is this a good or a bad thing?

Question by The real Halima.: is this a excellent or a terrible thing?
This season, the University of Illinois basketball team will likely take the phrase so often expressed by their wooly neighbors just three hours to the north, “Wait ‘Til Next Year”, to a whole new level.

That’s because many Illini fans may have been saying it before this season even started. In case you hadn’t heard, 2009 is when Bruce Weber’s first crop of prize recruits since becoming the head coach of the Illini five years ago, start strolling into Chambana.

Four players, guards D.J. Richardson, Brandon Paul, and Joseph Bertrand, by the side of with forward Tyler Griffey are all ranked in the top 100 nationally and currently give the Ilini the 8th-ranked recruiting class in the nation according to Rivals.com.

Throw in five-star verbal committments from small forward Jereme Richmond and shooting guard Crandall Head for 2010 and all of a sudden the Illini, who started to take on the look of a mid-major program Weber supposedly left behind, might again start to resemble the national power we were hoping “Bail” Self was going to build before bolting for the only house where the Planet’s scab is flatter and more dull to look at than Inner Illinois - that being Kansas.

Of course, this is all high and mighty that Kelvin Sampson doesn’t somehow worm his way back into college basketball and give all these guys’ fathers cushy jobs.

In any event, Illinis fans still have to make it through this season. So what can be expected from a team that refined 13-18 (5-13 in the Huge Ten) and lost two of its supposedly better players in bruiser Shaun Pruitt and the “Human Enigma” Brian Randle?

Well, probably not a whole lot, although Thursday night’s 69-63 win at Vanderbilt, an NCAA tournament team a season ago, offers some hope.

The main problem is, at least according to the hoops experts here at Grubb Hub - some of the finest in the planet by the way - is that this year’s team will continue to rely solidly on seniors Trent Meacham and Chester Frazier in the backcourt, and that can’t be a excellent thing.

Both of these guys are marginal Division I players at best. On a excellent team, one that might make the NCAA tournanent and have a opportunity to advance a round or two, Frazier would fill a backup top guard role, a guy who can come in for maybe 5-10 minutes a game and denote the starting top guard, play excellent safeguard, run the set offense, and pass the ball getting others caught up.

Similarly, Meacham would be a three-top specialist on a better team, the kind of role filled by Sean Harrington during three NCAA tournament runs by the Illini.

Plain and simple, the more minutes these guys get, the worse off the Illini will be. Grubb Hub’s most optimistic hope coming into this season was that troubled guard Jamar Smith would come back and play like he did as a freshman, that University of Kentucky transfer Alex Legion, a 6-5 shooting guard, would be anywhere close to as excellent as advertised, and that freshman standout Demetri McCamey would establish himself as the clear starter at top guard and the Illini’s go-to-guy, leaving backup roles to Frazier and Meacham.

With Jamar Smith out of the picture, this idealistic hope is obviously no longer possible. But, if senior guard Calvin Brock’s level of dedication really has been holding him back - as has been reported in the media - we’d like to see him play while giving 100 percent because he’s shown himself to be a honestly gifted player both offensively and defensively.

All I know at this top is if Weber wants to use the games against scrub teams such as Eastern Washington and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to make a top to McCamey by leaving him out of the starting five, fine. But when the Illlini start playing real compeition, McCamey better be in there starting and playing 30-plus minutes.

And Grubb Hub doesn’t give a flying rat turd who’s a senior and who’s a sophomore or whatever. All we care in this area is who’s better. We have given Chester Frazier all the credit in the planet for being a hustler and a scrapper, but let’s face it the talent just isn’t there. And Meacham is a excellent catch-and-shoot guy from the beyond the arc - and that’s pretty much it.

As for the frontcourt, at least the sophomore Mikes - Davis and Tisdale - have shown some real promise as well as the ability to really make a free throw, which may or may not make them instantly better than the guys they replaced, the aforementioned Randle and Pruitt.

With all the promise of seasons to come contrasted with the present, “Wait ‘Til Next Year” might prove to be pretty tough to do.

Best answer:

Answer by tamil..from vellore
it appears not excellent.

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Tags: Basketball Team, Bruce Weber, Central Illinois, College Basketball, Committments, Cushy Jobs, good, Grubb, Halima, Head Coach, Ilini, J Richardson, Jereme Richmond, Joseph Bertrand, Kelvin Sampson, Ncaa Tournament Team, Shaun Pruitt, thing, this, Tyler Griffey, University Of Illinois Basketball, Vanderbilt, Whole Lot

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