Illini Basketball 2024-2025

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#377      
Offseason checklist will probably include a pg to replace KJ, wing athlete (euro that should be announced in the coming weeks), floor spacer at the 2-3, and a bigger 4 man that can rebound/shoot
Done deal on the Euro or some more details to line out before announcing?
 
#379      
Feel good about Morez, Boswell, Tre, and Tomi. Think there's a decent chance we get Will back as well, but still a way to go there.

Regardless, we will 1000% prioritize elite athletes and shooters this offseason
That would be a nice offseason
 
#382      
Who cares? None of these guys are meaningful college basketball players. None are guys you can depend on to create their own shots to win you games. DGL seems to be trending that way but he’ll be playing for someone else. At least Humbrickhouse got a good jog in tonight 👍
 
#383      
Tide has turned in terms of Morez back next year. I do think DGL probably moves on unfortunately, Brad has been way too stubborn
Did you see DGL walk past the bench when he was taken out at the end of the game? He is frustrated and I don’t blame him. Brad wants athletes? You won’t find one better than DGL and for two more years after this season. Remember TSJ’s improvement in his last two seasons? DGL can have the same jump. Two similar players.
 
#384      
Tide has turned in terms of Morez back next year. I do think DGL probably moves on unfortunately, Brad has been way too stubborn
I feel like that players so clearly seem to consider this while simultaneously trying to play like a cohesive, connected team is why they play as inconsistent as they do.
 
#385      
DGL does too much flexing after anything positive he does. His mom yaps too much on Twitter. And he loves talking to the other team when we are losing.

But Brad, please give him every minute he can handle. And I promise I’ll learn to look past it all.

I guarantee he’s cooking our team in practice. We’ve got zero people who are anywhere near a matchup for him athletically. It’s got to be killing him hes not getting 25-30 minutes a game.
 
#386      
Even if Tomi and Morez return, we need another guy that can play inside.


Like others, I will be very disappointed if DGL goes elsewhere. Kid has it all.

I hope we learn our lesson from last year and a large group of guys do return. Looking at how the portal has ended up laying out for is this year is frustrating. You could probably include Ty as a portal loss bc he could be playing but is not.

We lost:
Sencire
Luke
Coleman
Hansberry
Dainja

And gained
Boswell
Tre White
Jake Davis
Ben H
Booth
 
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#388      
Just unacceptable to lose DGL because of Brad's stubbornness. He competes, he stayed here when everyone left, he has improved tremendously and he has been patient. I don't want to hear anymore about everyday guys when you run our most everyday guy off the team.
 
#389      
Booth is already driving to the airport packing his bags the minute our last game ends
And I’m not shedding any tears over that. He’s just not a contributor at this level at this point in time. Maybe in the future, but definitely not now.
 
#391      
Still time to right the ship, but for next year:

Want back:
Morez
Boswell
DGL
Tre
Will
Tomi

FIne as a 9th man:
Jake

Please never come back:
Ben

From my conversations and best guess, I would guess 5/6 of the wants are back plus Jake.
I like that line up however, one thing I wish we had used a Scholarship on was a 3rd big body and not either the redshirt freshman or Booth. We miss a 250lb+ 6'9"+ guy who could possibly score with his back to the rim and bang down low on both ends . If we still had someone like Dain or 1/2 what Kofi brought we likely would be much more competitive vs teams with bigs and shots aren't falling. Things happen and Morez and Tomi aren't enough depth when they do and they really struggle to score down low with the back to the rim like Dain or someone like him can. Hopefully Morez can develop in that regard. I'd love to had added someone like ex Gopher now Aggie Pharrel Payne. I bet we have that role next season.
 
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#394      
It will be criminal if we lose Dra.. The amount of chances Underwood gave Epps & Sky who weren't playing anywhere near the level of Dra and yet it feels like Underwood can't get out of his own way playing Gibbs... The kid has been the only consistent for our team lately and ALWAYS brings the energy. Legit is the one guy I feel confident in saying he is an EVERY DAY guy... Yet Underwood doesn't start the kid and benches him in crunch time situations (like Nebraska last night).

It's the same as what was happening with Morez... Everyone but Brad could see that the kid deserved more playing time.. again, it took Tomi getting sick to FINALLY play Morez meaningful minutes.
 
#395      
It will be criminal if we lose Dra.. The amount of chances Underwood gave Epps & Sky who weren't playing anywhere near the level of Dra and yet it feels like Underwood can't get out of his own way playing Gibbs... The kid has been the only consistent for our team lately and ALWAYS brings the energy. Legit is the one guy I feel confident in saying he is an EVERY DAY guy... Yet Underwood doesn't start the kid and benches him in crunch time situations (like Nebraska last night).

It's the same as what was happening with Morez... Everyone but Brad could see that the kid deserved more playing time.. again, it took Tomi getting sick to FINALLY play Morez meaningful minutes.
Totally agree, if Brad feels the choice is Boswell or DGL moving forward isn't who that player should be clearer than ever at this point?
 
#396      
Did you see DGL walk past the bench when he was taken out at the end of the game? He is frustrated and I don’t blame him. Brad wants athletes? You won’t find one better than DGL and for two more years after this season. Remember TSJ’s improvement in his last two seasons? DGL can have the same jump. Two similar players.
DGL can certainly continue to grow and improve but no, TSJ and DGL are not similar players. No way in hell, if they were DGL would be able to guard him somewhat effectively. DGL would be starring and on draft boards. DGL has his strengths but his size and physicality are no where near what Shannon brought. TSJ ran end to end and got fast break lay ups, drew fouls, and finished through contact unlike almost any Illini ever nearly every game. I love DGL but he isn't like TSJ. He is more like Trent Frazier with more hops. I think DGL can be great much like Trent but more explosive. I hope he sticks around and gets over 20 minutes a game going forward.
 
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#398      
^^ Bingo. Player retention isn't just about opening up the checkbook at the end of the season. There are things you can do on the court, during the season, apart from NIL that, at the very least, will make it harder for a player to jump ship.
 
#400      
It is. Hummer has been a massive bust though. This staff has evaluated talent really well but that was a huge miss
Yep, time to adjust Bens role. With the B10 regular season title basically gone it is time to focus on doing what we can to prepare for the B10 Tournament and March. We may take an L in order to provide some guys more minutes. Ben needs to lose his tick and play our at projected NBA 1st rounders so they get experience playing together. The regular season title is outta reach. They are 18 and 19 years old and Will especailly needs to play in games to gain confidence and adjust. We need to do whatever we can to put the potentially best team on the floor in March. I feel to do that Will, Morez, Tomi, KJ need to play more together. Will especailly needs time to adjust and if he plays 25 or more minutes a game we may lose a game ir two but come March he likely will give us the best chance to win later when Tomi gets back. So BU please play Will over Ben or Davis. The regular season championship is outta reach now, let's focus on realistic goals and make moves to achieve them.
 
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