No NCAA tournament for Illini
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Illinois apparently didn't do enough to impress the selection committee.
And the Illini won't play in the NCAA tournament for the second time in three seasons after they were left out of the 65-team bracket released on CBS today.
Chair Dan Guerrero said tonight that Illinois' losses (four) to teams with an RPI below 100 was one of the negatives considered. He said the Illini's RPI (75) wasn't one of the factors, although it would have been the lowest RPI for a team selected as an at-large.
"Their nonconference strength of schedule was not necessarily the strongest," Guerrero said of Illinois.
Guerrero declined to name the last four teams in or out of the field.
"In this particular case we just didn't feel they (Illinois) were strong enough to make the field," he said.
The NIT announcement is set for 8 p.m. tonight on ESPNU. A UI spokesperson said tonight Illinois (19-14) would accept an NIT bid if one is extended. The Assembly Hall can't host a first-round game but can host a second-round game played on March 22.
UI coach Bruce Weber and selected players are expected to address media later tonight.
"It really comes down (to) it's probably our fault," Weber said on ESPN after the bracket was released.
More coverage coming later.
The problem with the system, The N.C.A.A.,is that you can be in a small conference and win your conference tourney, and you are in, even though they have not played a top 25 team all year, where, another team may have played ten games against top 25 teams, and not get in. It makes schools want to load up on small schools to build up their resume.
Why is there no heat on Weber? Two missed tourneys in the last three years. No first round win since Dee and Augustine left. Sherron Collins is the pt. guard for the #1 team. Scheyer is the point for another #1 seed. Jacob Pullen(Illinois didn't recruit him) is the best player on #2 seed K-State. He can't recruit, evaluate talent, and he can't coach up talent either. Since 82-83, not including the two years they were on probation, Illinois has missed the tourney four times, including two under Weber in the last three years. He has taken a top 15 program from the early '00's and made them irrelevant. He needs to be Fired
10-8 and 5 RPI Top 50 wins. wow. lost tough game to Gonzaga, at Purdue (with Hummel). Certainly didn't lose to Indiana or get blown out by Fichigan in the last week of the regular season. Minny is flat our terrible and Purdue is one and done. Big Ten will hang its hat on O$U and I hope thay lose early. Those two moronic calls at the end of the game and OT by Weber really look huge now.
5 years ago this week, we were the number one overall seed in the whole dance, since then we have missed the dance 2 out of 3 years and been bounced in the first round the last two times we were in the dance! As my 65 yr. old uncle said (an Illinois alumnus) THANKS BRUCE! You have officially taken the hard work of Lon Kruger and Bill Self and ran it into Mediocrity.
I don't see how anybody could get excited to see your team in the N.I.T. if you didn't make the big dance. Do you really believe anybody now days gives a hoot about the N.I.T? In my days, they had county tournaments during the year, and playing in the N.I.T. while the N.C.a.A. tournament is going on, is like playing for third place in a county tournament. Believe me, I've been there.
After watching the Illini play as they did in the Big Ten Tournament, you really have to put the failure to make the tourney on the players. They were screamed at all year as to what it would take to make the tourney and they waited to the Big Ten Tournament to finally listen. Too late, just like the shots at the end of regs and the first overtime in Satursday's game.
P.S. If you are looking for a leader next year, try on Meyers Leonard on for size. He wants to win and bad . .plus he's good . . .
This should serve as a wake-up call to the team AND the staff especially Weber. A team can't sleep walk through long stretches of games or take plays or games off. I hope they all learn their lesson. Poor play and poor decisions have ramifications. We can point to losses to Utah, Bradley, GA, Gonzaga, Northwestern and Minnesota as the reasons why. Win one or two of those and we are not sweating today. That said the inspired play in Indy was the best I've seen them play since at the Kohl center. Weber said he should have coached them that way all season instead of molly collling them as he put it. Well Bruce that was your call. Make them do wind sprints after bad losses like Knight used to do at IU would lose at home until midnight. Dmac you have some great talent but you are not NBA ready yet and has to do with your head and not your handles or your shot. Mike and Mike PLEASE hit the weights and the chow table some more! The good news is that our 3 freshmen looked great in Indy and with the next class coming things look good for next year. But I'm getting impatient with Weber ball and so is Illini nation. Sweet 16 or better by 2012 Bruce. If not then hit the road.
Seriously??? Fire Bruce Weber??? Get a clue.....Our teams have over achieved the last two years, granted we should have won a few more games this season but that doesnt change who we have coming in, aka, meyers, jereme, crandall, tracy, among others. We have some great years coming trust me, and Bruce can coach. Sometimes players lose games. If we fired Weber who do you suggest we get to come here??? not too many high profile coaches who can get consistent top talent to champaign. get outta here with the fire bruce garbage. youre just being emotional. If they had made it in you would be the first one to praise him for getting us this far.
As one blogger asked? why isn't their any body out there crying about replacing Weber, because as long as you faithful keep buying tickets, why should the u.of i. make a change. Take the Cubs for example, they fill the stadium for 100 years with people who would come if they were 0 and 162.
Bruce Weber get's paid to coach his team and win games. That's his job, point blank, he's coaching young men, some of us were young men and we did not always bring our A game. In my line of work if you have 4 yrs. of mediocrity, they get somebody else! Bruce Weber is the blame make no excuses for him, His job is to win ball games, that's it. This team played lousy in there last three home games, and the Illini have one of the best home court advantages in the NCAA!
kbillini must be a cub fan
always waiting till next year.
i am tired of watching bruce weber coach!!
