From: burtonr@qso.Colorado.EDU (Richard Burton)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college
Subject: Re: 1992 Illini thoughts.
Date: 13 Apr 92 18:39:41 GMT
Article-I.D.: colorado.1992Apr13.183941.19846
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder

BONACCI  John writes:
>wung@habetler.ee.gatech.edu writes:
>>
>>All these ILLINI thoughts have got me thinking about the one thing that has 
>>bugged me
>>for awhile.  Does anyone out there think that Lou is doing an outstanding 
>>job?  I
>>mean the guy can recruit like crazy, but it seems like his teams are big 
>>time underachievers, this year notwithstanding.  The final four team seemed 
>>like they
>>were unbeatable, but they played like crap and Lou let them play like 
>>crap.  Then
>>there is the Austin Peay debacle.  After witnessing Coach K's performance 
>>the last
>>two years, it seems like the Illini need to have a new man on the bench.
>>
>>Any thoughts out there on this?

>Well, for starters, if you're not sure about his graduation rate, then
>for heaven's sake don't bring it up.  It never ceases to amaze me how
>effective irresponsible journalism has been in smearing the Illini
>reputation.  

This should be no surprise. Just look at the bulk of the journalism
majors at any school.

>If the Illini canned Henson and put someone else there, it could be nothing
>more than a statement of dissatisfaction with tournament performance.  It
>is hard to assail his overall output over the last 10 years.  Is a coach
>hired to bring his team to the Final Four?  And the list of coaches that
>could guarantee better tournament results at Illinois is probably pretty
>small, assuming the administration is even interested.

I think there might be one other reason. Henson has one of the best
winning percentages in the Big 10 since he came to Illinois; at
least I believe this is true, I don't have the stats with me. He
certainly has had some great teams and some phenomenal players. But
in that time, he has only one the league title once (1984), and then
shared it. Over the years, the Big 10 has seen some very talented 
teams, many from Illinois. But in all the time that he has been at
Illinois, (20+ years, I believe) he has only gotten 1/2 of a league
title. I think that is the biggest rap against Henson: he has had 
all these really talented teams, but has only finished at the top 
once. I mean, the expectation value, with no information other than
ten teams and twenty years, is 2 championships. You throw in that
Wisconsin and Northwestern are in there, plus the fact that the
Illini has usually been one of the more talented teams, and you can
see why the idea of Henson not being a great coach exists.  

>Henson is much maligned.  He is not Coach K when it comes to tournament
>results.  But who is?  He has brought some talent there that never seemed
>to develop, this is true.  But mostly of offensive output only.  Henson
>usually produces outstanding defensive players.  But it's kind of hard to ask 
>for a LOT more than a decade full of 20+ win seasons and annual trips to the 
>tournament with decent seedings.  The Final Four team let the fans down
>by losing to Michigan.  Do you fire him for that?  

I agree; I have said it before and I'll say it again: one game does
not a coach make, nor break. Dick Tarrant is not a great coach because
Richmond beat Syracuse in '91. But because he had upsets in '84 and
reached the sweet sixteen with Richmond in '88, and so on and so on, 
he is a great coach. Is Henson a bad coach because he lost to Austin 
Peay? Or couldn't beat Michigan for the third time in '89? No. But it
is because he seems to make a bad coaching decision SO OFTEN that he
gets his rep. Also, because these bad decisions aften seem like they
may have cost the team the game, the rep gets reinforced. I really 
think that this point just cannot be overemphasized. If his bad
decisions didn't change the outcome, fewer people would care or even
notice. Remember, one of the words that is often applied to the 
Illini teams (though not those of recent years) is underachieving
because of their inability to win the league when it is theirs to 
lose.

>That guy in the red sweater
>went out of his way to help his team lose to Duke in the semis this year.
>Bet he'll still be around for a while! :-)

It helps to have 1 NIT and 3 NCAA banners waving in the rafters.

T-Bone Burton
CASA
Coors U.
"Hello, Houston, we got a problem here; Lloyd keeps hitting on the
babe." - Crow, MST3000