CHAMPAIGN -- It's official. The 65-team NCAA field has been revealed, and Illinois is not a part of it.
The Illini, 19-14, will likely be headed to the NIT. The NCAA Tournament committee did not think quality victories over Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Clemson and two over Wisconsin, were good enough to make up for some early stumbles combined with a 10-8 conference mark.
Five teams were selected from the Big Ten: Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Purdue and Minnesota. The Golden Gophers recently knocked off both Michigan State and Purdue in the Big Ten tournament. The NIT selection show is slated for 8 p.m., though if Illinois were selected to host a first-round game, it would not be able to host it because of scheduling conflicts at Assembly Hall.
VOTE: Did Illinois deserve to make the tournament?
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Bruce Weber will show all of you this year, in 2011; you watch. The Illini are back. They're getting the instate talent that's rightfully ours again. Screw the Chicago media. They may not cover us well, but they do cover us, because we're easily (as shown in their own, probably tampered with poll) the most popular college sports team in Chicago. The papers won't have anything bad to say next year!
GO ILLINI! I still believe in you, BRUCE!
Fire Bruce weber - he has been nothing but a disaster for Illini basketball - no NCAA win in last 4 years . Only couple of good things he did - take a great team recruited by Self to 2005 title game- and take an average team last year to NCAA (and then lose in 1st round)..
He has to go.. He has no clue what he should do to improve the tenacity and team spirit - so very vital to the team's success
My high school football coach said "Don't pay any attention to 'fair-weather fans.' When you win they fill the stands. When you lose they stay home." The NCAA this year will be the most predictable in years because teams like the U of I are not there to challenge Ohio State and teams of this caliber. The same is true of Mississippi State, Seton Hall, and Virginia Tech. The NIT finals should be great to watch this year!
Detroit, Shyer was planning to go to Duke since in was in Junior High School. Self startined recruiting his ace when he was at Illinois and pulled a Calipari, by getting him to go to Kansas, when he left Illinois. By the way If you had the choice for your son to go to Kansas or Duke where would you send him. What a stupid comment. Let me see wasn't Paul a Mister Basketball out of Illinois and isn't Richmond going to be Mr Basketball this year. Wasn't McCamey runner up for mr Basketball. By the way McCamey was more highly ranked than Evan Turner was in high school.
I believe Connecticut and North Carolina were in the final four last year and Memphis was in the championship game 3 years ago, what tournament are they playing in. How about Florida the year after they won the NCAA tournament they were in the NIT. I guess we should fire these coach's. North Carolina has 7 High School All Americans on their roster, Williams should go, right Detroit. How about that Cheater at Kentucky he cost his teams two final fours with his high ethics.
To Liz and ken chicago:
Thank you for bringing up excellent points. No one is bashing Roy Williams for not taking UNC to the tournament and North Carolina looked absolutely horrendous all year long. Isn't this supposed to be a "premier" basketball program? Yes, it is. And even though UNC didn't make it this year, I still consider them as exceptional, just as I consider the Illini basketball program exceptional. Also, to emphasize Ken's point, the Chicago media does an abominable job of covering Illini athletics and the University of Illinois in general. The Chicago Tribune in particular has gone so downhill that it has nothing better to do than make a mountain out of a mole hill in researching the "admissions scandal" at the University, when of course Illinois is hardly the only school to be doing such a thing. But I digress. Chicago media doesn't hail the state university, but instead brings it down. Almost always. I am so glad I no longer live in Chicago so I don't have to put up with the nonsense of the Tribune on a daily basis.
So you may be asking why I came to the Tribune web site. Well, I wanted to see what one of the monkey "journalists", Chris Hine, had to say because he REALLY seems to hate the Illini. So I hope you're happy, Hine. Your precious Fighting Irish are in the NCAA and you can stop covering the Illini for the year. I know you're thrilled.
The Illini will rise up next year. The incoming freshmen will be amazing and the rest of the boys will be ready to fight. You'll see.
