The dysfunction that is illanoy basketball

[SDHawkDoc]

Continues tonight as they are currently down ten to chicago state in the second half.

There really is little excuse for that program to perform as badly as it has with the recruiting they have available right down the road in Chicago.

 

[Ronman]

Groce seems to be another clapper like Crean who can recruit, but who's coaching is questionable at best.

 

[Mohawkeye]

Wow. Seat getting hot for Groce.

 

[yerpHAWK]

Illinois hasn't been relevant since Deron Williams/Dee Brown

 

[EpenesaEpenesa]

Chicago State's PG had a really solid last 38 seconds

 

[hawk-i bob]

Illinoise has had some bad breaks with injuries like Nunn & Abrahm...but still not a fan of Groce and his sideline antics. Teams that run and gun...one pass it and then don't play hard on defense...are going to struggle.

Indiana tonite was almost sad...Crean has little impact with what the player's do on the court.

If Fran was coaching these guys he would have a sore throat for a week .. then again if Fran was their coach you would see a big difference he how they play.

we are soooo lucky to have a coach at Iowa.

 

[ft254]

Continues tonight as they are currently down ten to chicago state in the second half.

There really is little excuse for that program to perform as badly as it has with the recruiting they have available right down the road in Chicago.

Makes you wonder what it takes.....! Talent seeping from the woodwork from every direction....Wow!

 

[CadeHawk]

I was in Clearwater, Florida a couple years ago and there was an article in a local paper about Marcus Liberty. Liberty was living in the Sarasota area. Liberty was the #1 recruit in the country out of Chicago. He was committed to Syracuse. Then the day before signing day his parents and high school coach told him he was going to Illinois.

Liberty admitted his parents and coach was paid in the article. All of us Iowa fans know Illinois bought Deon Thomas from Iowa despite what Illinois fans think.

Basically since Illinois quit paying for recruits cheating they have not been that great besides with Self's recruits for a few years.

 

[RocknRollface]

Groce is a terrible coach.

 

[ShawneeHawk 1]

Where are all of the Illinois trolls? They don't visit us much anymore.

 

[hawk-i bob]

Where are all of the Illinois trolls? They don't visit us much anymore.

Groce at Illinois reminds me of Alford at Iowa as a lot of Iowa fans (me being one ) thought Alford was going to take us to the mountain top, especially after he won the BTT in 2001.

Some of our Illinoise posters were giddy (Combes being one) about the talent that Groce was bringing in. Alford in the early years had some of the highest ranked recruits as well...it took him 5 years before he could manage a 1st division in the B1G with a win-loss of 25-39 in his 1st 4years.

Groce may be a great guy. Alford wasn't.

 

[ZaHawks]

Illinois has seldom played up to their talent level over the years.

 

[EduNeerHawk]

Groce at Illinois reminds me of Alford at Iowa as a lot of Iowa fans (me being one ) thought Alford was going to take us to the mountain top, especially after he won the BTT in 2001.

Some of our Illinoise posters were giddy (Combes being one) about the talent that Groce was bringing in. Alford in the early years had some of the highest ranked recruits as well...it took him 5 years before he could manage a 1st division in the B1G with a win-loss of 25-39 in his 1st 4years.

Groce may be a great guy. Alford wasn't.

And it's not just the Illini trolls but IU, Gopher, Big Blue and few others.....it's funny how that works. They are here preseason puffing their chests out with those highly ranked recruits they feel are going to make a difference and then it gets very silent for a reason. I remember the multiple long threads with the IU posters debating Yogi vs Mike or Sapp too....the extra * Yogi had over Mike. Yea, OK.....I like the results and outcome better so far, you do the math.

It's why I don't bother either way trolling on other boards....good or bad. You are not going to like what they post so why bother?

 

[chitownUofI05]

Why would we be trolling? We're terrible. This is our worst start since 1965. However, this meme that we've been subpar except for this brief spat of cheating and a few Self recruits is just untrue. We have the highest winning percentage all-time of any program in the Big Ten, and our last four coaches before Groce have won at least one conference title ... I'd like to see the list of other programs that have sustained success over that many coaches, because it wouldn't be very long.

We're not good right now at all, and it appears we were wrong about Groce; there's enough to laugh at without misrepresenting our program's history, which has largely been successful.

