https://twitter.com/Sam_Vecenie/status/840665782069555200

Oh. There was green. And 1,700,000 more of it to come.

True...but what could have been if he just stuck around for one more year with entire sweet 16 team back, plus LaVert. He could have named his school. Instead, took the first power conference offer that came his way. But glad his bank account is full.

I think Groce and Christian understand how bad the Miami job is. And both have the money to be choosy. Mike Thomas, was the AD that hired Groce at Illinois, is now the AD at Cleveland State.

That's too bad. I too hope he doesn't resurface in the MAC. I had a hard time when we played against teams that Boals and Geno coached. I would expect Groce to stay somewhere in the midwest.

Cleveland State is a dog s&$t job.

How do you know Coach Phillips isn't looking at players like you're referring to? Plus, Simmons and Kaminski were legitimate big gets. Also, remember he took two teams to the Big Dance at ND State and won a game the second time.

I can tell you that Phillips will only bring in players who fit the mindset of what he wants. He wont compromise on that.

Hard to really get much from that though since he was originally on the first two for his previous job. LaVert had no major offers until very late IIRC. Also can't forget Bradds. Of course, I think Carter could basically be Saul's Bradds (small Ohio school diamond in the rough).

I said this in another thread, but Bassett played a major role in making Groce, and the next wave of Bassetts broke him. As long as Groce plays that game, that's how it is going to be. I really have no clue how our university would have looked if we made the Sweet 16 and our main guy was then ruled ineligible because he was done with the school part of college. I can just imagine with all that free time in between weekends, journalists penning think pieces on whether Ohio is a fraud. Has something like that ever happened during the tournament?

Taking the same gambles on guys like Bassett at Illinois hasn't worked. Then in the regular season, his team was the only one Rutgers felt like they actually had a chance against the past two years. All kinds of terrible regular season losses at Ohio and Illinois. Relying on tournament magic is like playing the slot machine.

The more you rely on gambles and gimmicks, the less trusting I am of any coach. That's why I'm firmly in the camp of Shaka Smart being a questionable hire. His VCU success relied too much on gimmicky defense for me. When people constantly debated "Stevens or Smart," I could hardly believe it. I think Stevens is one of the best basketball coaches ever.

Get. Out.

Very interesting views here.

Live by the knucklehead, die by the knucklehead. By the beginning of this season, Groce appeared to come around to the thinking that he could not continually have suspensions, arrests, etc and have a successful program. The comments he made when Kipper Nichols arrived were telling. I can only paraphrase, but it was something like, "I've come to realize how important it is that you bring kids in who are good fits..." Unfortunately, you cannot turn around a program that's been in decline for 3 years that quickly.

I wanna get back to the NCAA as bad as anyone. But I also appreciate the fact that our kids at the very least appear to be representing the school with class and also appear to get along well as a unit. I look at the personal growth of guys like Kaminski and Setty, and I feel good about Saul and how our program operates. Saul works hard. He wants to win. He appears to love Athens and Ohio. I look forward to seeing him at the coaches' caravan this spring.

I think I was the first one to mention this possibility, and I said it came to me in nightmare. This would not be good for OHIO.

+1

Looks like some in IL have the same sentiments as some of our own going back to posts in 2010 and 2011 as they look at UNC Wilmington for the next coach.