P.S. Next time you create a poll, Chicago Tribune, let's try to make it unbiased. All you need to say is "Do you think the Illini should have made the tournament?" not "Do you think the 19-14 Illini should have made the tournament?" Let's not try to skew anything here. If people are voting, they know the information. So please, keep your opinions to yourself. You have done quite enough already.
As an alumni and active I FUND booster, I do not have any more words for the state of Illinois basketball. I like Bruce Webber--as a person. But for all of those defending Bruce Webber's coaching ability, think about this:
The 2005 team that made it the championship game was with Bill Self's players--not Webber's.
Since then, he has only won one NCAA tournament game--no Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, etc.
The talent in Illinois that he did not get to come to Illinois is tremendous--Julian Wright, Sharon Collins, Bobby Frazier, Sean Dockery and Jon Scheler (who played for Bruce's brother) are just a few of the "ones who got away"...
And the ones who came here--Shawn Pruitt, Brian Randle, Chester Frazier, Alex Legion, Jamaar Williams--either weren't talented enough on this level, or were malcontents, or both...
So, this year's team, with McCamey, Tisdale, Davis the junior "leadership" and the freshman of Richardson and Paul and Griffy are too soft, not physical presence in the middle and no concept of defense.
Who's job is it to coach up talent? Webber's.
Who's job is it to discipline and right the ship? Webber's.
This is the BIG TEN, getting talent to come from ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY, much less from the Chicagoland area should NOT BE A PROBLEM...
So, as a booster, and just like the football program, I am disgusted and tired of mediocre teams.
So, Ron Guether you need to get on the stick and let go of these average coaches accountable for the wins and losses. Otherwise, my checks will go to some other place.
"Vic Nardozza on March 14, 2010 8:10 PM
But what do you expect when you recruit a coach out of SIU."
You're a douche, Schnozzola.
Illinois' recruiting base has taken a big hit. The CPS really doesn't have it anymore, at least ones ready for a Big Ten school. The UI also doesn't get decent national press. The Chicago area papers don't cover them well and are usually criticizing instead of bragging them up. So anyone who looks at the national newspapers will see that the Chicago sports columnists are all knocking the team down. So when your sports media trashes you, you lose: you lose the best athletes and you lose the coin toss on who is in and who is out of the tournament.
The so-called Illini fans on this site are stupid and sickening. Let's review. Illinois had 19 wins, not 3. They finished above .500 in a tough conference. One jerk said the school was an embarassment. Why? All the good professors, programs, and students went away? The most embarrasing thing Illinois is its fans.
Good luck @ Stony Brook! I'll be in Champaign at Cirque du crap. I think they run a better offense than you do Bruce!
Uh, North Carolina, UConn and Cincinnati are also in the NIT; with their supposed "genius coaches". Illinois did not have talent that matched Ohio State this year, yet gave them a heck of a game. Did anyone really expect much from Illinois before the season started? The "stars" at Illinois are freshmen, and some stellar recruits coming in. If the Illini cannot win in 2 or 3 years with the talent they will have, then Weber can be questioned, but he is just now recruiting players who used to go to "Carpetbagger U" at Kansass under Bull Selfish (the guy is a snake oil salesman). Just as well, all the state of Kansas has in KU basketball and without it, they are just another Nebraska.
As bad as Weber is--and he is bad--Guenther is worse. Not only did he give us Weber, he gave us the Zooker
Between the Admissions Scandal and our rotten major-sport teams, the U of I has become an embarrassment. Clean it out!
I would like to send a message to all the young skulls full of mush out there. Please remember that the U of I basketball program is the 13th Winningest Program in D1 history. Bruce Weber did coach up Deron Williams and Luther Head. Ask them about Bruce Weber and what he meant to them. Bruce did take a pogram that was left in a learch by an ego centric person. Ilinois Basketball will return to prominence in short order. And if you haven't been paying attention to the talent coming in, shame on you. J Richmond and Meyers Leonard ae going to be something special. So think twice before Coach K and BS from KU come calling.
