The effect of oscar's title game

[michigancat]

Note: this isn't entirely about oscar, it's about CBB and the way people view NCAA tournament success.

Now that disclaimer is out of the way, how much did the title game affect him? Did it create expectations at Illinois that were unrealistic? Would oscar have been more comfortable in his coaching skin and been better later in his career?

Conversely, would we have hired him if he loses that game to Arizona? Would he even have made it nine years at Illinois?


IMO, his two outright B10 titles are more impressive than the single NCAA tournament run, and that stance is similar to what I said throughout Frank's tenure.

[Pete]

The two Big 10 titles were his most impressive accomplishment in my eyes, by far.

Look at Brad Stevens at Butler, or Bob McKillop at Davidson.  They rode some great horses....then.....

[yosh]

37-2 is really rough ridin' impressive.  I can think of no scenario in which going 37-2 in a major conference is not impressive. 

As for the general discussion point....I think coaches get too much credit for deep runs and too much glacier for early exits.  There were my fans calling for selfs head for his early exits.  I would look at seeding over record when it comes to hiring.  A coach that is consistantly a top 4 seed will eventually break through...and he's having fantastic regular season success.

[michigancat]

37-2 is really rough ridin' impressive.  I can think of no scenario in which going 37-2 in a major conference is not impressive. 

I never said it wasn't impressive. But how much less impressive is it if he goes 35-2? It shouldn't make that big of a difference IMO.

[chum1]

similarly, there's no real difference between winning the national championship and playing in the national championshio game.  that's why oscar weber is a national championship winning coach.

[michigancat]

similarly, there's no real difference between winning the national championship and playing in the national championshio game.  that's why oscar weber is a national championship winning coach.

Would oscar have been fired if he had won the game and had similar results for the next 7 years?

[yosh]

Ooohhh...   Good one.  I say no. 

And to you other question, no 35-2 shouldn't make a huge difference, but it would've.  The final four carries a lot of weight.

[SoCal Illini]

similarly, there's no real difference between winning the national championship and playing in the national championshio game.  that's why oscar weber is a national championship winning coach.

Would oscar have been fired if he had won the game and had similar results for the next 7 years?

Of course not.  Even though the argument can be made that he won with Self's players, he did coach the team.  That's why I think you guys will have a pretty good year next year.  It's the years after that I'd worry.  Let's face it, basketball like any job is all about what you've done lately, and lately his results were horrible.  Lately being the last 5 years.

Maybe Weber won't make the same mistakes he did at Illinois.  For your sake, I honestly hope he doesn't.  Just don't be too quick to hop on the bandwagon after next year.  History has a way of repeating itself.

[DoyleLonnegan]

Did it create expectations at Illinois that were unrealistic?

If we expected him to return to the Final Four/title game repeatedly, then this would have more credence. But we didn't. We just expected him to not miss the tournament repeatedly. He couldn't exceed those expectations.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Yeah, I really don't have any idea what the expectations Illinois fans have on their program, but I would definitely hope that the same results would get Weber canned from the K-State job. No coach is going to hold onto a job after wrecking a program the way Weber did Illinois.