Some internal dialogue on Groce, Illini

Today's panel discussion featuring me, myself and I officially concludes Illinois basketball's hiring process.

Me: So who gets to the Final Four first, newly hired head coach Bruce Weber at Kansas State or newly hired head coach John Groce at Illinois?

Myself: Probably whoever succeeds Bill Carmody at Northwestern next year.

I: Did anything good come out of the Illinois mess?

Me: Only that the public's frustration indicated people in this state care enough about the Illini to rank them right behind the national debt among man-made disasters.

Myself: What's your best bumper sticker to sum up the outcome?

I: “Groce might not be gross.”

Me: Overall you're all right with him?

Myself: Yes, but just all right. The best thing about Groce is that he reputedly has boundless energy, an element recently lacking in Illinois basketball.

I: Didn't you prefer a black coach?

Me: It would have been good for a diverse state university like Illinois to finally have its first black head coach in football or men's basketball.

Myself: Didn't athletic director Mike Thomas pursue top-tier black coaches like Shaka Smart?

I: He did but wound up with a second-tier white coach. There had to be a qualified second-tier black coach available somewhere in America. Apparently it was a priority but not enough of a priority.

Me: Why couldn't Illinois attract a bigger-name coach?

Myself: Two wordsand I won't mention them, but their initials are Bruce Weber. The last five years he made it look like winning at Illinois is harder than walking on the sun in bare feet. The program slumped closer to being Oregon State than Ohio State.

I: So it's all on Weber?

Me: No, the school itself appears unstable to the outside world. It changes university presidents like most schools change seasons. Coaches don't like that.

Myself: But you still think Illinois basketball is an elite program?

I: Wrong question. The debate became whether it's an elite program. It isn't. The debate should be whether it potentially is an elite program. It is.

Me: Doesn't that depend on recruiting the risky Chicago Public League?

Myself: No. Great if you occasionally can get a Big Ten-caliber, academically prepared player out of there. Kentucky made it to the current Final Four with a great one and Louisville did with a future great one. But Ohio State has a starter from the Chicago suburbs.

There are high-major players in the city, the suburbs, Peoria, Springfield, down around St. Louis, in and around Indianapolis. Good recruiters can land them, and good coaches can develop them.

I: So you don't agree that Illinois is a steppingstone job?

Me: Not unless the next stone is one of the few traditional powers like UCLA, which Gene Bartow left for in the '70s, or Kansas, where Bill Self went, or the NBA, where Lon Kruger went.

Myself: What reservations do you have about Groce?

I: He seems too rural. I would have preferred someone more Chicago than Champaign for a change.

Me: Again with the black thing?

Myself: No. The urban thing. Someone with street cred, street sense, street smarts. Someone who relates to premier young basketball players and vice versa.

I: Groce can't?

Me: Let's not judge the playbook by its cover. He likes attack basketball, and that's a good sign.

Myself: So “Groce might not be gross” after all?

I: Illini fans can only hope.

mimrem@dailyherald.com