re: Would Bruce Weber be the worst coach to take two DIFFERENT schools to the Final Four?

Disclaimer: Illinois grad, '03-'07 so I had a front row seat to the decline of Illinois basketball.

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He coached Illinois and Kansas State. Not exactly powerhouses

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Even with the (gulp) past 10+ years of suck Illinois is #15 in historical win%. I think in Bruce Weber's first year at Illinois it was top ten in this metric and in consideration for "Best team to have not won a championship in the tournament era." So, not a powerhouse, but easily top of that next tier.

Bruce Weber second Illinois team was undefeated most of '05, including putting a beat down on Chris Paul's #1 ranked Wake Forest team. Extended media coverage, magazine covers, etc.. all followed the team that year as he piled up the single most wins in NCAA history at 37-2 (missing out on an undefeated season on a last second 3 pointer by Ohio State and a 5 point loss to UNC in the championship game - both losses that year were by a combined 7 points).

With that resume and constant media exposure, he was able to make the major recruiting haul of: Two *** star recruits and one ** star.

He recovered his recruiting later in his tenure, but the program never recovered from his lack of recruiting during the "good" years.