Illinois Basketball: DJ Williams transfer is a fitting ending to John Groce era

Mar 10, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes forward Nicholas Baer (51) is involved in a scramble for a loose ball against Illinois Fighting Illini guard D.J. Williams (0) and forward Michael Finke (43) during the Big Ten Conference tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 10, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes forward Nicholas Baer (51) is involved in a scramble for a loose ball against Illinois Fighting Illini guard D.J. Williams (0) and forward Michael Finke (43) during the Big Ten Conference tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The Illinois basketball team had a great group of kids come in from the class of 2015.

Jalen Coleman-Lands, Aaron Jordan and DJ Williams were all supposed to be building blocks for the future of this once great program. These three players escalated the class of 2015 up to No. 19 in the nation, which was the best class of the John Groce era.

Yesterday, the class of 2015 lost a member as Williams officially announced he was leaving the program to pursue his basketball career at another institution. This is somewhat of a fitting ending to the Groce era, though.

The Groce era was marked by disappointment after disappointment on and off the basketball court. The team had about four-times the amount of arrest as they did NCAA tournament wins. And now, a player with tremendous talent who came from the best class Groce pulled in is transferring and starting fresh.

I still think Williams has tremendous upside on the basketball court. He didn’t get a chance to shine with the Illini and I don’t blame him one bit for transferring. He needs to start fresh and get his career back on track.

I can’t help but be a little mad at Groce, though. He came into this program and had a great sales pitch. He got good enough players to come to Champaign to win, but the team just didn’t put wins on the board. Throughout Groce’s time at Illinois, he also had a history of stifling talent. We witnessed it this past season when Te’Jon Lucas didn’t get playtime when he was clearly the best point guard on the court.

Now we are seeing what that stifling of talent is doing to the depth on the team.  Williams is transferring out of the program and I can’t help but have a little feeling of being mad at Groce for not playing him more and developing his skills.

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But, nevertheless, Williams is now moving onto a new program and I wish him nothing but the best. He has a lot of untapped talent that will be unleashed on whatever conference he chooses. I hope he goes to a coach who can really develop him as a player because I think the sky is the limit for this kid.