Illinois loses

[Da Coach]

Illinois was embarrassed at home tonight by Ohio State-
Ohio State 48
Illinois 39

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400510031

Man, are we being subjected to some awful basketball by the D1 schools in Illinois. The Illini shot just 28% at home and scored just 39 points in 40 minutes. Many Illinois fans and boosters are already convinced John Groce needs to go.

[lefty]

yup??¦.the OSU-Illinois football game outscored the basketball game by 8??¦.

[Da Coach]

...we are we being subjected to some awful basketball by the D1 schools in Illinois. The Illini shot just 28% at home and scored just 39 points in 40 minutes. Many Illinois fans and boosters are already convinced John Groce needs to go.

Here are the current records of the 13 Division I programs in Illinois:
DePaul 10-16, 2-11 (Big East)
Illinois 14-12, 3-10 (Big 10)
Northwestern 12-13, 5-7 (Big 10)
Loyola 9-17, 4-10 (MVC)
Bradley 11-16, 6-8 (MVC)
SIU 10-17, 6-8 (MVC)
ISU 14-12, 7-7 (MVC)
UIC 5-21, 0-12 (Horizon)
NIU 11-13, 5-7 (MAC)
Eastern Illinois 9-17, 6-8 (OVC)
SIU-E 11-16, 7-6 (OVC)
WIU 9-16, 3-7 (Summit)
Chicago State 10-14, 5-5 (WAC)

Ugly Totals 135-200, Conference 59-106
Only 2 teams with a .500 record (Illinois 14-12 & ISU 14-12, though only 13-12 against D1 teams), and no team with a winning conference record.

[tornado]

mid-major transfers just ain't cutting it

[Buesch N Chips]

Illinois was embarrassed at home tonight by Ohio State-
Ohio State 48
Illinois 39

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400510031

Man, are we being subjected to some awful basketball by the D1 schools in Illinois. The Illini shot just 28% at home and scored just 39 points in 40 minutes. Many Illinois fans and boosters are already convinced John Groce needs to go.

Groce's luster has worn off, but I know of no Illini fan that wants him fired, and I know plenty. Just like none of my Bradley friends think it is time for Geno to be fired. Anyone who is pining for a credible D1 caliber coach to be fired inside of 5 years, barring a total disaster on and off the court, really needs to calm down.

[Da Coach]

I know several Illini fans who are already convinced he is not the right fit there. They fired Bruce Weber because he didn't win enough, despite taking them to the championship game in 2005, and averaging over 23 wins per year in a pretty tough conference. But now they are headed downward and left hoping 3 more transfers and a couple more marginal Big Ten caliber recruits can save them next year.
The fans on the Illinois message boards are even more hostile. They are tired of losing. They even want the AD and football coach gone, too.

But there are plenty of examples of D1 schools realizing they made a mistake and the coach they hired was not a suitable fit, and fired him in less than 5 years. All these coaches had time left on their contracts when fired-

Buzz Peterson lasted only 4 years at Tennessee
Matt Doherty lasted just 3 years at North Carolina
Ray Giacoletti lasted just 3 years at Utah
Dave Leitao lasted just 4 years at Virginia
Kevin O'Neill lasted just 3 years at Tennessee, and again only 3 years at Northwestern
Tim Floyd lasted just 4 years at Iowa State, and again lasted only 4 years at USC
And of course, Billy Gillispie lasted only 2 seasons at Kentucky, and only 1 season at Texas Tech.

There are many, many more examples. So it does not always take 5 years, and a lot of schools don't feel it's necessary always to wait that long to judge.

[Da Coach]

Here are the current records of the 13 Division I programs in Illinois:
DePaul 10-16, 2-11 (Big East)
Illinois 14-12, 3-10 (Big 10)
Northwestern 12-13, 5-7 (Big 10)
Loyola 9-17, 4-10 (MVC)
Bradley 11-16, 6-8 (MVC)
SIU 10-17, 6-8 (MVC)
ISU 14-12, 7-7 (MVC)
UIC 5-21, 0-12 (Horizon)
NIU 11-13, 5-7 (MAC)
Eastern Illinois 9-17, 6-8 (OVC)
SIU-E 11-16, 7-6 (OVC)
WIU 9-16, 3-7 (Summit)
Chicago State 10-14, 5-5 (WAC)

Ugly Totals 135-200, Conference 59-106
Only 2 teams with a .500 record (Illinois 14-12 & ISU 14-12, though only 13-12 against D1 teams), and no team with a winning conference record.

Here is a good article by ESPN-Chicago writer Scott Powers about the bad state of basketball in Illinois.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/colleges/post/_/id/10635/college-basketball-state-of-the-state?ex_cid=espnapi_public

In the last 6 seasons combined, the 13 D1 schools in Illinois have had only 3 NCAA appearances, and all 3 were by Illinois (2009, 2011, 2013).
And it looks like there will be none this year. That is something like 3 bids in almost 90 opportunities over the last 7 seasons.

[AZ BU Fan]

The malaise in State of ILL MBB must have spread to Central Calif.

8-17 overall, 3-7 conference, 5-7 home, 1-10 away.

Good coaches all over struggle to turn teams around when rebuilding programs without talent to compete.Takes time, more than 3, but less than 10...
Hopefully JL will not be on hot seat at UCD either.

[jasonpeoria911]

I think the IL schools really need to recruit better in state and the results would be better. Look at Jabari, Van Fleet, among other players. The IL March Madness is supposedly dubbed the top state tournament in the US, why isn't that talent transitioning into IL college greatness?

Jason

[Da Coach]

Illinois struggling to score again tonight. They trail at Minnesota 27-24 at halftime-

http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400510037

[bigjimmy]

Isn't 24 points in a half pretty good for them?

[BU-Bball]

Looks like a nice road win for the Illini !

[bigjimmy]

The Illini win 62-49. This is the 26th time in the last 31 games they beat Minnesota. Kendrick Nunn led the Illini with 19. He was 5-7 from 3 while the Illini were 8-13 from there. They were down 14-3 after 8:00 which means they outscored the Gophers by a 59-35 margin for the rest of the game.

[AZ BU Fan]

Trouble at Illinois linked to the absence of big time bb players coming out of Peoria area last couple years????

[wily coyote]

Trouble at Illinois linked to the absence of big time bb players coming out of Peoria area last couple years????

A lot of truth to that. Peoria has been very good to the Illini program and the well seems to have run dry here. Some good ones coming though.