Some of you will call me lazy for randomly posting 156 seconds of Dee Brown highlights at this point in the calendar but I just want to point out two things real quick:
- This is my 31st blog of the week and I’m still going strong
- There’s a lot of chatter on social media about Illinois basketball falling apart and that’s complete and total bullshit because Brad Underwood rocks
I would like to use this blog for #2
Specifically, people need to shut the fuck up about Brad Underwood and his recruiting. It makes me sick to my stomach.
I woke up today to all these notifications about people complaining that they didn’t land player ABC and XYZ is back at Purdue and nobody believes in Brad because Tyler’s coaching the offense and just a whole load of hogwash.
It’s INSANE
So much that I have to assume a lot of you pussy boys don’t remember John Groce. Or maybe your dad nutted after Bruce lost control. Or maybe you just don’t know your head from your butt cheeks from your elbow to know that Brad Underwood is the best coach at Illinois since Bill Self in any sport.
And no disrespect to Bielema or Zook or whoever runs the women’s volleyball program these days. And certainly no disrespect to Mike Poeta because I’m not trying to end up feet first in the back of an ambulance on the way to the ER. But it’s hard to give a compelling argument for anyone to be better or more important to Illinois than Brad Underwood has been turning the program back to national relevance.
That’s the first and most important standard for Illinois basketball. Are we nationally relevant?
It’s a yes or no answer and anything less than YES is prejudiced bullshit.
And with that – I think people forget how few programs can claim that over a 5 year period. It’s not a big list yet that’s the expectation for Illinois hoops.
Some like to shortchange consistency for one good NCAA tournament. Others think you can only measure success based on March wins. Personally though I’m really focused about the 30 something games between November and February that bring me joy every time I see a national ranking number in front of Illinois.
That’s how I was raised for the first 20 years of my life and then one day it just went away, creating arguably the most embarrassing stretch for any team that I care about. Right up there with the Bulls after Jordan, the Cubs after Kerry Wood and however you’d explain what the hawks turned into.
But I don’t have two degrees from the Chicago Bulls or Blackhawks or anything. I didn’t spend 5 years competing for those organizations and they never collected tuition. The loyalty scale is incomparable in favor of Illinois athletics and that’s why losing the basketball program for a decade sucked so bad.
So bad you don’t even want to argue with people.
So bad you stop watching conference games on Saturday because it’s a fundamental waste of time.
So bad you stop hawking message boards for recruiting nuggets.
So bad you put the letterman jacket away after football season because you don’t want to be associated with a basketball program that goes TEN FUCKING YEARS without double digit conference victories.
10 years without cracking .500 in a conference you’ve owned to a .642 win percentage over 120 years.
That’s the kinda stretch of basketball you want to erase from the history books forever and we literally just got done living it.
And since then, Brad Underwood is AVERAGING a 14-6 record in conference play.
The last time Illinois was that successful over a 6 year period was around the Flyin Illini nearly 40 years ago.
So with all of this said – please shut your trap about Brad Underwood’s program building. With or without your favorite recruit and express approval, I’m pretty sure he knows exactly what he’s doing and if I need to use 156 seconds of Dee Brown highlights to get your attention to drive this point home, so be it.
In the meantime, let the guy recruit how he recruits without throwing a fuckin tempertantrum. You’re gonna look like a huge asshole when things are all said and done and I’d personally hate to see that happen. So again, cool it with the bullshit.
Well said!
Only major disagreement I have, is that part about best coach in any sport. Mike Small has had a great run in Golf. Not a revenue sport but credit where it’s due