At both Ohio, and at Illinois, John Groce has done very well in March. Not quite Tom Izzo levels of “Mr. March,” but very solid nonetheless. Groce has this Illini basketball team playing their best ball (currently 5-1 in their last six road/neutral court games) at the end of the season and a win tomorrow over Michigan would be victory #20 on the season.
All of a sudden what seems like the worst year for Illinois basketball since 1999 doesn’t seem so bad.
A proverbial rebuilding year, a down year by Illini standards now isn’t so down. Still John Groce must beat Michigan and then the next two games to go dancing. There’s no other way. They must run the table in the Big Ten Tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament.
So this conference tournament is a de facto qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. If John Groce reaches Sunday; the Big Ten championship literally becomes a March Madness play-in game.
Illinois started the season hot, going 13-2 and earning the #23 spot in the polls. But then they suffered through a brutal 1-10 stretch; which is every bit as rough as that record indicates. Two of those losses, at Northwestern and home to Purdue, are the albatrosses on the Illini basketball postseason resume. Had they found a way to pull those two out, and everything else held steady, we’re talking seeding and regional location for Illinois basketball in the tourney.
On February 9th, Illini basketball Coach John Groce inserted freshmen Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn (from Chicago Simeon) into the stating line-up. Including that contest, which Illinois won at Penn State, the team has been 6-3 since then with the new starting five.
Here’s what John Groce had to say about the switch after the win over Tom Crean and the rival Indiana Hoosiers, effectively ending IU’s season.
“Obviously Ekey has played really well both as a starter and off the bench. Joe’s been a little bit up and down. But those guys have been willing to sacrifice in order for the team to be better. So I couldn’t ask for two better seniors. I think that’s been the key to the transition. A lot of the focus has been on the freshmen and how they played and rightly so. They played well. But I think the seniors’ ability to adapt not to be a distraction, but to be an enhancer of what they’re doing in their new role, that’s pretty special for a senior to do that. It’s not surprising if you know John and Joe and their DNA and their makeup, they’re great people first and then obviously very good basketball players second.”
It’s not likely John Groce can win the next three, but even if he doesn’t, Illinois will still have a decent seed in the NIT. That’s not the tournament which matters for Illini basketball, it’s not the standard. However, given that the Illini were 2-9 in the conference play at one point, and in serious danger of finishing with a .500 or below .500 record, it’s kind of impressive. They kept fighting. Effort has never been as issue with this team. Scoring, and especially shooting yes, but not effort.
Now if Illinois could just figure out January…seriously, John Groce has done a fine job coaching this team this season. Finishing up strong.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar, he’s also a frequent analyst on multiple news talk radio stations. The former NBC Chicago and Washington Times contributor has also been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows The Sports Bank on Twitter (@paulmbanks) you should too