But Bruce, your fans and supporters can't carry your water forever. You have to stay on the trail and keep your talent home, despite the foolish parent's who watch ESPN and think Duke is the center of heaven, versus creating history in their home state.
Stay home and be part of history. Tighten the Bolts on your backboards OSU and Minny. THE Illini are peed off and they are coming.
Get used to it. Weber can win a lot of games, but not the big ones or take Illinois to the next level. And to be clear, he inherited the 2005 NCAA title team. He hasn't shown an ability to recruit in a real conference.
Thank goodness the NCAA sent Illinois to the sock-hop instead of the Big Dance.
Illinois,what a bunch of shoot and puke porkers. They have the discipline of a bunch of 'hood playgrounders.
The Illini are receiving exactly what they earned.
No team deserves a NCAA tourney bid with less than 20 wins. Period. Illinois has to play better during the whole season, not just in spurts.
To all the Bruce Weber apologists. He is a small time coach in a big time job. Oh yeah, he was the monkey driving the limousine when he took Bill Self's recruits to the championship. But now that the program is entirely is you can see how far he is in over his head. His coaching it the Big 10 tournament was an embarrassment. But what do you expect when you recruit a coach out of SIU.
Coaches don't put the ball into the hole nor do they call fouls. Weber is a good coach and his new recruits will change the pattern of the last 4 years. As for Bill Self, he didn't intend to stay at Illinois for very long. We need to get behind this team and support them as they win the NIT. Next year they should be in the "big dance". At least they can continue to practice and further develop. It is easy to be a critic while we should continue to show support. As for Ron Turner, didn't the bears fire him this year? He has no room to talk as Illinois gave him a good chance and the bears took him back. He made his millions off of both of them and has no room to complain.
meh! who cares? big babies. probably should have won more games if it was that important to you.
Fire Bruce Weber thought I was a great coach.
The Illini were 11-14 against the top 200 teams in the land this year. But don't blame Weber, blame the refs.
I bleed orange and blue, but the coaching has got be tougher. If your "stars" don't do the job, then let them get the splinters in the butt! They have a big guy who can rebound and has some muscle in the paint, but was never given the chance to develop! Go Figure! The team isn't made of only 6 guys. Why give out scholarships if you aren't gonna play em??????
They aren't going to win anything as long as Mike Tisdale and Bill Cole are playing there. I can't believe that Cole is a captain. Tisdale and Cole are soft as marshmallows, they get pushed around and bullied on the court. Illinois needs to recruit more athletes instead of soft, stiff dudes. I have hope for the Illini in the future.
once again delaney & falk have made big ten officiating the laugh of the nation. ed hightower receives assignments when they try to balance the racial card. stevie wonder would call a better game.
Hey "Fire Bruce Weber", if you're such a basketball guru, what are you doing posting on some internet message board instead of coaching a team? After all, "you know basketball" so your services must be in high demand. Oh wait, you don't really know basketball, you just have some bizarre personal vendetta against Weber and you're sitting here hitting refresh every few minutes so you can try to pick fights over the internet.
The next two or three seasons will make or break Weber, as he's finally landing highly-touted recruits as his ability to attract talented players seems to grow. And leaving Illinois out this year just demonstrates how watered down these minor conference tournaments that include automatic NCAA bids are making the actual tournament. While Illinois clearly wasn't going to win the whole thing this year, there's not a chance in hell they aren't one of the top 64, oh sorry, 65, basketball teams in the nation this year. Too inconsistent unfortunately, but still a better team than a Winthrop or an Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Fire Weber? Only if you get Harry Combs to come back !
We're competitive. Fire N W , Indiana, Michigan,Iowa,& Penn St. or just yell " Fire in the theather"
Winning the Big Dance with Freshman guards? Get serious!!! You got too much snow up your nose.
