it is the general trend of us just even competing in Groce's last 3 games and the fact that far too often we have looked like there is no plan on defense (offensively the main issue is the lack of creators in an offense where creators are essential but you better recruit really well if that is the case). Eh, by far the best place the program was in was in 09 (post 2007). An AD with a pulse and a brain fires Zook following that season and the next coach takes over a team with 9 win talent that Zook being "propped up" by coordinators only got to 6 wins for 2 consecutive years. But that goes back to RG being a f***ing joke the last 7 or 8 years he was at Illinois. The talent level is adequate but it still isn't particularly good. I guess you could say that I view both programs as basically treading water with football probably in a slightly better position than it was before Zook was fired.

QUOTE (gatnom @ Nov 13, 2015 -> 10:22 PM) Maybe they'll get better when they get Nunn and Black back. It's hard to give up an entire season after one game... I think they will bet better and that this will be a decent team if healthy. The problem is that in year 4 simply being decent isn't good enough and the fact that before getting Lucas this year the best PG Groce had recruited was Tate is simply unacceptable. Tate wouldn't even be a decent mid major player. I've said since the end of last year that Groce needs to be gone for sure if he misses the tourney this year and that merely sneaking in to the tourney wouldn't be good enough for me. Groce had a good first year and nobody was winning in year 2 with the roster Weber left unless they brought in multiple 1 and done players but by year 3 and year 4 in basketball a good coach can have things turned around and I just don't see things really heading in the right direction. We are basically treading water and that just isn't good enough. Yes, we have injuries right now hurting us but I can't give him the benefit of the doubt on Abrams since Tracy wasn't supposed to be here anyways which would have left the best PG on the team as Jaylon Tate in year 4 which is a joke. Along with Jeff Jordan he is the worst guard that has actually played minutes for Illinois in my lifetime. The bottom line is Mike Thomas correctly fired two bad coaches who should have been fired years before they were but replaced them with coaches who haven't made things any better which is why he was correctly dismissed. The sad thing is I just have no confidence in Illinois getting the next AD hire right.

Western Illinois up 8 on Wisconsin with under 6 minutes left.