Is Illini coach Weber worth a 50 percent raise?
Surely the University of Illinois won't bug me with fundraising letters and phone calls in 2010.
My alma mater is so fiscally flush that in May the board of trustees approved a 50 percent pay increase for basketball head coach Bruce Weber.
I'm assuming that's the same Bruce Weber whose team came out so flat in the United Center on Saturday that Gonzaga took a 32-11 lead.
That also would be the same Bruce Weber whose players managed the clock in overtime as if in real life they hadn't been taught the difference between the big hand and the little hand.
In between the Illini played well enough to catch up, take the lead and eventually appear valiant in an 85-83 defeat.
But is that all that Illinois gets for extending Weber's contract through the 2014-15 season and raising his annual salary to $1.5 million?
Taking 22nd-ranked Gonzaga into overtime could be considered a moral victory even though the Zags were tired after a month of traveling and playing all over the map.
But are moral victories what Illinois basketball has come to? Is the program stooping to the level of the football program? Is Bruce Weber becoming basketball's Ron Zook?
Champaign is so close to Chicago but one of the great things about going away to any college is you're a few million miles from reality.
Underaged drinking is winked at. Mascots in funny costumes are earth-altering issues. Sports represent the social events of the year.
No wonder the fantasy world would include a basketball coach receiving a 50 percent pay raise during such dire economic times.
In February a journalist asked Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun whether he would give back some of his salary, considering the state's fiscal crisis.
"Not a penny," Calhoun shot back, priming the subject for national debate.
Weber, a good man and OK coach, likely would respond similarly and cite an allegedly outstanding recruiting class due to arrive next season.
Still, Illinois hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 2006. The Illini currently are unranked with a disappointing 9-5 record. They play a style of basketball that isn't exactly breathtaking.
Folks, this clearly isn't Jim Calhoun we're talking about.
The questions raised by Weber's financial windfall are myriad, not the least being how somebody could spend that much money in a place like Champaign anyway.
More relevantly, we're talking about Bruce Weber, so couldn't they wait to see how he does this season before rewarding him?
Illinois couldn't be afraid Weber will be in demand. His name wasn't on the shortlist when the Kentucky job opened after last season. No college basketball program that would have him now would be an upgrade if he wanted to split from the Illini.
Seriously, no school with more basketball prestige and potential than Illinois has been flirting with Weber, so why did Illinois' administration feel compelled to increase his pay by 50 percent?
That was only one of the questions rattling around in this alum's head during Saturday's loss to Gonzaga.
Another, of course, was why the Illini didn't get better shots down the stretch.