 

[DanL53]

I like reading the other boards. Illini Loyalty is my pick for spying on the Illini. Near as I can tell, a small percentage of their fans are trying to light the fire under Groce and a small percentage are just as adamantly trying to put the fires out. Most seem perplexed and blame the multiple injuries.

The question is what happens when these injured players come back? Last year it seemed like Groce could not build a cohesive team. "Hero ball", I think they called it? Can we expect the same? I certainly do. And, what then?

http://www.illinoisloyalty.com/Forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3

 

[hawki1968]

Why would we be trolling? We're terrible. This is our worst start since 1965. However, this meme that we've been subpar except for this brief spat of cheating and a few Self recruits is just untrue. We have the highest winning percentage all-time of any program in the Big Ten, and our last four coaches before Groce have won at least one conference title ... I'd like to see the list of other programs that have sustained success over that many coaches, because it wouldn't be very long.

We're not good right now at all, and it appears we were wrong about Groce; there's enough to laugh at without misrepresenting our program's history, which has largely been successful.

Solid post.

 

[srams21]

Groce's teams (at least at Illinois) never seem to play together. They play more one-on-one ball than anything. Last night they had just 14 assists and 14 turnovers. Groce's problem isn't recruiting ...

 

[91hawki]

Its unfortunate that Groce, the FB coach, and the AD weren't all given lifetime contracts

 

[ShawneeHawk 1]

I generally don't mind combes' posts as he has good info on Chicago area recruits. He does like to throw in his little digs, however.

 

[Vbeachawk]

Illinois has almost always had great players. The question has been during my lifetime, is the coach able to get them to play good fundamental basketball or do they play out of control street ball most of the time. I can only recall 2 Illini coaches that got the players to play solid fundamental team basketball, Self and Kruger. I thought Groce would get them to play under control, but street ball has surprisingly prevailed (imo) and they have relied almost completely on their individual athletic skills to try to win games and don't play good "team" basketball on either end of the court. Weber tried, but wasn't able to gain control either. As I said in another, its a neck and neck race between Groce and Crean as to who gets fired 1st (imo) as they both have done a very poor job coaching up the top flight talent on their squads.

 

[iowalawhawk]

In fairness, Weber's national title runner up team played fantastic team ball. Give credit where credit is due.

 

[Gutt15]

In fairness, Weber's national title runner up team played fantastic team ball. Give credit where credit is due.

That's somewhat accurate but don't discount the fact that the 2004-2005 was a big down year in college basketball, especially in the B1G with only 3 ranked teams in last poll before tourney (IL #1, MSU #15, Wis #20). Also don't forget the criminal actions in Chicago that were committed against Arizona. Weber had a couple of good years with Self's guys but it was short lived.

 

[redbirdhawk]

illannoy cheats. What more do you need to know?

 

[hawki1968]

In fairness, Weber's national title runner up team played fantastic team ball. Give credit where credit is due.

That was a great team, down B1G or not.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

illannoy cheats. What more do you need to know?

+1, especially those that were most successful.

 

[chitownUofI05]

That was a great team, down B1G or not.

Yeah, I'm biased, but 1) that Illinois team beat several very good other-conference teams (Gonzaga, Wake Forest, Cincinnati [remember that Tourney game you guys had vs. them?], Arizona, Louisville), and they beat most of them pretty easily (UA being the exception) and 2) the Big Ten wasn't that down ... MSU also made the Final Four that year and Wisconsin made the Elite Eight that year, and Illinois beat them both multiple times rather easily. 37-1 heading into a championship game vs. a STACKED UNC team (full of ineligible players)? Pretty damn impressive.

 

[hawki1968]

Yeah, I'm biased, but 1) that Illinois team beat several very good other-conference teams (Gonzaga, Wake Forest, Cincinnati [remember that Tourney game you guys had vs. them?], Arizona, Louisville), and they beat most of them pretty easily (UA being the exception) and 2) the Big Ten wasn't that down ... MSU also made the Final Four that year and Wisconsin made the Elite Eight that year, and Illinois beat them both multiple times rather easily. 37-1 heading into a championship game vs. a STACKED UNC team (full of ineligible players)? Pretty damn impressive.

Yep. A great team. Their only downfall was losing in the NC game and costing me 1st place in my pool that year!

