I recently had an interesting conversation with my father about our favorite college basketball team, the Fighting Illini from the University of Illinois. I (like most other Illini fans) am a huge Bruce Weber fan. He is a hell of coach and did win just about every coach of the year award he could last year in leading Illinois to the national title game. Bruce is the real deal. The genuine article. He tells the truth almost to a fault. I am afraid (however) that the magic won't last.
As I said earlier, he is a great coach. Before coming to Illinois he led the Southern Illinois University Salukis (a saluki is an Egyptian racing dog) deep into the NCAA tournament. He can mold average players into a tournament team. He is that good. He hasn't yet proven that he can recruit, and if he can't, Illinois will end up being merely average.
Before Bruce Weber came to Illinois, there was Bill Self. When Bill Self left for Kansas becuase Roy Williams went to North Carolina, Illinois found their man in Bruce Weber. Let me ask a question. Why (for the love of god) didn't they interview current Ohio State coach Thad Matta? He was fresh off a elite-eight appearance with Xavier and is a hometown boy from Hoopeston, IL (barely 50 miles from the U of I campus). Matta was runner-up for Mr. Basketball in Illinois as a high school player. He could have been to Illinois (almost) what Steve Alford will be to Indiana if he leaves Iowa. Just look what Matta has done in only two years at Ohio State.
Back to Bill Self and Kansas. Bill Self will lose close games becuase he is not a great tactician. He isn't good with the x's and o's, but he can flat out recruit talent. Kansas' star freshmen Julian Wright and Brandon Rush were both considering Kansas and Illinois and both (ultimately) chose KU. Bill Self also recruited every major contributor to Illinois' successful 2005 tournament run. The last of those recruits (Dee Brown and James Augustine) will be gone next year. I'm not sure Bruce Weber has enough. He couldn't even get Jon Scheyer (the best high school junior in the state of Illinois during 2004-2005) to come to Illinois even when Weber's brother was Scheyer's high school coach. Should I be worried?
Anyhow, this makes me ask the following question: is recruiting ability more important that actual coaching ability in today's college basketball landscape?
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
5 Comments ↓
I'm not sure how well Illinois' recruiting ranks nationwide, but I was able to see a couple super sectional games in Chicago last night. One of the players for Proviso East was Brian Carlwell and he's apparently committed to Illinois - I liked him, though he couldn't lead his team to the win. He looked a little awkward sometimes, but I think he's got some promise.
In that same game we saw Derrick Rose from Simeon. He's only a junior, but my friend said Illinois was hoping to snag him. If they can get Rose, they'll be contenders for a few years - he was amazing. I'd heard all the Rose hype - but seeing him perform made me buy into the hype over and over.
If that makes you feel any better about the future of the Illini...
I like Bruce even if he is, as Dad calls him, Howdy-Doody. I think the Illini are capable of doing damage, but they'll have to have their game of the year to get through UCONN. I think it's Sweet 16, then back home. And the Salukis, who had a down year, are really proving to be a program. I think they might be able to upset WV in the opener, but that's about it. I do like that Pittsnogle (sp? whatever) dude with all the ink. You don't often see white dude ballers all inked up. It's refreshing. Stay cool, dudes.
I feel that much like anything else, it's all about the brand. Guys like Coach K and Roy Williams are lucky to have both that marketability and prestige, as well as the coaching chops to boot.
Underneath that, there are a ton of coaches who arguably aren't as tactically gifted when it comes to Xs and Os, but they still have that charisma and magnetism that reels the kids in from here, there and everywhere.
I always felt that guys like Knight and Tubby Smith were always a little overrated, but they could recruit with the best of them, so given that, I reckon recruiting is king in the world of college bball.
If you can get the natural talent to sign on the line, most of the time you just let 'em run loose and throw themselves around. It's not until the next level [aka the pros] that they need to start worrying as much about pure tactics, and that's why I feel that most college hoops games are decided by who wants it more, not the element of one coach "outcoaching" the other.
I'm probably completely wrong on this, but I'll use my sturdy defense: I ain't from this country. Ahem.
Eric not sure if you were aware but I believe Ohio State has THE best incoming class in the country. I think they are a bit overrated this season but next season OSU is supposed to be ridiculous.
The are getting Greg Oden, Daeguan Cook, David Lighty, Mike Conley and some JuCo standout named Othello Hunter (the call them the "Thad Five". Agruably only UNC has a better incoming class but I take OSU's because of Greg Oden (supposedly the best big man since Shaq).
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