FIRED at UofI. HIRED at KSU. Why Kansas fans hate Bruce Weber....

[WavetheWheat]

Bruce Wooden, left-handed genius

“Bill was (the players’) buddy. He told them how good they were,” Weber said. “The first thing I said to Dee was, ‘Dee, you can’t make a left-handed layup and your pull-up jumper is awful. And you tell me you want to play in the NBA?’

“ ‘I’m trying to help you but somebody screwed up and didn’t make you do these things.’ Dee didn’t know how to deal with that."
From the Jan. 11, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


The Funeral

....Tired of the seemingly endless questions about Self, Weber donned a black suit and black tie for the post-game news conference in the sixth game of the season vs. Memphis, and declared it was in honor of “Bill Self’s funeral.”

Not everyone, including Self himself, saw the humor in the stunt.

“Basically, I did it for the kids, because they were getting so tired of the Bill Self questions after every game,” he said. “I told them before the game that we were burying the memory of Bill Self tonight. I meant it as an honor to Bill, but I guess it didn’t come across that way.

“I meant no disrespect to Bill at all. But I’m emotional and sometimes I get a little carried away.

“My mistake was telling it to the media. Bill heard about it and laughed and joked about it, but I’m not so sure he understood what I was trying to do, or appreciated it.”
From the Jan. 11, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel



The man never knew when to shut his mouth.

Miffed by criticism for everything from his ability to coach to his ability to clothe himself --- as well as his inability to be previous coach Bill Self --- Weber decided prior to Thursday's win over Maryland-Eastern Shore that he would no longer tolerate it.

"I wore a black tie and black pants and black sportcoat and I told them before the (UMES) game, 'This is a funeral. I'm going to throw a funeral. It's the end of Bill Self,'" Weber said. "It's over. There's no more comparing. He's gone. No more talking about it. I'll be honest: I'm fed up with it.

"I had one guy say if (Self) was coaching here, you would have beat Providence by 10. Well, when I faced Bill (when Self was at Tulsa and Weber at SIU), with 13 minutes left in the game at SIU we were up 27 points.

"Then, when we faced (Illinois at Las Vegas) we had them down the stretch and he had three NBA guys and we had two guys in the (NBA) developmental league. I don't know. Unless he's a miracle worker, I kicked his butt in both games.

"Even after the Providence game, you know, 'They didn't lose any double-figure games (under Self). Well, horse(dip). They did! I told the guys I was going to coach my butt off and I hoped they were going to play their butts off."
Daily Herald



Bruce on Luther's involvement in a robbery...

....“I could have said, ‘Hey, Bill Self recruited a lot of bad players. . . . To heck with Luther.’

“But I backed them to the hilt and I caught a lot of grief for doing that. But if there is one thing I learned from Coach Keady, it’s always support your players.

“I got a ton of e-mails on that and the call-in shows were brutal, but we made it through and I think it brought us together.”
From the Jan. 11, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel



Bruce, the superior chemist

"It's been a key to our success that it's not become a factor,'' Weber said. "You hear stories from different people about a couple teams now. The word on the street is they have such bad chemistry. Each kid is worried about moving on instead of helping his team.''
Feb 22, 2005 State Journal-Register



Bruce with the Brandon Rush excuse

“Obviously, we’re trying to get the best kids that we can,” Weber says. “Our first goal is to get the best kids in Illinois. One factor is we have a pretty good academic university here. So they have to have some sort of grades or have a potential of making it.”

While basketball players aren’t usually considered the captains of the classroom as well as the court, there is a new NCAA mandate requiring a certain amount of a school’s student athletes to graduate (see Higgins, Bob).

“We’ll bring in a transcript in and give it to our admissions people,” Weber explains. “They’re pretty good about it, but there’s sometimes they just say, ‘Hey, that kid as no chance. We don’t need that.’”
October 4, 2005 Chicago Sports Review



Bruce with the Julian Wright excuse

“There’s a lot of guys that kind of went flying by me along the way,” Weber says. “I just stayed with my beliefs and stayed consistent, did what I thought was right, and I’m still here for the long run." And once you begin to think that he’s insinuating something, just wait a second longer…

“But then, all of a sudden a kid that had no chance of going someplace…It didn’t make sense. All of a sudden his mindset changes and he ends up going to a place. So it leaves that uneasy feeling that’s like, ‘How did that happen? It makes no sense.’

“And off and on, the guys do get caught or it catches up with them. And in your mind you always thought, ‘Hey, something’s got to be going on.’ And five years later something happens and then you find out. And you say, ‘We were right. Our suspicions were right.’”
October 4, 2005 Chicago Sports Review



Bruce with the Sherron Collins excuse, plus, bonus: I made all these guys into lotto picks, really.

"We want to continue recruiting heavily in the Chicago area, but maybe we have to re-evaluate what we're doing," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "To be a Final Four contender, you need to have the franchise players. Apparently, we're not doing what [Chicago recruits] want us to do."

"The only guy from last year's team who was a major recruit was Dee Brown. Guys like Deron Williams, Luther Head, Roger Powell, James Augustine ended up being franchise players. The older high school recruits had their minds made up before our run."
Oct 17, 2005 Chicago Tribune


Typical illini fan take

I don't know how Weber's recruiting could be considered anything more than average. Pruitt, 60-70, Carlwell 40-50. 2 in 3 years.

