From the other site:
From a Converted Illinois Fan Reply
Once Weber left, I knew I would follow K-state. And after the complete clusterf*ck that was our coaching search as well as not retaining Jerrance Howard (or so it seems), and the complete ignorance to not hire assistants with Chicago connections, I have now moved on from Illinois.
A couple things about Weber's track record in Illinois you may not know. He may not be John Calipari buddy buddy with players, but he will stick his neck in for players and they view him as a great fatherly figure. Examples of this would be Jamar Smith, Luther Head, Jereme Richmond, and Rich McBrice. As you might know, Jamar went from suspended to kicked off the team, but still holds oscar in admiration. Similarly with Jereme Richmond, though he did not turn out as he and everyone hoped and since has been in downward spiral, his respect for Weber is through the roof. McBrice and Head also got their acts together and the rest is history. He also can discipline players and its said him and D-will used to get into heated arguments as Weber would routinely put D-will with four bench players to scrimmage the other four starters along with the sixth man. Weber realized how special D-will could be long before anyone else did, and he made it a mission to bring the best player out of him. Any ill effects? Absolutely zero as Deron was even vocal when Weber was on the hot seat and has flown Weber in for courtside seats at playoff games before as well stated many times Weber helped make him the player he is today.
Also, people have said Weber only achieved in his first couple years because he had Self's players. FALSE. Self inherited a team that was as good, if not better then Weber inherited, and only made the elite 8. (Frank Williams, Cory Bradford, Sergio McClain, Brian Cook, Robert Griffin) Self's last year they lost in the 2nd round of NCAA. They lose Brian Cook, arguably the most dominant big man the Illini have ever had that year, and Weber comes in, and after a 3-3 start in conference, the team reels off their next 13 games. That team lost in the S16 to #1 seed Duke, in a game the refs determined. The next year everyone knows about so no need to discuss. What year people don't know a lot about is 2008-09 where Weber basically fielded an SIU team and turned them into a 2nd place B10 team, and had Chester Frazier not been injured, was poised to make a deep tournament run based off of defense. This team started 3 sophmores (Tisdale 3*, Mike Davis 3*, Demetri McCamey 3*) and two seniors (Trent Meachem- walk-on transfer from dayton) and Chester Frazier (Tough as nails 3* guard from Baltimore). This team won on the road at Purdue & Ohio State, something that has not been done at Illinois since, and absolutely destroyed Missouri on a neutral site. Their only non-conference loss was to Clemson by 2. With Frazier out, they were upset in the first round by WKU (Courtney Lee's team), but climbed back into the game and lost by 4. This was the best coaching job by Weber in my mind, as he took a team that besides McCamey and Tisdale, not a single other starter was offered by a single b10 team and turned them into an extremely efficient, defensive minded contender.
Had Weber been able to follow his MO from that point, he would've been fine. But after the Eric Gordon affair and missing on Rose and Scheyer, people began to say Weber could not recruit. He started paying attention and filling up the roster with four and five star guys, that weren't Weber's type of players. Weber's system includes a lot of options and determination by the players, so you need smart players on the offensive end that can dribble, shoot, and pass. On the defensive end, you need toughness. Weber runs man-to-man all day and if you look at his defensive efficiency numbers, they are very good with a couple of outliers at the end. (National Rankings - 62, 25, 16, 5, 55, 3, 108, 88). Notice at the end, the transition away from defense, I believe this is because Weber stopped recruiting his type of players and started listening to the rankings and stars. These are also out of all men's D1 teams, and have no factor in them whatsoever as to who you played, so it is much easier for smaller schools to have higher rankings.
Lastly, had Jamar Smith (the perfect fit for Weber's system) been able to return and Eric Gordon followed through on his commitment, or even never committed, I don't think oscar ever struggles at Illinois as his only losing season came in the one season Gordon would have been at Illinois.
As far as recruiting, it has been said the coaches in Chicago were reported as being more positive on him at K state then they were at Illinois. Everyone also thought he would do well and would have no problem sending him players. Lowery also has a strong connection to the Mac Irvin Fire, the one team Weber seemed to struggle to recruit from. Also, I cant link it as I already have one link, but check this address to read Parker's comments on Weber
http://espn.go.com/chicago/ncb/story/_/id/7652207/simeon-jabari-parker-keeping-eye-illinois-coaching-situationThough, its definitely a long shot, with a huge year this year K-state might get a chance in the recruitment.
Well, hope this info is helpful as well as you guys dont mind if I convert.
