Interesting remarks from recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons on Taylor Bell's blog today.
"(Illinois coach Bruce) Weber is painted as a bad recruiter by Illini Nation and other people read the Internet, including college coaches, recruits, fans and alumni," Gibbons said. "That negativity fuels the fire and hurts the program. Other kids are made aware of what people are saying about Illinois. It can have a lot to do with how they deal with the recruiting process."
I can't say I agree with that. Weber's recruiting was subpar by any standard his first three years at Illinois. He brought in his first good class in 2007. That group of Demetri McCamey, Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis - now sophomores - has been instrumental in returning Illinois to respectability in the Big Ten this year. Weber has a good class signed for 2009 and some impressive verbals for 2010.
I can say with great confidence the Internet fans are just as idiotic now as they were four or five years ago when Weber couldn't get anyone to take his scholarships. The fans haven't changed at all, but Weber's recruiting success has changed for the better. I'm having trouble making a correlation there.
Overall, I'm really skeptical that fan attitudes have that much say in where kids go for college.
I had a great weekend.
The Twins signed Joe Crede.
Wild defeated the Blackhawks on Josh Harding's brilliant performance.
Gophers defeated Northwestern, which puts the Gophers on life support in the tourney not to mention Northwestern being all but done now for March Madness. Enjoy the NIT, Northwestern.
Can't wait until Thursday night.
Northwestern probably will enjoy the NIT. That's a great year for them.
Northwestern fans at WSI were talking about March Madness just last week. They had a good year, and they had a chance to get into this tourney with a win last night. The only way they can get in is a win in the tourney, and that ain't happening.
Nonsense. Even with a win last night, Northwestern would be looking at the NIT. They are 5-9 in the Big Ten, ninth place in the conference, 14-11 overall, not really close to tournament contention.
Northwestern lost three consecutive games - including two at home - from 2/7 to 2/15. They choked on the road against a poor Iowa team, blew a big lead at home to Illinois and dropped a very winnable overtime game at home to a mediocre Michigan squad. Any legitimate NCAA talk died right there.
The final nails were put in the coffin over a week ago.