Bruce Weber's latest line of BS

[BradleyBrave]

Tom Izzo can do it. Why not Bruce?

[Da Coach]

Ask yourself this: What would Bradley gain by playing Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois and SIU-E. Nothing. Would we want to play them. No. Same thing for U of I and playing teams like ISU and BU except at a notch higher level. They can play who they want. I don't care.

The difference is that Jim Les doesn't to sell some BS about economics being the reason we can't afford to play those guys.

However, Bradley does play at NIU this year and they've played there recently, too. U of I has never played NIU before! BU has also played at WIU a number of times. They also were quick to schedule SIU-E after they went D1. So I don't think you can say these situations are the same.

[Headless Bobcat]

Maybe this is a weak explanation for wanting to play mostly home games, but it doesn't explain Bruce's desire to avoid any games with the in-state schools.
And if this was true, then he wouldn't schedule any non-conference road games. But he does, only he doesn't schedule any against teams like BU, SIU, ISU, etc, because he is afraid he could lose them, and he doesn't want those schools to get some advantage in recruiting. He would even sell more tickets, and make more money by scheduling these better in-state teams. Note that their game tonight against NIU is not on TV anywhere, because there is no interest in televising that game against NIU. But there is no doubt a game with BU, ISU, or SIU would have tremendous TV demand. If economics was really the reason Bruce avoids the in-state school, think of how much more money he could make by playing them.

It's obvious, and everyone knows this. It is not simply because of economics. Why can't Bruce just be honest and say it?

I don't disagree with you. Of course BCS coaches dodge good mid-major teams. As I said before...it's risk vs reward. They have far more to lose than they stand to gain. Every mid-major coach...when put in a similar situation running a BCS program...would do the same thing. Bruce Weber is a perfect example.

Bruce Weber has to do what's best for his program. I guess I just don't consider that as evil and cowardice as most posters on this board do.

I do, however, have to disagree with your claim that a Bradley matchup would have "tremendous TV demand." You may be looking through valley-colored glasses at that one. It would certainly be popular in Peoria...but it wouldn't get much buzz outside of Central Illinois.

[Headless Bobcat]

Ask yourself this: What would Bradley gain by playing Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois and SIU-E. Nothing. Would we want to play them. No. Same thing for U of I and playing teams like ISU and BU except at a notch higher level. They can play who they want. I don't care.

Well said!

[TheAsianSensation]

The subject has been beaten to death, but the simple bottom line is: There's no god-given right for in-state mid majors to get the chance to play power conference teams at home. If the power conference team decides it's for the best, one way or the other, then that's what they do. Simple as that. Simply being a school in the same region doesn't mean you HAVE to play them.

Now, the part to wonder about is Weber's original statements, way back when, saying that he'd play at SIU. Obviously something changed. My guess is that there was a directive from above that UI does not want to go on the road to a mid-major, and Weber just can't come out and say that directly.

[SFP]

I bet there some sort of collusion going on at the BCS level to keep the better mid-majors down and the best way of keeping them down is by not playing them and limiting their ability to make the NCAA Tourney!

[TheAsianSensation]

*facepalm*

Not the C-word....

[lefty]

Weber gets more flack than past coaches regarding playing in-states...

I agree TAS that it's not totally up to him...plus the fact once you are at the BCS you do see things differently.......

[Da Coach]

The main reason he gets more flack is because he came from one of those in-state midmajors (SIU), and on top of that, when he got the Illinois job he more or less promised the SIU people he would change the trend and play them. Of course, he hasn't played SIU yet, and it's the SIU people who won't let this issue die.

[Disturbed]

The main reason he gets more flack is because he came from one of those in-state midmajors (SIU), and on top of that, when he got the Illinois job he more or less promised the SIU people he would change the trend and play them. Of course, he hasn't played SIU yet, and it's the SIU people who won't let this issue die.

I believe this issue alone causes the vast majority of the complaints towards Weber.

[BU_EMT128]

Tom Izzo can do it. Why not Bruce?

Well Izzo also said he would never bring a team back to Carver. If I was Bruce, that would speak volumes.

[houstontxbrave]

I bet there some sort of collusion going on at the BCS level to keep the better mid-majors down and the best way of keeping them down is by not playing them and limiting their ability to make the NCAA Tourney!

I have a feeling there is collusion going on at the NCAA, CBS, ESPN and with BCS conferences regarding scheduling in college basketball.

Successful non BCS school is not good for business.

[BradleyBrave]

Well Izzo also said he would never bring a team back to Carver. If I was Bruce, that would speak volumes.

Sure, he'll never come back. But he came here, despite warnings not to. That says a lot to me. And he will do it again somewhere with his Spartans. It may not be BU, but it will be somewhere.

BTW - Anyone think the fact that we (fans, media, university) acting like it was the biggest thing to hit Peoria since sliced bread may have contributed to him not wanting to come back? Sure, it's a big deal when a Top 10 team comes in, but part of me was like 'act like we've been there, and act like we're in their league' as opposed to this sort of shock-and-awe that seemed to be prevalent. Izzo even made comments that it seemed like this was the biggest thing that had happened around here in a while. Just an observation. Maybe next time we should act like we've been there before...because we have. Then we need to prove on the court that we've been there by winning.

It was a great night at Carver though, too bad we couldn't pull it out.

[thefish7]

Good call BB. I liked the crowd response to the MSU game and we should definitely be that up any time a top 10 opponent comes here... But all of the other stuff, we should have acted like we belonged... It was kind of embarrassing in some ways. Anyway, just need to prove it on the court more often anyway.

[TheAsianSensation]

Izzo seems to subscribe to the John Chaney strategy - play anyone everywhere. Almost no one subscribes to that theory anymore.