12/21/24
March 21, 2005
An Illini never forgets?: While many were looking forward to a matchup between Kansas and Illinois because of the coaching carousel which will now never occur, bigger fireworks may be in store between Illinois and cinderella UW-M. While coaches and players for Illinois consider it old history, fans, former players, and even reporters are not so ready to forgive and forget Bruce Pearl's actions in regard to an investigation by the NCAA.
posted by joehyuk to basketball at 04:29 PM - 7 comments
True. Which is why I thought it was noteworthy that people still feel strongly about this.
posted by joehyuk at 10:39 AM on March 22, 2005
Why on earth aren't the fans upset with their own coaches who were breaking the rules? Oh, that's right, because what Pearl did was "unethical" (in the words of cock-punch-candidate Dick Vitale), and therefore Illinois shouldn't have been punished. Well, I hope Pearl and the Panthers win. I'd enjoy that.
posted by rocketman at 11:05 AM on March 22, 2005
Perhaps because it was slimy to tape phone conversations with a teenager w/o his permission, or to continually harass a teenager with phone calls? Or that Illinois was cleared of the allegation. Or it might be because Illinois fans felt like the NCAA was very harsh in its penalties for the very minor violations they did uncover (what kind of penalties would Duke or Notre Dame have gotten for the same violations?) and felt that the penalties were payback for the university questioning the NCAA and the allegations. Illinois fans also feel like that Bruce Pearl took down a nice and decent man like Lou Henson and forced him into early retirement with his unfounded allegations.
posted by gyc at 02:20 PM on March 22, 2005
I hope Illinois wins by fitty. They should run up the score mercilessly. I'll always have a soft spot for those late 80's Illinois teams. The Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Marcus Liberty team was one of my all time favorites.
posted by Mike McD at 06:44 PM on March 22, 2005
Bruce Pearl should get a fucking medal for getting rid of Lou Henson, who is undoubtedly the most overrated coach in Big Ten history. If someone, ANYONE, can come up with one game where Henson made a halftime adjustment to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, I'll kiss both said person's ass, and Dickie V's to boot. I spent my formative years watching Bobby Knight and Gene Keady hand it to the Illini with vastly inferior teams. GENE KEADY, for God's sake, the man who has a wolverine for hair! Maybe it wasn't right ... but my god, was it time.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:10 PM on March 22, 2005
FYI, it's UWM, or University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, never UW-M. Not that it matters now.
posted by drezdn at 02:11 PM on March 27, 2005
Ya know, most programs with NCAA investigations in their past try to forget about them.