Illinois Falls to Nebraska, Weber in Danger of Being 'Zook-ed'

By Tim Bearden in News on Feb 19, 2012 7:30PM

It's been another struggle of a year for the Fighting Illini and it's largely due to lack of talent recruitment.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers, who were on their own four game losing streak, sounded the alarm in the heads of all Illini fans when they trounced Illinois 80-57 Saturday night. Illinois has now lost five straight, eight of their last nine, and have fallen to 5-9 in the Big Ten. A promising 15-3 start has quickly fallen to a 16-11 record and put the team "on the bubble" for an at-large NCAA tournament bid with division rival Northwestern, who have never been to the Big Dance.

The Cornhuskers were 3-10 in the Big 10 and 11-13 overall going into the game over the struggling Illini. That is not a team you want to get beaten by going into Selection Sunday and it symbolizes the struggles Illinois has had over the past few seasons under current coach Bruce Weber, who's now become a coach in the hot seat following two disappointing conference losses against Purdue and Nebraska.

From 2000-2005 the Fighting Illini went to the NCAA Tournament every year and finished in the Sweet Sixteen or better four out of five of those seasons. So what happened?

Bill Self took over the program in 2000 and built a solid foundation for future seasons with NBA level talent. Self left for Kansas in 2003 and Weber inherited his team in the 2003-04 season. And in the 2004-05 season he had a NCAA Tournament Championship caliber team, who became the runners-up. Since that season Weber and the Illini have managed to miss the tourney twice and are in danger of a third. But even when they made the bracket, they didn't make much of a splash.

This means all fingers are pointing to Weber and his recruitment strategies. Weber has already stated he's not going to resign following the loss to Purdue, which puts athletic director Mike Thomas in an all too familiar position. Thomas fired Illinois football coach Ron Zook in November after a lackluster season. Weber stated he wanted to end his career with the Illini and, if something doesn't happen soon, he may get his wish.

Weber has already taken the blame for the program's poor performance, and as much as he would like to right the ship, it may be time for Illinois to be looking into other options.

Even if the Illini can manage to get a tournament bid, Weber may still find his job in question at the end of the season. But in his defense, he's had an overall winning season every year since taking over the program in 2003. It's only his post-season record people seem to be looking at, as the Illini tend to fizzle late in the season.

With an overall win record of 193-86 going into this season, Weber was the winningest coach in the Big Ten, which makes this situation a bit unique. But should a bulk of those wins be credited to Self and his recruiting? It's looking like at least the 2003-05 seasons should be, which would be 63 of those wins, including a 37-2 season, which is probably the reason Weber has managed to keep his job as long as he has.

But that's like saying: "What came first? The chicken or the egg?" Self may have recruited the players, but Weber helped develop them and was at the helm when they thrived. And now he's at the helm when they're sinking, and all eyes are on him.