Now that we're not dancing ...

[Original Joe]

... and we are clearly on the WRONG side of the bubble, I really hope Weber goes balls-to-the-wall with this group of young players 

[Lou Do]

... and we are clearly on the WRONG side of the bubble, I really hope Weber goes balls-to-the-wall with this group of young players 

Yep!!!

[EasyESmall]

I don't think Mike Shaw even played last night, if he did, it was less than 2 minutes, and Henry was in for just a little bit.  If they aren't playing because all the other guys are supposedly "that much better", then this team is long in trouble anyway.

[Musson]

That's why I keep saying, even though it looks inevitable right now, bringing in a new coach isn't the fix.  Might run something different, might run zone, which we did last night, might have a faster tempo, but it is not going to be all roses because BW is a bad Coach, too rigid, or hard headed.

I think he hasn't been those things enough.

We still have the same kids with the same abilities and the same attitudes.   Gonna take a bit to change those things.

[DeezNutz]

That's why I keep saying, even though it looks inevitable right now, bringing in a new coach isn't the fix.  Might run something different, might run zone, which we did last night, might have a faster tempo, but it is not going to be all roses because BW is a bad Coach, too rigid, or hard headed.

I think he hasn't been those things enough.

We still have the same kids with the same abilities and the same attitudes.   Gonna take a bit to change those things.

Musson, the attitude needs to change.  Bruce needs to go just based on his comments from last night's post game presser.  He has been coaching not to lose for the last 3 years!  We need new blood.  There is talent, but we don't have the right guy in charge.

Could it be worse with a new coach next year?  Sure.  But I'm willing to take my chances. 

[Musson]

Sure there is talent on the team. No doubting that.  I just don't see talent enough to do much better whomever is in charge. Just my opinion.

[chief321]

Shaw didn't see the court.  He should get some clock from here on out...he looked like a freshman when the season started, so I presume that's why he hasn't gotten to play..TA looked like a freshman at the start of the season too..and look what we've got now.  MH got a couple minutes, same with Egwu...I'm really tired of BW admitting he should have played his bench more when he knows darn good and well he just isn't a guy that trusts his bench.  I really like the guy, but he obviously has some problems trusting the team and thus the team trusting the staff.  This team is in disarray...we were at the game last night and we came out not ready to play...left their shooters open too much and let lewjack ring us up for 15 or so in the first half...pitiful.
We actually didn't play zone, it was a triangle and two...I almost choked when I saw that...Gotta give BW credit for playing something other than man...when byrd was in, they went back to man so we could keep him from shooting too much from the outside, when he was out, we went back to the triangle and two.

[YadiFrazier]

Have to completekly agree with Deez on this one.  If you listened to Bruce last year and then again this year, Bruce has been holding the reins way to tightly in an attempt to squeeze out every victory possible.  Unfortunately, the exact opposite has happened.  Last night the ending was soooo predictable as we once again had three guys play 37+ minutes.  Griffey was "rewarded" for a really nice effort in the game prior to this with 8 minutes - 8.  Henry had two, Egwu - two, and 0 for the big ten Sam was in 17.   

Last night was the final nail in the coffin, end of story, so he might as well let the kids play.

[BYS]

The team is poorly constructed, undisciplined, unprepared and has no leadership. It goes back to recruiting. It's 95% of college basketball and in my opinion has not really improved all that much.

[FlyinIllini89]

Sure there is talent on the team. No doubting that.  I just don't see talent enough to do much better whomever is in charge. Just my opinion.

I keep reading this type of comment, but I'm not convinced it's true.  Especially if one subscribes to the opinion that the problem all along was the coaching.  I mean, isn't it possible that the reason these players have not lived up to their potential is because the coaching staff did not do a good job developing them, or instilling confidence and on-court decision making skills?  Perhaps these kids ARE better than they are showing but have lost confidence and their feel for the game at the hands of a controlling coach who never really trusted them and seemed unwilling to accept some growing pains and mistakes along the way. 

Some people are assuming that these players would be exactly the same regardless of who is coaching, and I contend that is a flawed assumption.  If this same group of kids were placed in the hands of another coach such as Izzo, Matta, Pitino, Coach K, Smart, Bo Ryan, et al... I would argue that group of kids would play much differently and more successfully than they did under Weber.