7 years ago weber came to illinois
7 years ago bill self went to kansas
7 years ago thad matta went to ohio state.
i guess shoulda woulda coulda and wait till next year!!!!
kb, you go ahead and live with mediocrity. I expect more from the program with the 14 most wins of all-time. You don't need a high profile coach just someone w/ charisma, passion, and ABILITY. I'm sure there are a lot of coaches who'd like to come to a Big Ten team w/ Illinois' tradition, not to mention be 2-1/2 hours from Chicago:the hottest Hotbed for high school ball. Wake up man
This program was rolling from the mid 80's until the probation hit. Then when Sergio/ Frankie/ B COOK-extended the run to DWill/Dee/Luther-to even Rich McBride. The problem is that we should be competing for the national championship in basketball because it only takes two/three really good players to win it all!
HEY guys, I just watched the tournament selection show with my uncle who played at the U of I and Nick Anderson this afternoon. They both said, that Bruce Weber get's a break from the people in Central Illinois for what reason, they don't know. As Nick pointed out to a group of guys today, Bill Cole/Mike Tisdale (should be playiing in the MVC) and Mike Davis get's double/doubles because he's the only one that rebounds. He can't finish around contact, thus you get no tournament action. Good luck with this N.I.T. thing, I'm going to drink a beer with Nelison (Nick) and talk about the good old days when the Illini were good!
Webers offense is sickening. either someone is hot from the outside or we have NO chance..Tubby Smith embarrassed Weber at the Assembly Hall by playing a zone..the players are fed up with his screaming the entire game EVERY game...he is too stubborn to play a zone while Ohio State dribbles straight to the basket time after time...the lineup combinations he uses are insane,always taking the hot hand out of the game for his own mysterious reason...Davis may be the softest player in Illinois history and plays almost the entire game against Ohio St while looking miserable ...please dont tell me about his 18 rebounds...he played 47 minutes and most of the boards were his own missed close to the basket shots....ENOUGH...WE HAVE SEEN ENOUGH !!!!!!!..CMON GUENTHER HAVE THE STONES TO MAKE A CHANGE WITH ALL THE UNDERCLASSMEN WE HAVE AND THE ENORMOUS POTENTIAL WE HAVE CANT BE WASTED ON THIS SCREAMING CRAZY MAN THE UNIVERSITY AND A LEGENDARY BASKETBALL STATE DESERVE MUCH BETTER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm with ElDuderino.
Hopefully this will provide some motivation for next year's squad.
I really liked that this team never quit. Unfortunately there were games where they weren't really there until late in the game. More a problem of starting.
For the people calling for Coach Weber's head they might also note that UNC isn't in the tournament this year either. Any one ready to fire Roy Williams?
The core of this team is coming back next year with some additional young talent. Coach Weber has shown that he can coach a talented team. Expectations are going to be high for 2010-2011 and reasonably so.
As for the Illini being left out of the dance, I'm not happy but that's really more on the team than the selection committee. Minnesota gets in with a combined 12-10 Big Ten record to Illinois' 11-9 and beating Illinois on their home court.
This team was really close and it isn't just one event that kept the Illini out of the tourney. Any of the following gets them in, in my humble opinion:
A win at home over Minnesota
A basket at the end of regulation or the first OT against OSU
Wins over Bradley and Utah
A win over Gonzaga
The NIT can be a valuable experience for the team in preparation for next season. It will be an indication of their maturity here if they can forget their disappointment and pick it up and make a run through the NIT.
Go Illini!
anyone who compares Weber with Roy Williams is not capable of making a salient point...its time for anyone who follows Illini basketball to accept the fact Weber is an Asst Coach or head coach in D3...as far as being left out of the NCAA,they didnt deserve to be one of the best teams in the country...they couldnt win 20 games while everyone else did,AND they had a cupcake schedule in November and most of December....the apologists are out,as usual,but the Minnesota game at home proved once and for all to everyone Weber doesn't belong as a head coach in the Big 10
To Bear8287,
Don't compare UNC & Roy Williams to Illinois & Bruce Weber. When Bruce Weber wins two national titles, we'll forgive him for missing the tournament once in a great while. It's like a Cub fan comparing their team to the Yankees; there's no comparison.
With all do respect to you; there are an awful lot of "ifs" and "buts" in your analysis...Tired of Illinois fans sounding like Cub fans with the "wait till next year" mantra.
Football has fallen off the face of the earth and basketball is coming real close to following. It all points to a poor hiring AD.
dguire,
Weber has talent coming in next year and this year's freshmen will be that much better. We are in a vacuum here. None of us is happy with what happened this year, but geez. He did well when he had good talent, so the next couple of years should be much better.
Considering both the low level of intelligence and the high level of venom spewed in many of these comments about a game played by kids who are also students at a great university (Memphis and Derrick Rose???), I suggest the editors limit any commener to one comment per article that appears -- and enough of the copying and pasting the same comment in several places. Get a life, guys, or maybe a wife.
ElDuderino,
Agreed; I do see the talent coming in and hope that brings success that the fans have been wanting from this program. But if they stumble again next year, I don't want to hear excuses from fans that this team is filled with sophmores and freshman. While I don't expect the Final Four next year, I do expect a successful season.
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