Big Ten Hoops FIRES BRUCE WEBER

This is for you, Bruce

This week, we’re going to dispense with the re-capy type substance for the team comments in our power-rankings, and grind this awfully large axe I’ve been carrying around for the past two weeks.

Bruce Weber probably sucks at coaching.

Let’s get on to…

What? You want details? Fine.

Yes, I know he built the SIU program that was a mid-major power for him and Purdue’s Matt Painter. I’m talking about his work at Illinois. His two best seasons came in his first two years – teams made of Deron Williams, Dee Brown, Luther Head, James Augustine, and Brian Cook – that’s right – Bill Self’s guys. From a peak of National-runner-up, his team slipped to the 2nd round of the NCAA with a team returning Brown and Augustine, to a first round NCAA loss the following year, to a losing record the year after. In other words, as his recruits began to show up, they started losing games. His fortunes turned with the Class of 2007 – bringing in #72 national recruit Demetri McCamey, #12 center Mike Tisdale, and power forward Mike Davis. As sophomores, this trio were the three leading scorers on the team, and getting the Illini back to the NCAA tournament, when injuries to PG Chester Frazier and Davis derailed them in the first round.

Things were looking up as the trio were juniors – joined by elite recruits DJ Richardson and Brandon Paul (both ranked in the top 50 nationally). The Illini tumbled, however, from a four-team dead-lock on first place in the conference to out of the NCAA tournament with a 2-6 close to the season.

This season? Weber brought in three more top-100 talents in Meyers Leonard, Jereme Richmond, and Crandall Head, and lost essentially nobody. However, they are 14-7, .500 in the conference, losers of 4 of their past 5 (including an abhorrent loss to Indiana), staring at twelve feasible losses, and an uncomfortable time on the bubble. There are teams that would kill for this (hi, Michigan), but is this what Illinois should be doing?

Illinois’ rotation consists of six 4-star recruits, five of whom were in the top 50 nationally. By contrast, Ohio State has five (Sullinger, Thomas, Buford, Diebler, Lighty), Purdue has 4 (Johnson, Moore, Byrd, Terone Johnson), Wisconsin has 3 (Leuer, Berggren, Nankivil), Minnesota has 2, and Penn State has 0. All these teams sit atop the Illini in the Big 10 standings. The only team with a more talented rotation are the similarly frustrating Spartans, who have 7.

It’s not as if this talent isn’t developed – McCamey, Tisdale, and Davis have been the core of the team for three years, and have scored over double digits for all three. Paul and Richardson both are in their second straight year of 20+ minutes per game. Bill Cole is a fifth-year senior in his fourth year in the rotation. The Illini have two post players averaging 10+ points and 6+ boards a game with two talented freshmen contributing an additional 10 points and 6 rebounds. They have five shooters shooting better than 36% from behind the arc on more than a shot per game. Their point guard sports the conference’s best assist/TO ratio. How does this team keep losing?

They melt down against Missouri, they melt down against Ohio State, they never show up against Indiana or UIC. McCamey single-handedly wins games by getting to the free-throw line, then never goes to the rack again in a month. For a time, I put a ton of this on McCamey’s shouders, but the whole team plays in fits and starts. This is probably the most talented roster in the Big 10 – they just don’t have a coach that get them to show it.

The Power Rankings:

1. OSU 22-0, 9-0.The Buckeye’s had a bizarrely close-call to the John Shurna-less Wildcats, but blew the doors completely off Purdue in Columbus in a dominating win. Nobody is close at this point.

2. Purdue 18-4, 7-2. Purdue was just embarassed at Ohio State, a game in which only JaJuan Johnson showed up (22 points). Their defense was completely swiss-cheesed, but they atoned for their poor play on Saturday – eviscerating Minnesota by eighteen points at home, bombing the Gophers from behind the arc.

3. Wisconsin 15-5, 5-3.Wisconsin played one game this week – a game that saw them blow a thirteen point second-half lead to the Nittany Lions who, as per the MO, crushed the Badgers on the glass, and took seventeen more free-throws. Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer actually played quite well. Unfortunately, only four players scored a point.

4. Penn State 12-8, 5-4. Yes, they are this high. These rankings try to capture the strength right now – not the strength of resume, and the Nittany Lions are better than a guardless Gopher team. Penn State has beaten Michigan State (with Korie Lucious), Illinois, and Wisconsin while losing by 3 at OSU, and 1 at Purdue. This is, simply, a good team – one much more than “just Talor Battle”.

5. Minnesota 16-5, 5-4. The Gophers pounded Northwestern without Al Nolen, but I have extremely doubts about their ability to win with, essentially, small-forwards playing point and shooting guard – both from an offensive and defensive perspective, as Nolen was the best perimeter defender on the roster. The front-line is still scary, but they may no longer have the guard play to compete.

6. Illinois 14-7, 4-4. We’ve already discussed the Illini at length. We’ll see if they avoid the sweep against Penn State on Tuesday. I’m not optimistic.

7. Michigan 13-9, 3-6. I don’t particularly feel good about ranking them over Northwestern, but they have a similar resume, and are the hotter team, despite losing the head-to-head convincingly. Darius Morris and Zack Novak turned in stellar weeks.

8. Northwestern 13-8, 3-7. Giving Ohio State a scare without Shurna is awfully impressive, but they had lost their previous two games by a combined 42 points. Juice Thompson is the only consistent performer on the roster at this point.

9. Michigan State, 13-8, 5-4. I know they beat Northwestern twice. I know they have a better B10 record that the three teams ahead of them. Some reasoning: first, without Korie Lucious, this isn’t the mediocre team they were before. Second, the last time they beat a decent team was three weeks ago. Third, they just played two bad teams to a draw on their home floor. With Lucious, Michigan State’s temp was middle of the pack – 162nd in the nation. Since his loss, they played a game consistent with Michigan’s snail-pace, and a game consistent with Indiana’s jack-rabbit pace. In other words, without a PG, they’re having the games dictated to them. Kalin Lucas is a big-time scorer – too bad he’s not much of a PG.

10. Indiana 11-11, 2-7. A big win against a listless Illinois team is still a big win, followed up with a heart-breaking road loss in East Lansing. Christian Watford had two solid performances.

11. Iowa 8-13, 1-8. Back where they belong. Melsahn Besabe will be a dangerous player, unless he gets the Hawkeye transfer bug.

The week’s big games:

2/1 – Penn State @ Illinois 9PM

2/1 – Purdue @ Wisconsin 7PM

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