 

[ZaHawks]

illannoy cheats. What more do you need to know?

Please only post new information!

 

[Gutt15]

Yeah, I'm biased, but 1) that Illinois team beat several very good other-conference teams (Gonzaga, Wake Forest, Cincinnati [remember that Tourney game you guys had vs. them?], Arizona, Louisville), and they beat most of them pretty easily (UA being the exception) and 2) the Big Ten wasn't that down ... MSU also made the Final Four that year and Wisconsin made the Elite Eight that year, and Illinois beat them both multiple times rather easily. 37-1 heading into a championship game vs. a STACKED UNC team (full of ineligible players)? Pretty damn impressive.

I'll always refer to them as 35-2* and an Elite 8 team. Sure it was a really good team. I would never consider it an all-time great team overall. It's certainly #2 in IL history though. Just remember that Iowa that year got worked over by the refs in an overtime loss @ IL. The Arizona game is a black eye for the NCAA. The officials just swallowed their whistle for the last 3 minutes of regulation and let Brown, Head and Williams get away with murder. It was a BAU for Chicago. The quote below by Dick Enberg with about 90 secs to go in the game pretty much sums it up.

"oh they.....don't call a foul and Dee Brown gets 2!"

"

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Please only post new information!

Redbirdhawk's post might be more relevant than remembering great teams of the past, especially when you start to realize how they were put together, especially under Lou Doo.

 

[Hawk87]

I was in Clearwater, Florida a couple years ago and there was an article in a local paper about Marcus Liberty. Liberty was living in the Sarasota area. Liberty was the #1 recruit in the country out of Chicago. He was committed to Syracuse. Then the day before signing day his parents and high school coach told him he was going to Illinois.

Liberty admitted his parents and coach was paid in the article. All of us Iowa fans know Illinois bought Deon Thomas from Iowa despite what Illinois fans think.

Basically since Illinois quit paying for recruits cheating they have not been that great besides with Self's recruits for a few years.

What a ludicrous post! Please refrain from idiotic posts. Your comments make Iowa fans look like idiots.

 

[cidhawkeye]

Yeah, I'm biased, but 1) that Illinois team beat several very good other-conference teams (Gonzaga, Wake Forest, Cincinnati [remember that Tourney game you guys had vs. them?], Arizona, Louisville), and they beat most of them pretty easily (UA being the exception) and 2) the Big Ten wasn't that down ... MSU also made the Final Four that year and Wisconsin made the Elite Eight that year, and Illinois beat them both multiple times rather easily. 37-1 heading into a championship game vs. a STACKED UNC team (full of ineligible players)? Pretty damn impressive.

An Illannoy fan casting aspersions on other teams eligibility... Well if anyone would know...

 

[chitownUofI05]

An Illannoy fan casting aspersions on other teams eligibility... Well if anyone would know...

An Iowa fan insisting Illinois cheats with zero evidence. Who would have guessed?

You know who's, like, a proven cheater? Bruce Doctored Tapes Pearl, the scumbag whose lies you need to take as gospel in order for you to be able to continue this narrative.

 

[cidhawkeye]

An Iowa fan insisting Illinois cheats with zero evidence. Who would have guessed?

You know who's, like, a proven cheater? Bruce Doctored Tapes Pearl, the scumbag whose lies you need to take as gospel in order for you to be able to continue this narrative.

Tell me how Illannoy did in the 1991 NCAA tournament. They finished 3rd in the Big Ten so I am sure they made the tournament. Also keep the posters straight. I didn't mention anything about their cheating history.

 

[hawkinator85]

I'll always refer to them as 35-2* and an Elite 8 team. Sure it was a really good team. I would never consider it an all-time great team overall. It's certainly #2 in IL history though. Just remember that Iowa that year got worked over by the refs in an overtime loss @ IL. The Arizona game is a black eye for the NCAA. The officials just swallowed their whistle for the last 3 minutes of regulation and let Brown, Head and Williams get away with murder. It was a BAU for Chicago. The quote below by Dick Enberg with about 90 secs to go in the game pretty much sums it up.

"oh they.....don't call a foul and Dee Brown gets 2!"

"

The fact that you care so much about the officiating in a game from 10 years ago that didn't even involve your favorite team is pretty sad and pathetic.