Illini Basketball 2022-2023

[MDchicago]

We will be very young, including in key roles, but will be exciting to unleash their talents and see what Brad and staff do with it.

- Based on where things currently sit, Illini would return around 19% of this year's scoring and around 23% of the total minutes played, with Coleman being the most experienced.
- Looking at all Illinois teams since 1980, that is among the the lowest three in terms of returning experience, rivaled only by the the 98-99 season (after the 98 B10 championship won with five senior starters) and the 90-91 season (Deon's first season playing).
- No NCAA champ in the KenPom era (since 2002), including the "one and done" 2012 Kentucky and 2015 Duke teams, has returned less than ~44% of their minutes played the preceding season and the average for champions is ~67%. (Will be interesting to see how much this changes in the age of the transfer portal, where one can put together a talented and experienced roster overnight but without any prior experience playing together as a team in the same system.)
- Seem like it would be a good year for a travel trip over the summer, if we are eligible, to gain some experience and familiarity.

 

[Old Farm Illini]

lol who are these coaches.

Enough coaches found strategies to limit Kofi's effectiveness. That doesn't mean he won't get his double-double, but he was easier to prepare to play against. The fact that he was doubled and tripled and still didn't get more than 2 assists in any game is astounding.

 

[KnoxIllini2]

We will be very young, including in key roles, but will be exciting to unleash their talents and see what Brad and staff do with it.

- Based on where things currently sit, Illini would return around 19% of this year's scoring and around 23% of the total minutes played, with Coleman being the most experienced.
- Looking at all Illinois teams since 1980, that is among the the lowest three in terms of returning experience, rivaled only by the the 98-99 season (after the 98 B10 championship won with five senior starters) and the 90-91 season (Deon's first season playing).
- No NCAA champ in the KenPom era (since 2002), including the "one and done" 2012 Kentucky and 2015 Duke teams, has returned less than ~44% of their minutes played the preceding season and the average for champions is ~67%. (Will be interesting to see how much this changes in the age of the transfer portal, where one can put together a talented and experienced roster overnight but without any prior experience playing together as a team in the same system.)
- Seem like it would be a good year for a travel trip over the summer, if we are eligible, to gain some experience and familiarity.

I am ready for this to be CoHawk's team, baby! BUT, the rest of your post does an excellent job as to why the door should be wide open for Grandison to return, should he even want to. Throw all the NIL money behind that horse now and make him an offer. As the NCAA tournament proved, he is our stabilizer. I like winning and don't want to fall off a freshmen cliff (though the growth will be fun to experience, think Michigan this year).

If the moments we played pressure defense are any indication of how we will look next season? Oh boy, sign us up for steals, dunks, and threes.

 

[MDchicago]

I am ready for this to be CoHawk's team, baby! BUT, the rest of your post does an excellent job as to why the door should be wide open for Grandison to return, should he even want to. Throw all the NIL money behind that horse now and make him an offer. As the NCAA tournament proved, he is our stabilizer. I like winning and don't want to fall off a freshmen cliff (though the growth will be fun to experience, think Michigan this year).

 

[FinallyMadeAnAccount]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1516800051070345222

 

[Joel Goodson]

David Jones is would be a VG add, but I'd be pretty apprehensive that he'd be cutting into RJ's tick some. Which could make RJ more likely to bolt. Anyone know how strongly we're pursuing him?

 

[LvilleILL]

David Jones is would be a VG add, but I'd be pretty apprehensive that he'd be cutting into RJ's tick some. Which could make RJ more likely to bolt. Anyone know how strongly we're pursuing him?

David Jones would not cut into RJ's tick. He would play the 2, RJ would play the 3 or vice versa

 

[Joel Goodson]

David Jones would not cut into RJ's tick. He would play the 2, RJ would play the 3 or vice versa

Skyy
Jones
RJ
Hawkins
Dainja

sounds pretty darn good to me (and I know we're going to add a big)

 

[LvilleILL]

Skyy
Jones
RJ
Hawkins
Dainja

sounds pretty darn good to me (and I know we're going to add a big)

and possibly another guard if it's the right fit

 

[phats22]

Skyy/Epps/?
Jones/Harris/?
RJ/Goode
Hawkins/Rodgers
Dainja/?

Yup

 

[LuckyIllini]

Yup

Verdonk? Any shot Grandy comes back?

 

[lstewart53x3]

Keep the current pieces.

