Four years after the Eric Gordon saga played out (Gordon commits to Illinois, de-commits very, very late arguably not leaving Weber with an opportunity to rectify that situation - Weber ended up with a commitment from Quinton Watkins of California, a guy who never played a minute at Illinois, but was a top 100 recruit), I see an article on the front page of Yahoo absolving Bruce Weber of blame for the recent struggles of the Illini and laying the blame at the feet of three people: Eric Gordon, Jamar Smith, and Chester Frazier (not to mention those damn untalented Seniors! You know, the same ones that, paired with Frazier and the irreplaceable Trent Meachem - sarcasm alert - went 11-7 in the Big 10 and were a 5 seed). Good thing I am here to set the record straight.
(1) Eric Gordon. Two possible scenarios people like to bring up with Gordon. (1) Gordon makes the ‘08 Illini a threat to make a deep tournament run. Or (2) Gordon cost Illinois E’Twaun Moore. Say Gordon never de-commits from Illinois. He still plays at Illinois only one year and then heads on the draft. With Gordon (and DJ White, who was significantly better than anyone on that Illinois team), Indiana ended up 25-7 and an 8 seed in the tournament, losing in the 1st round (though it should be noted that Kelvin Sampson was ousted from that team before the season ended because he was a cheater and most of the Hoosiers quit on the team). So what impact does Gordon actually have on a 16-19 Illinois team? Well, they certainly win more games, and probably make the tournament, but other than Gordon? Still just Shaun Pruitt and Brian Randle on that team. And if Weber couldn’t turn the Greatest Team in Illinois History into recruiting glory, how does Gordon turn Weber into a recruiting dynamo (note, one season later, Weber did turn recruiting around, landing the DJ, Brandon Paul class)? So Eric Gordon, at best, turns a no postseaason year into a middle seed in the tournament.
The other scenario people like to bring up is that Illinois was in great shape with E’Twaun Moore when Gordon committed. And they were. But understandably, with Tisdale, McCamey and Cole already in the fold, Weber chose to expend the bulk of his resources in trying to get Derrick Rose to come to Champaign. So Moore was not feeling the love from Illinois, went to Purdue, and the rest is history. At the time Gordon committed, Mike Davis was at Indiana and Gordon had absolutely no interest in playing for Davis. He wanted to play at Illinois. Short of a wide ranging conspiracy involving the Gordon family, Indiana basketball, and the desire to destroy the Illini at all costs, all of this is fairly innocent. If Eric Gordon had never committed to Illinois in the first place, MAYBE Moore comes to Champaign. Maybe.
The bigger issue out of the ‘07 class was the following: (1) missing on Evan Turner (Illinois thought they were in very well with Turner); (2) Quinton Watkins not panning out (Illinois message boards were high on Watkins; he was maybe the best guard left in the spring signing period. In fact, I distinctly remember threads on Illiniboard arguing whether you would rather have 1 year of Gordon or 4 of Watkins); and (3) Bill Cole over Robbie Hummel (Hummel’s parents were Illinois grads and he allegedly wanted to go to Illinois. Weber preferred Cole - shades of Bill Self not wanting to waste a scholarship on Andre Iguodala so he wouldn’t miss out on Brian Randle). Singling out Eric Gordon for blame is absurd.
(2) Jamar Smith. Sigh, Jamar was a tragic story. Great shooter his freshman year. Battled an alcohol addiction that led to the ugliest incident in recent Illinois history (drunken car crash on a snowy night that almost killed Brian Carlwell) that led to him being suspended for the ‘08 season. Jamar picked up another drinking offense the next offseason and he was off the team for good.
In ‘08, Jamar certainly helps the Illini. That team was so untalented on the perimiter that it probably led to McCamey’s poor defensive habits for the rest of his career (McCamey was too talented offensively to not play, so he never had to play defense to see the floor). With Jamar and Eric Gordon, yes Illinois makes the tournament in ‘08. But here’s the problem with this whole argument. Bruce Weber recruited the majority of these teams. He left his team in a position where the loss of Jamar Smith (who it bears mentioning never played well in the Big 10 in his short time in Champaign) is crippling. Yes, Jamar Smith’s mistakes hurt the Illini. But to absolve Weber from blame because of them is absurd.
(3) Chester Frazier. The article blames Frazier’s injury for the first round exit to Western Kentucky in ‘09. That Illinois team over achieved significantly and may have been Weber’s best coaching job (11-7 in the Big 10 and a 5 seed). I agree. Frazier’s injury contributed mightily to that Illini team losing to Western Kentucky. But here’s the crazy thing: Weber could not replace a defense only point guard of whom I used to say, “Chester Frazier would be an amazing basketball player if he had any basketball skills.” Frazier wasn’t a great ballhandler and was an awful shooter (to the point that Matt Painter’s Purdue teams ignored Frazier offensively... literally, they did not guard him). But he was a warrior defensively and would have been an All-Time great backup point guard. Unfortunately, Weber didn’t have any guard options after Frazier, McCamey, Meachem, and Calvin Brock. Because his 2008 recruiting class consisted of Dominique Keller and Stan Simpson. Digest those names again. Yes, readers, the worst recruiting class in Illinois history. Don’t blame Frazier for the fact that Weber did not have a backup plan when he was hurt.
So to sum up, I agree, Weber suffered some bad luck post 2005. The ‘05 class had the aforementioned Jamar Smith (in addition to Frazier and the immortal CJ Jackson). His ‘06 recruiting class (Rich Semrau and Brian Carlwell) was tragic. Semrau got very sick his freshman year and allegedly almost died. He was never the same player he was in high school afterwards. Carlwell almost died in a car wreck and never reached his very high ceiling (people forget Carlwell was a top 75 recruit). His ‘07 class was solid but could have been phenomenal (see above) and was certainly influenced by the Gordon saga. But Eric Gordon de-committing did not influence Evan Turner into going to Ohio State, Derrick Rose from going to Memphis (in fact, the rumor at the time was that Rose did NOT want to play with Gordon), or Weber from taking Cole over Hummel. The '08 class was laughably bad. From ‘05-‘08, this year’s Seniors and Frazier were the only players to even make an impact.
Now Weber has righted the ship from a recruiting standpoint. But if the product on the floor doesn't improve, no amount of revisionist history will change the fact that the blame ultimately lies with the head coach. Go Illini.
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