I know all Illini BB fans are not happy about being out of the NCAA discussion the last 3 years. For the good part of 30 years we were used to wondering what our seed would be or whether we were on the bubble or not. It has now been 3 years since we even had a reason to watch the selection show on Sunday. I know Coach Groce and his team are terribly disappointed with their showing the last 3 years.
They have had bad luck with injuries, bad calls (Miami game JG's first year here), bad luck with recruiting finishing second on a number of very good players etc... That still does not excuse the bad basketball inflicted on the UI fan base. Coach Groce appears to be overmatched when it comes to other coaches in this league on in-game and half-time adjustments. The substitution patterns appear to not be very good as well. Hopefully thru very good recruiting we could overcome many of these deficiencies or superior talent evaluation perhaps we could even it all out.
Everyone would agree Coach Groce has failed to recruit at a high level and I can only guess how frustrating this has been for him and his staff. It has not been for lack of trying or getting some consideration from some very talented players. However this is a bottom line business and the results have not been good. It is even more galling to watch a player from Illinois who was not being pursued by the blue bloods of the sport like Tyler Ulis turn out to be as good as he has become. He was a late consideration by Kentucky and they have to be stunned that he has become such a great player in college BB today that some consider him Player of the Year this year.
I don't completely remember so I am asking those on this board who do why he was not pursued aggressively by our staff before he got the consolation offer from Kentucky. Maybe I have my facts wrong and they did pursue him but I think I remember some people on this board talking about him and using him as Exhibit A for the craziness of the staff's recruiting strategy. Plus he is a great player at the position of greatest need for our team. which makes this miss even more unbelievable.
So to sum it up I think Coach Groce has proven he is not the coach to bring Illini BB back to relevance. I am afraid that like Thomas not firing Beckman after the home Purdue loss in 2014 that you are giving a known incapable commodity (Coach Groce) a chance to hang on a few more years with a quality 2017 recruiting class and talent that even he and his staff can't mess up too much. I am advocating for Whitman to make a bold move and find the right coach to fix our problem as I have lost confidence that Coach Groce will get us there.
They have had bad luck with injuries, bad calls (Miami game JG's first year here), bad luck with recruiting finishing second on a number of very good players etc... That still does not excuse the bad basketball inflicted on the UI fan base. Coach Groce appears to be overmatched when it comes to other coaches in this league on in-game and half-time adjustments. The substitution patterns appear to not be very good as well. Hopefully thru very good recruiting we could overcome many of these deficiencies or superior talent evaluation perhaps we could even it all out.
Everyone would agree Coach Groce has failed to recruit at a high level and I can only guess how frustrating this has been for him and his staff. It has not been for lack of trying or getting some consideration from some very talented players. However this is a bottom line business and the results have not been good. It is even more galling to watch a player from Illinois who was not being pursued by the blue bloods of the sport like Tyler Ulis turn out to be as good as he has become. He was a late consideration by Kentucky and they have to be stunned that he has become such a great player in college BB today that some consider him Player of the Year this year.
I don't completely remember so I am asking those on this board who do why he was not pursued aggressively by our staff before he got the consolation offer from Kentucky. Maybe I have my facts wrong and they did pursue him but I think I remember some people on this board talking about him and using him as Exhibit A for the craziness of the staff's recruiting strategy. Plus he is a great player at the position of greatest need for our team. which makes this miss even more unbelievable.
So to sum it up I think Coach Groce has proven he is not the coach to bring Illini BB back to relevance. I am afraid that like Thomas not firing Beckman after the home Purdue loss in 2014 that you are giving a known incapable commodity (Coach Groce) a chance to hang on a few more years with a quality 2017 recruiting class and talent that even he and his staff can't mess up too much. I am advocating for Whitman to make a bold move and find the right coach to fix our problem as I have lost confidence that Coach Groce will get us there.