Add:

Point Guard
2 Guard
Stretch 5

And let’s run it back.

 

[jezzadownunder]

Are we due a refresh on threads this year? The standard set has been around 3 years and thought that was how frequently Nike updated. Wish they could just adopt the script as new and add orange and blue uni sets and call it a day.

 

[BlueLeader]

This will likely be a rough year, and that's okay.

 

[Rap47]

What position would Grandison play on next year's team? Not big enough to play 4 and not quick enough or has good enough handles to play the three. He was good for this years's team.

 

[KingWolf11]

This will likely be a rough year, and that's okay.

 

[hhoene]

View attachment 17459

Smother Kofi and hope our shooters are cold. Beating us wasn't rocket science.

 

[Mobi]

I am ready for this to be CoHawk's team, baby! BUT, the rest of your post does an excellent job as to why the door should be wide open for Grandison to return, should he even want to. Throw all the NIL money behind that horse now and make him an offer. As the NCAA tournament proved, he is our stabilizer. I like winning and don't want to fall off a freshmen cliff (though the growth will be fun to experience, think Michigan this year).

If the moments we played pressure defense are any indication of how we will look next season? Oh boy, sign us up for steals, dunks, and threes.

CoHawk now may be the most senior player but I am not he is our best player. I really hope he steps up (lots of raw talent) but we will see. He can handle the ball some but not a great slasher yet. He could shoot some but not a great shooter yet. A pretty good passer, rebounder though. I still don't see him creating for himself A LOT next year. If you are the top dog, you need to create for yourself unless you are King KoFi. My guess is Skyy will be the top dog, aka Ayo's freshman year.

 

[LubbockIlliniFan]

Oscar Tshiebwe coming back to UK...making the right decision that Kofi should be making.

 

[Old Farm Illini]

Smother Kofi and hope our shooter is cold. Beating us wasn't rocket science.

FIFY.

 

[LuckyIllini]

What position would Grandison play on next year's team? Not big enough to play 4 and not quick enough or has good enough handles to play the three. He was good for this years's team.

Where would a 6’6 40% 3pt shooter and 80% FT shooter have a place? He knows his role and the team..Experienced, good all around player.
Hope he comes back for one last ride.

 

[skyIdub]

All we have to do is think back to the first few years under BU and see how those teams grew through the year. Struggles early...then great runs towards the end.

Now we have more talent top to bottom and a rock solid culture to support even better practices and growth during the season.

Young guards are always going to struggle early in the B1G. Once they are more comfortable with the speed and physicality, their talent will shine.

It's going to be a fun season to watch...and I feel like this is going to be the sentiment every year now.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

Yeah. I would guess coaches felt we were easier to game plan against? The blue print was fairly obvious, it just didn’t always work. Pull him away from basket, double team him in the paint.

That's pretty much what I was trying to say in my longwinded post today. OF COURSE you want Kofi. OF COURSE you want Ayo (even more). However, to my novice eyes, it seems our Achilles' Heel when it mattered was that we were too addicted to a great drug in both 2021 and 2022 ... I remember thinking Underwood was "damned if he did, damned if he didn't" during the Loyola game. Do you turn away from your superstar Ayo simply because Loyola had us scouted perfectly? Wouldn't everyone crucify him for that if we lost?? At the same time, do you keep trying what isn't working??

Again, I think we had too powerful of a weapon both years to not try to go back to it, but we eventually went down with those ships. For any history nerds, we effectively had Alexander the Great's phalanx, and we had conquered so much ... why turn away from what has worked and brought us to such heights?? However, we eventually ran into a more flexible Roman Legion on our "off days," and we simply didn't know what to do. In both games (Loyola and Houston), we DID eventually get out of the funk and start to mount a comeback, but we had given up too many precious points. I think a post-Ayo and post-Kofi Illini world will present its obvious problems, and we will likely not be as dominant at any one "type of game," but I do think we will be able to handle in-game adversity much better. And that will be very valuable in March.

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

Oscar Tshiebwe coming back to UK...making the right decision that Kofi should be making.

We'll never know how the NIL dollars stack up between the two.

 

[Rap47]

Where would a 6’6 40% 3pt shooter and 80% FT shooter have a place? He knows his role and the team..Experienced, good all around player.
Hope he comes back for one last ride.

Where are you going to play him since Kofi is gone? Someone else had to get him his open looks. Illini are going to need people playing who can get their own shots, not stand still shooters.