Please, please, please be true. Go to Marquette, Bruce, before you ruin the Illinois program any more than you have.

3 years after Illinois goes 37-2, the other coaches from that Final Four each go to the Sweet Sixteen (Tom Izzo, Rick Pitino, and Roy Willams), and Weber loses 19 games, the most in Illinois history.

Posted by RyanChristie on April 2, 2008 at 10:13 AM

I give Marquette credit for more smarts than that, but hope springs eternal.

Posted by dstork on April 2, 2008 at 10:40 AM

I'm with you Ryan nothing negative towards Weber but there is no reason for not being back in the thick of things just like MSU, Louisville whom we beat in the FF and UNC whom we had a chance to beat. Be ok is no longer good enough. We need to be better and demand more from our coach and from our fans.

Posted by Bossman980 on April 2, 2008 at 11:15 AM

Edit that Being ok is no longer good enough. We need to be better and demand more from our coach and from our fans and players. Our coaches need to get these more motivated to dominate from start to finish and think like champs no matter if we are a young squad or vet squad. Our fans are great but I would like to see them get more involved. Pack the place every game and cheer hard and loud every game no matter who we are playing and even if it is during holiday season.

Posted by Bossman980 on April 2, 2008 at 11:18 AM

Another snag- Bruce has turned his recruiting fortunes around and is starting to build momentum. With his coaching ability and the talent that he is bringing in the future is very bright at Illinois.

Regardless of the lunatic fringe vocal-minority (see above comments).

These comments from a long-time season ticket holder, I-Fund donor, and true fan!

Posted by WhatWouldLouDo on April 2, 2008 at 3:42 PM

Ditto the comments from WhatWouldLouDo. Bruce Weber has done everything and more than we could expect. He took the 2005 team further than they would have gone under Coach Self and he is recovering amazingly from the unforeseeable Gordon situation created in no small part by the conduct of Mr. Sampson and we all know about his type of conduct now. Also an I Fund member, long time season ticket holder, and fan.

Posted by mgoldenberg on April 2, 2008 at 3:48 PM

Wow, I am shocked at how clueless someone regularly covering the Illini can really be. Marquette being attractive to Coach Weber is ridiculous on so many levels. First, our coach is extremely loyal, sometimes to a fault, how would this type of move be towards our AD...as disloyal as you can get. Second, we have two top 10 type classes coming to UI in '09 and '10, with the '10 class having the potential to be a top 5 class, to say nothing of Alex Legion, the return of Jamar Smith and the development of a fine '07 class...why would someone leave that for Marquette?????? Third, Coach Weber is a Big Ten guy through and through and so I say, "WAKE UP, Rossow!!"

As for the obviously clueless RyanChristie, 5 years, two trips to the sweet 16, one of those to the national championship game, NCAAs 4 of 5 years, compare that to any coach in Illinois history and see how you do!

Posted by jeohaver on April 2, 2008 at 3:55 PM

Relative to jeohaver's comments: Virtually none of the success of the program since 2004 was accomplished with Weber recruits. Further, to say that Self wouldn't have taken the 2005 team to the Final Four is specious. Finally, you really shouldn't make up rankings for the '09 and '10 classes, it destroys whatever credibility you might have had. The '09 and '10 classes can't be ranked because they don't yet exist for quality programs. Quality programs don't repeatedly employ recruiting tactics that involve asking 14 year olds to make life altering commitments.

Posted by dstork on April 2, 2008 at 4:40 PM

thank you sir for showing us your lack of knowledge about college basketball and recruiting. currently, north carolina has four commits in 09 and two in 10, and ucla has commits in both 09 and 10 as well, and thats just naming two of the top programs. any coach knows if you have a great talent who wants to commit early, you take it. unless, of course, you don't consider ucla and unc "quality"

Posted by quadillini on April 2, 2008 at 6:44 PM

quadillini, let's not let the facts get in the way of your commentary and look at the top programs:

09 & 10 Recruits

Kansas  0

Memphis  0

Michigan State  1

Arizona  1 (5 Star)

Texas  1 (5 Star)

Duke  1 (4 Star)

UCLA  2 (4 Star)

UNC  6 (4 are 5 star recruits, no 3 stars)

ILL  6 (3 are 3 star recruits with others pending)

Posted by dstork on April 3, 2008 at 10:43 AM

Thank you dstork for reminding the naysayers of the recruiting facts. Jerrance's charisma and ability to connect with the youth coupled with Weber's mastery has already played itself out in Legion choosing the Illini (even Self didn't bring in a Top 50 recruit other than Williams if you recall) and the 09 and 10 classes are shaping up to be a Top 10. Why the naysayers can't see this, despite their apparent fandom, is amazing to me. If they want such a great recruiter over a great coach, then perhaps they should create an Illini for Sampson campaign and see where that takes our program...

Posted by tmalkin on April 3, 2008 at 2:18 PM

Right......I'm sure the reason Kansas, Memphis, MSU, Arizona, Texas and Duke have a COMBINED 4 commitments for the 2009 and 2010 classes is because we are "connecting" better than they are. Also, if you are trying to argue Self vs. Weber on the recruiting front, you have lost all credibility. Contrary to your apparent belief, there is a correlation between recruiting high caliber talent and success on the court.

Posted by dstork on April 3, 2008 at 5:12 PM