Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#101      
the juiceman cometh
gary? said:
thanks for sharing. i'm seeing illinois and wisconsin with 3 players, and michigan and purdue with 2 (and maybe others like msu and the cali schools, but i think those two teams are the favorites). doesn't necessarily mean much but good to see our best players being recognized.
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Michigan has 3 - all bigs. Morez, Yaxel, and Mara.
 
#103      
altgeld88
GrayGhost77 said:
Assuming he's doing full range of motion those are legit numbers. Especially the squat ( and even with safety squat bar which is actually tougher IMO). Bench isn't bad for having longer arms, too.
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Yep. That's the crux of it. Still, love to see our BB guys under the heavy iron. Should have a 600 deadlift with ease, too.
 
#108      
BBlock24
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but Torvik has Illinois 7th in the projections for 2026. That’s if I’m reading it correctly.
 
#109      
ILLjuice
BBlock24 said:
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but Torvik has Illinois 7th in the projections for 2026. That’s if I’m reading it correctly.
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7th what? The conference? The country? Are you reading it right?? What kind of comment is this lmao
 
#113      
PepeSilvia
Second place is 1st loser said:
When I hear a basketball player squatting 500 lbs and closing in on pressing 300 lbs.....that seems like someone who is trying to bulk up and beef up than someone who's working on becoming more agile and quick their feet.

Fletch is the professional and I'm sure he's taking the right approach. Just seems like an approach Bielema would be pushing.
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Lifting heavy isn't necessarily going to bulk you up unless you're eating a ton. Common misconception that lifting heavy or getting strong is going to lead to bulking up or building a ton of muscle or lead to losing flexibility.

Kylan is a basketball player so I'm assuming there is also a ton of cardio and plyometric work so lifting heavy will provide the strength needed to get more more explosive(plyo work translates that strength in quickness/explosiveness).
 
#114      
LouHenson
lol - I do 50 min a day every day (all elliptical now old legs!). Most do hate cardio though?
 
#120      
RockfordIllini
illini0440 said:
With way more talent
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I sure hope so! But it’s easy to forget how much talent Fran had from ~2020-2022. Garza, the Murrays and Weiskamp were all NBA picks, with Garza being NPOY. And I couldn’t stand either of them, but both JBo and Tony Perkins were plus BIG players.

And even with all that talent, no second weekend. They either went cold or scored their normal 80+, but would give up 95 to any decent team in the tourney. Why I’m not wild about our current roster construction. Need more athleticism and dawgs.
 
#122      
21ChampaignSt
Following up on a conversation from a day or two ago, I wanted to look at a few meaningful metrics and see how we stack up against the college basketball field since 2020. Answer: pretty good besides one glaring shortcoming.

#7 in average end of season KenPom rating

#11 in Poll appearances

Tied 6th longest tournament streak (including projected field from covid year)

One of 7 teams in a P4 conference to win three conference's championships (regular season and/or conference tournament)

5th best average seed (where teams who fail to make the tournament are given a seed value of 18)

29th most total wins since 2020 (15th most out of P4 conferences)

Of the teams with NCAA tournament streaks equal to or longer, Illinois has the fewest post season wins

19 teams have gone to multiple second weekends since 2020.

So by most metrics, we've been a top 10 program in the country since 2020. Clearly, tournament performance has not been a strong suit. But also keep in mind, of those 19 teams with more second weekends than us, like 13 also missed the tournament at least once in that time frame. Miami for example made the Elite Eight and Final Four but had losing seasons in each of their other 4 years. So, I can't buy that they're a better program than we are just because they had more post season success.

And just for fun, here are the programs who I would say have clearly been better than us in the 2020s (no particular order):

Gonzaga
Houston
Kansas
Baylor
UConn
Duke
Purdue
Creighton

From there, I think a few schools, us included could make an argument for being the 9th or 10th best program.
 
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