Coaching Carousel Report Cards Pt. II

In November, I gave out the first installment of the coaching carousel report cards for Roy Williams (UNC), Bill Self (Kansas), and Bruce Weber (Illinois). Although the post-season has yet to begin for these teams, each is thirty games into this season, and the time has come for the second set of grades to be given out.

Over the duration of the three coaches' tenures, much is the same as it was in November. UNC and Illinois are still significantly more efficient on offense than Kansas and Kansas has repaid the favor to UNC by having a significantly higher defensive efficiency, though the Jayhawks cannot make that same claim over Illinois.

Yet, there is a gap widening among the three colleges and it is Illinois that is being left behind by Kansas and UNC. While UNC and Kansas are on the way to experiencing the most offensively and defensively efficient seasons during the Williams and Self eras, respectively, Illinois is headed in the opposite direction, having the lowest offensive rating of Weber's tenure. This drop-off in offensive play brings to the forefront a criticism of Weber that having success with players he did not have to recruit put on the backburner for awhile.

Even when Illinois was one of the elite basketball programs in the country, there were whispers to the effect Weber was not the best recruiter in the nation. Surely, he was not the equal of his predecessor, Bill Self. It now appears those critics were correct in their assessments and that Bruce Weber is not the coaching equal of Self or Williams and that the latter two coaches will create more and more separation between themselves and Weber the more they coach at UNC and Kansas.