If misery loves company . . .

[BUSongwriter]

The Illini made the Braves look like sharpshooters today with a 15-for-55 (27.3 percent), 43-point performance at Nebraska.

And I just saw highlights of the IL State game at Missouri State game, and the Bears' crowd looked like ours -- tons of empty seats in the lower range and an announced crowd of about 5,000. I remember the days of crazy Bear Hair fans and filled arenas there, too.

[tornado]

but they were going against a great defensive coach Jim Molinari and were unprepared..

[tornado]

btw - Illini are now 1-3 in early Big Ten play and only a game out of last place...
their offense has taken a huge dip from pre-conference play to conference play - and now they face the next few weeks without Rayvonte Rice...
with too many cupcakes like Hampton, Kennesaw, State, Austin Peay, Brown and Coppin State in the early going, they don't look ready to play tough teams on the road...
If they lose at Northwestern Wednesday & to arch-rival Indiana (who are coming off a huge upset win over Ohio State) this Sunday - uh oh.....

[Da Coach]

I think Groce is a very good coach but he has recruited and built his team more like a midmajor team- with mostly small athletic guards, and little or no inside game. That works well in the pre-conference against weaker teams, but it won't be highly successful in the Big Ten where teams need more big inside players to have success against the upper tier teams.

Under Groce here are their records in the Non-conference and conference-
Season..........Non-Conf.....Big Ten
2014-15............10-3..........1-3
2013-14............13-4..........7-11
2012-13............15-3..........8-10

Yes, it is tough competing in the Big Ten, but you need talented big men, and Groce seems to be heading the opposite direction. This season may be his weakest collection of big men yet, and I don't see Michael Finke (redshirting) or Darius Paul (juco commit), or any of his wing recruits (DJ Williams, Aaron Jordan, Jalen Coleman) helping much next year after Egwu is gone.
Groce is also in serious need of a point guard, unless he can pull a rabbit out of a hat and land Marcus LoVett.

[tornado]

Yes, it is tough competing in the Big Ten, but you need talented big men....

it is also kind of a sad reality that all the BIG men that are right here in arms reach...
(Parker, Okafor, Cliff Alexander, Paul White, Frank Kaminsky) have all gone out of state - and the recruiting Classes of 2015 & 2016 in Illinois are kinda thin on big men...
BUT oddly - the guy who might be the BEST big man in the next few recruiting classes in Illinois, Barrett Benson (Top 100) is apparently not even anyone Groce is recruiting!!!

[Chico]

it is also kind of a sad reality that all the BIG men that are right here in arms reach...
(Parker, Okafor, Cliff Alexander, Paul White, Frank Kaminsky) have all gone out of state - and the recruiting Classes of 2015 & 2016 in Illinois are kinda thin on big men...
BUT oddly - the guy who might be the BEST big man in the next few recruiting classes in Illinois, Barrett Benson (Top 100) is apparently not even anyone Groce is recruiting!!!

Top 100 doesn't mean much as we are finding out.