News should be coming out shortly. Illinois has their AD.

Rumors have it that it is Josh Whitman

37? Jesus. He's only 4 years older than me.

37? Jesus. He's only 4 years older than me.

 

Whitman was in my law school class. Great dude and really, really smart. Would have liked for him to have a bit more seasoning, but if he's the hire, that's amazing.

Whitman was in my law school class. Great dude and really, really smart. Would have liked for him to have a bit more seasoning, but if he's the hire, that's amazing.

 

I'm good with it. Really high ceiling hire. Doesn't have the experience you would like but super intelligent people can often overcome experience and as a former athlete hopefully he will do well with the boosters. Plus, while his floor as an AD might be pretty low it isn't like the revenue sports can get that much worse at Illinois then they are right now.

I'm good with it. Really high ceiling hire. Doesn't have the experience you would like but super intelligent people can often overcome experience and as a former athlete hopefully he will do well with the boosters. Plus, while his floor as an AD might be pretty low it isn't like the revenue sports can get that much worse at Illinois then they are right now.

Only concern is his lack of hiring coaches experience, but many of the candidates were in that boat.

 

I agree that his lack of seasoning is a concern, but if he is that smart/likeable then I'm happy.

Only concern is his lack of hiring coaches experience, but many of the candidates were in that boat.

 

I agree that his lack of seasoning is a concern, but if he is that smart/likeable then I'm happy.

 

That is definitely a concern but on the other side of that coin Mike Thomas had hired Brian Kelly, Butch Jones and Mick Cronin at Cincinnati and he was a terrible fit at Illinois.

NewsTalk 1400 WDWS ‏@wdws1400 3m3 minutes ago

A source tells our newsroom that the rumor that Josh Whitman has been chosen as the next UI Athletic Director is not true. #Illini

NewsTalk 1400 WDWS ‏@wdws1400 3m3 minutes ago

A source tells our newsroom that the rumor that Josh Whitman has been chosen as the next UI Athletic Director is not true. #Illini

Wouldn't be shocked if they weren't ready to announce and had to "leak" that they didn't decide yet.

There really aren't any great teams in college basketball this year. This feels like one of those years where the tourney is wide open.

2-0 vs the Spartans. Nice surprise. I'll take that!!!

There really aren't any great teams in college basketball this year. This feels like one of those years where the tourney is wide open.

I'm happy with this. Makes it more exciting.

There really aren't any great teams in college basketball this year. This feels like one of those years where the tourney is wide open.

 

I think most, if not all of the Elite 8 teams from last year are better than any team this year.

Breaking: Tate just hit a 3 for illinois.

Can we please get an AD in place so we can move on from Groce after this year? I'm sick of Illinois letting bad coaches hang on too long (i.e. Zook two years too many, Weber at least two years to many, Beckman two years too many). First test for the new AD will be actually making a coaching move when it needs to be made.

Clemson is just taking out top 25 teams left and right on their home court.

Yay, Duke sucks again...

Yay, Duke sucks again...

 

I watched the whole game. I'd be surprised if either team had more than 10 possessions where they didn't score.

Yay, Duke sucks again...

 

Ingram is legit, Allen is a good college player, rest is meh. That said they'll probably get to elite 8 after lucky draw.

Ingram is legit, Allen is a good college player, rest is meh. That said they'll probably get to elite 8 after lucky draw.

 

You mean like last year when they were given a 1 seed even though the didn't win their conference regular season and didn't even get to the final of their conference tournament? If they got seeded where they belonged they probably don't even get to the Final Four.

Well I'll be damned. I don't know how ISU beat this OU team when OU went 17-32 from 3-land, but I'll take it. Didn't get to watch the game.

 

Still now sure "who" this ISU team is.

 

The question is how well ISU will play away from home...for some reason, they just don't seem quite as dangerous this year. Vulnerable isn't quite the right word...maybe still forming an identity separate from Hoiberg.

I think I'm finally on the fire Groce bandwagon. I still think we'd be a tournament team if we were fully healthy, but there's just no excuse for our complete lack of offense. These players should be able to do more than dribble out the shot clock and chuck long contested 2's.

 

The offensive movement, passing, and shot selection looked good in the Purdue game for maybe the first time under Groce, but it appears that it was just a fluke.

 

 

I think I'm finally on the fire Groce bandwagon. I still think we'd be a tournament team if we were fully healthy, but there's just no excuse for our complete lack of offense. These players should be able to do more than dribble out the shot clock and chuck long contested 2's.

 

The offensive movement, passing, and shot selection looked good in the Purdue game for maybe the first time under Groce, but it appears that it was just a fluke.

 

He has to be fired. And I was on the Groce bandwagon until black Friday because he did a good job his first year and I thought he would recruit at a really high level. His recruiting hasn't been terrible but it hasn't been very good either and 4 years in we still are really undisciplined on offense and he pretty clearly isn't good at coaching defense. We were really good defensively in his second year but that was pretty clearly almost entirely because Rice, Abrams and Egwu were all great individual defenders and then you had a couple of other guys who were solid (of course that team was absolutely horrendous on offense because until Hill and Nunn started playing more Rice was really the only scorer).

 

We have to get an AD in place soon so they can be in a position to get rid of him at season's end.

I was going to be so pissed if we didn't beat the Illini tonight.

 

Can we win this by exactly 35? Would mean surprisingly a lot to me today. (Non gambling reason).