Illinois/Zook Recruiting

[NFBuck]

Hope springs eternal. You can't blame Illini fans for being excited, they've barely been a blip on the national radar for the last two decades. They finally have a passionate, energetic coach that "gets" the importance of recruiting and is doing a pretty solid job of selling his vision to these kids. Like Roughy has pointed out, they're bringing in more touted recruits than they have in decades. I think Zook will keep them in the second tier of Big-Ten teams with the occasional shot at a Big-Ten title, but thinking that they're gonna join tOSU and scUM as the flagship programs is simply delusional. History proves that. This is how I look at it (in a "big picture" sense):

tOSU
scUM

Wisconsin
PSU (barely)

Illinois
MSU
Purdue
Iowa

Northwestern
Minnesota

Indiana


That's how I look at it right now. Illinois could concievably jump up there with Wiscy and possibly replace PSU in that second tier.

[Oh8ch]

That's how I look at it right now. Illinois could concievably jump up there with Wiscy and possibly replace PSU in that second tier.

I believe they will, with MSU not far behind.

[Jaxbuck]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

Hope springs eternal. You can't blame Illini fans for being excited, they've barely been a blip on the national radar for the last two decades. They finally have a passionate, energetic coach that "gets" the importance of recruiting and is doing a pretty solid job of selling his vision to these kids. Like Roughy has pointed out, they're bringing in more touted recruits than they have in decades. I think Zook will keep them in the second tier of Big-Ten teams with the occasional shot at a Big-Ten title, but thinking that they're gonna join tOSU and scUM as the flagship programs is simply delusional. History proves that. This is how I look at it (in a "big picture" sense):

tOSU
scUM

Wisconsin
PSU (barely)

Illinois
MSU
Purdue
Iowa

Northwestern
Minnesota

Indiana


That's how I look at it right now. Illinois could concievably jump up there with Wiscy and possibly replace PSU in that second tier.

since 1994 when PSU joind, the B10 by conf win % only:

t1 OSU 86-26 (.768)
t1 scUM 86-26 (.768)
2 PSU 67-45 (.598)
3 Wisky 65-45-2 (.589)
4 Purdue 57-52-3 (.522)
5 Iowa 57-54-1 (.513)
6 MSU 49-62-1 (.442)
7 NU 49-63 (.438)
8 Illinois 35-76-1 (.317)
9 Minny 35-77 (.312)
10 IU 26-86 (.232)

You can do this by any time frame you want to, you can add in weight for a B10 title, BCS games or whatever....its still the Big 2 and little 8(9) and its not even that close. The only arguments is ever who's the latest school to lay claim to distant 3rd.

[NFBuck]

Originally Posted by Jaxbuck

since 1994 when PSU joind, the B10 by conf win % only:

t1 OSU 86-26 (.768)
t1 scUM 86-26 (.768)
2 PSU 67-45 (.598)
3 Wisky 65-45-2 (.589)
4 Purdue 57-52-3 (.522)
5 Iowa 57-54-1 (.513)
6 MSU 49-62-1 (.442)
7 NU 49-63 (.438)
8 Illinois 35-76-1 (.317)
9 Minny 35-77 (.312)
10 IU 26-86 (.232)

You can do this by any time frame you want to, you can add in weight for a B10 title, BCS games or whatever....its still the Big 2 and little 8(9) and its not even that close. The only arguments is ever who's the latest school to lay claim to distant 3rd.

I agree absolutely. I just look at it in tiers.

[ThaKid101]

Just wanted to jump back in the thread (Since I haven't been here in a while) and say what's up to everybody. I read a lot of the stuff in here and I'm not even going to respond. Besides I know I'm not too liked here anyway. Just wanted to say what's up.....

[mross34]

Originally Posted by ThaKid101

Just wanted to jump back in the thread and say what's up to everybody. I read a lot of the stuff in here and I'm not even going to respond. Just wanted to say what's up.....

GPA