North Carolina gets Roy Williams (this year not withstanding), Kansas gets Bill Self and Illinois ends up with Bruce Weber. Talk about drawing the short straw. That sequence of events forever (?) changed course of U of I basketball. Over the last 6 years, NC has won 2 titles, KU has won one (and is favored to win a second this year) and Illinois has finished the last five years unranked.
Weber, Zook, Guenther. The Moe, Larry, and Curly of Illinois sports.
As much as I wanted them to get in, I can understand why they didn't. I've been watching/going to Illini games for the past 30yrs and this team ranks as one of the most frustrating, under-achieving squads I can remember. They have and will have more talent, enough to compete with the elite teams, but they could never put it together for any extended stretch. If Illini are to get back to the upper echelon of college B-ball, they have to get more aggressive on offense and more physical on both sides of the ball.
Please no more 3 or 4 high screens by the bigs before we even look for a shot.....
Bruce is a fine coach who took the Illini to their only NCAA championship game. I think he mistakenly tried a softer coaching style to get better recruits and it backfired on him. In his last few games, he admitted to using his tough tactics and the Fighting Illini looked like a different team. I think as long as Bruce does what he does best the FI will be fine in the long run. They have a stellar class coming in and this team is still a talented team if it plays like it did in the last two games.
hahahahahahahahahaahhaha... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! cry illini cry... hahahaahahahahahahah!!!!
Didn't Bruce Weber take Illinois to a championship game against an always tough North Carolina a few years ago?
If a 23-8 Virginia Tech team didn't get in why would a 19-14 Illinois team make it in?
We thought it was going to be rough year & that is how it ended up. Really no suprise What ever happened to the kid in the auto accident with Jamar Smith He would've been the center right?
take a look at lavins record. enough said.
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OK let me get this straight... ILLINI lose in double OT and Minnesota gets wiped off the FLOOR today, yet Minnesota is the better team? Yeah OK. Minnesota beat an overrated Mich State team and a hobbled Purdue.
Now that being said, I agree, Illini are so whacky, they would either shock and go two rounds or would have had a number 13 seed and got whacked hard by a Big East or SEC team.
The Georgia game PROVED that Illinois does not do physical well at times. I say give Weber 2 more years, if he cannot do anything with the new recruiting class, CYA. And who is the DOOFUS that said hire Steve Laugh-In Lavin? COME ON< LAVIN? Puhhhleeease. McCamey MUST GO, he is a off the bench player NOT a leader. Let the Frosh play next year!
That's fine all keep supporting him. First time since 1980 that Illinois has gone 4 straight years without at least ONE, just one tourney win.
I know my facts and I also know basketball.
This program has been brutal over the past 4 years. If you've watched every game like I have you see a team that just isn't well coached period. Especially offensively.
Be the way he didn't lead them to a national championship, they lost. And he reaped the benefits of a team he inherited period.
Weber's recruiting and coaching caused all this. Look for it to continue as long as Guenther is calling the shots. Next up--Zook and his circus.
Maybe it's time to follow the University of Chicago's lead and give up intercollegiate sports.
Just like the Cubs, White Sox, Bears, etc...wait till next year.
Thanks Bruce! Guenther will probably now give you both a raise and a contract extension.
Wow, take a breath. This team was as erratic as any he's coached. Immensely talented, but hard to get any consistency from them. This program will be fine, it was a bad year for Bruce and the players.
fire bruce....hire lavin. i cant even ponder watching the nit.
To Fire Bruce Weber:
You are a fool. Bruce Weber led them to a NC in 2005. He also has a top 5 recruiting class for next year. Please know what you are talking about before you repost.
Any surprise that the NCAA's top two players are from Chicago but neither plays for Illinois? Keep up the great work Bruce!
Thanks Bruce. You've now brought Illinois basketball to its lowest point in 30 years over the past 4 seasons. You must be proud of yourself. I know I am proud of you and thankfully you got that raise last year. You certainly deserved it because Ron Guenther rewards mediocrity.
Can't wait to hear you sugarcoat the NIT berth though. This isn't Southern you piece of junk.