For Self, (he didn't have much time the first year, but did get Head, who was borderline top 100), he recruited Brown, Williams, Augustine, McBride, Randle, Spears, Carter and Villanueva (who verballed).By my count, that is 8 in 2 years, 9 in 3. Self ... 8 in 2 years. Weber ....2 in 3 years. As I said, Weber is picking it up. But in addition to the above, I would have to think Wright and Collins would also be here. I'd still rather have Weber...

[Sherlock]

And coming from WAAAAAAY out of left field...

[WavetheWheat]

Will he make it through this week? I expect him to be fired before next Sunday. The above is simply a reminder why we should dance on his grave.

[ElJefe58]

Has there been a bigger failure in the recent ranks of college basketball than Bruce Almighty? I personally find it hilarious that the Illini crowd kept saying for years that they didn't need Bill and that Bruce would take them to the Promised Land.

[sweaterbydarwin]

Not personality wise, obviously but Weber and Haith have a lot in common. They both fell into a job where the stars were perfectly aligned. Their system + the players in place enabled them to make a run. Similarly, I find it unlikely that Haith has the kind of success he is having this year again.

[gravyshanks]

"Left handed layup" should be up there with "Eye of the Tiger."

[qwertyu123]

Not personality wise, obviously but Weber and Haith have a lot in common. They both fell into a job where the stars were perfectly aligned. Their system + the players in place enabled them to make a run. Similarly, I find it unlikely that Haith has the kind of success he is having this year again.

especially considering mizzou has 4 seniors who will depart after this season...

[Hoopo]

I like Haith so far. He's taken a bunch of shitheads and has MU's best team since Melvin Booker.

I dislike Bruce Webber intensely. Dude should never have left SIU. Hope he's fired and winds up in KU's conference eventually.

[dominatindj11]

And coming from WAAAAAAY out of left field...

No shit. What the hell Wave? Do you have all those clips saved or did you undertake a massive Google project to find them all?

[Joe Norris]

agerholm is wave

wave is agerholm

[WavetheWheat]

Stole everything from a slant poster. Lo siento.

[kcjhawks4]

agerholm is wave

wave is agerholm

You just blew my mind.

[dominatindj11]

Stole everything from a slant poster. Lo siento.

Thank god. I was hoping you didn't have a random file of old Bruce Weber newspaper articles either saved on your computer or even worse, clipped out and in some file cabinet tucked away for this thread.

[WavetheWheat]

Good bye mutherfucker....

http://espn.go.com/chicago/ncb/story...eber-loses-job

[Hawkish]

Weber never was a big fan of taking responsibility for the under-performing nature of his teams.


lolol. What an assclown.

[Sherlock]

The article is worded perfectly to show that Bill Self is such an excellent recruiter that even a completely incompetent coach can come in and coach his kids to a NCAA championship game.

[Joe Norris]

dammit...I wanted him there for the same reason I wanted Quin at MU

[KVN638]

Does UI go after Scott Drew?


Will Drew's cheating ways, I can see him having some monster recruiting classes at Illinois. He still will flame out in the S16

[ono]

The popular opinion is they will go after Shaka Smart. Somebody tweeted that Frank Martin will be a target too. Who knows.

[ICThawk]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAFUCKTHATGUY!HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[KVN638]

Shaka... bleh. Quit going after midmajor coaches and get an established coach that can recruit at a mid BCS program

[kcjhawks4]

Good bye mutherfucker....

http://espn.go.com/chicago/ncb/story...eber-loses-job

Hopefully the next coach will have a funeral for him. Asshat.

[gravyshanks]

Hopefully the next coach will have a funeral for him. Asshat.

now THAT would be some lollarz.

[ICThawk]

Hopefully the next coach will have a funeral for him. Asshat.

I'd instantly like that coach.

[ono]

I'd instantly like that coach.

What if it's Shaka Smart?

On the bright side, I guess it means he won't be able to keep spouting his BS on 610 every afternoon.

[Hoopo]

Bruce Weber to OSU.

[WavetheWheat]

I felt the sudden urge to bump this.

[tigerfooker]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...t-kansas-state

[Joe Norris]

is it true?

[filmfanatic24]

[filmfanatic24]

[Hoopo]

Bruce Wooden @ KSU is like a dream come true.

[gravyshanks]

[The42Yardstick]

There is absolutely no way to spin this. We just burned down our basketball program.

[sweaterbydarwin]

seriously, Weber is a clown. I have no idea what KSU was thinking.

[The42Yardstick]

seriously, Weber is a clown. I have no idea what KSU was thinking.

Neither do any of us.

[sweaterbydarwin]

did Jank get any run at all? I know he was interested in TU, I have to imagine he was interested in KSU, too.

[The42Yardstick]

did Jank get any run at all? I know he was interested in TU, I have to imagine he was interested in KSU, too.

Probably not. His ex-wife works in the athletic department. And he would have been a bad hire too.

[dewarsrocks]

Probably not. His ex-wife works in the athletic department. And he would have been a bad hire too.

I feel for your loss