Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#134      
NarrowJ
I love how so many have already tagged this team as soft and unathletic (is this like a white men can’t jump thing? lol)

Losing Ty does make us take a hit in those categories, but Ben Humrichous and Jake Davis are not going to define us either imo

Petrovic is extremely quick and is fast in the open court with the ball

Boswell is plenty athletic, and very strong

Stojakovic has sneaky attleticism/hops, go check out some of the defense, there’s tape out there

Mirkovic averaged 7 rebs last year vs grown ups

Tomi averaged 8.4 rebs last year despite the ankle/mono

Z is actually very athletic, there’s tape that shows this as well, go take a peek

Lee and Wagler round out the group, and I think they're reasonably athletic enough from what I’ve seen of them
 
#136      
Combo
NarrowJ said:
I love how so many have already tagged this team as soft and unathletic (is this like a white men can’t jump thing? lol)

Losing Ty does make us take a hit in those categories, but Ben Humrichous and Jake Davis are not going to define us either imo

Petrovic is extremely quick and is fast in the open court with the ball

Boswell is plenty athletic, and very strong

Stojakovic has sneaky attleticism/hops, go check out some of the defense, there’s tape out there

Mirkovic averaged 7 rebs last year vs grown ups

Tomi averaged 8.4 rebs last year despite the ankle/mono

Z is actually very athletic, there’s tape that shows this as well, go take a peek

Lee and Wagler round out the group, and I think they're reasonably athletic enough from what I’ve seen of them
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The only guy on the roster who is a really impressive run-jump athlete is Z.
Stojakovic is reasonably athletic from that point of view.
After that it really declines.
Boswell is certainly strong, but he's not likely to dunk in anyone's face (and doesn't really need to as a Combo Guard).
Mirkovic is solidly built and has long arms, but is very earthbound.
 
#137      
RichardKeenesCousin
New Creation said:
We look like the Iowa teams from the last 10 years… I’ll let the replies cook
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Why Me Crying GIF by Team Coco
 
#138      
NarrowJ
Combo said:
The only guy on the roster who is a really impressive run-jump athlete is Z.
Stojakovic is reasonably athletic from that point of view.
After that it really declines.
Boswell is certainly strong, but he's not likely to dunk in anyone's face (and doesn't really need to as a Combo Guard).
Mirkovic is solidly built and has long arms, but is very earthbound.
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Correct. We do not have a Coen Carr on this team, but not many teams do (even great teams).
 
#139      
pruman91
NarrowJ said:
Correct. We do not have a Coen Carr on this team, but not many teams do (even great teams).
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Carr is one of the most athletically gifted players in CBB today but can't score outside of a dunk or rebound put back also..........

Athletic skills are fine and fun to watch as a fan , but give me an average skilled player who hits 40 % of his 3's and gets 8 + rebounds per game ................results are what I want , not a highlight dunk or two per game..............JMHO.........
 
#140      
NarrowJ
pruman91 said:
Carr is one of the most athletically gifted players in CBB today but can't score outside of a dunk or rebound put back also..........

Athletic skills are fine and fun to watch as a fan , but give me an average skilled player who hits 40 % of his 3's and gets 8 + rebounds per game ................results are what I want , not a highlight dunk or two per game..............JMHO.........
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#141      
Combo
pruman91 said:
Carr is one of the most athletically gifted players in CBB today but can't score outside of a dunk or rebound put back also..........

Athletic skills are fine and fun to watch as a fan , but give me an average skilled player who hits 40 % of his 3's and gets 8 + rebounds per game ................results are what I want , not a highlight dunk or two per game..............JMHO.........
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I do agree that you can be a really good offensive team without big-time run-jump athletes. The problem is that we weren't a good 3-pt shooting team last year and our addition and likely leading scorer (Stoja) isn't a particularly good 3-pt shooter.

The other problem is you're only talking about half the game. Defensively, having quick, explosive athletes is more important.
 
#142      
NarrowJ
Combo said:
I do agree that you can be a really good offensive team without big-time run-jump athletes. The problem is that we weren't a good 3-pt shooting team last year and our addition and likely leading scorer (Stoja) isn't a particularly good 3-pt shooter.

The other problem is you're only talking about half the game. Defensively, having quick, explosive athletes is more important.
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Stojakovic can shoot, he was just the sole focus of the defense at Cal

I agree with you on defensive concerns, but not necessarily because we're unathletic (hopefully Crocker can improve scheme/approach)
 
#144      
RollChief
Combo said:
I do agree that you can be a really good offensive team without big-time run-jump athletes. The problem is that we weren't a good 3-pt shooting team last year and our addition and likely leading scorer (Stoja) isn't a particularly good 3-pt shooter.

The other problem is you're only talking about half the game. Defensively, having quick, explosive athletes is more important.
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Last year’s team was a poor three-point shooting team despite being full of capable shooters, and it’s hard to imagine they won’t be able to sort out those shooting woes this season. Improving their three-point percentage seems like the most achievable offensive goal.

Below, I’ve listed player’s previous seasons. If we end up with another 31.3% year, something is very wrong strategically, because Alabama also shoots the 3 at volume and they were at 35.3%.

Kylan: 39% in 2022-2023 (77 attempts), 37.9% in 2023-2024 (174 attempts)
T Ivisic: 35.7% in 2024-2025 (154 attempts)
Z Ivisic: 37.6 in 2024-2025 (125 attempts), 37.5% in 2023-2025 (16 attempts)
Jake Davis: 40.6% in 2023-2024 (138 attempts)
Humrichous: 42.1% in 2023-2024 (126 attempts)
Mirkovic: 36.8% in 2023-2024 at SC Derby
Petrovic: 33% at KK Mega
Stoja: 31.8% in 2024-2025 (129 attempts), 32.7% in 2023-2024 (104 attempts)

This doesn't include Lee or Wagler, and we've already heard rumblings about Wagler's shooting ability.
 
#146      
jjv0004
21ChampaignSt said:
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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I think Alabama has also been better. Since 2020, Oats has sweet 16 in 2021 and 2023, final four in 2024 and elite 8 in 2025.
 
#147      
B-ILL
RollChief said:
Last year’s team was a poor three-point shooting team despite being full of capable shooters, and it’s hard to imagine they won’t be able to sort out those shooting woes this season. Improving their three-point percentage seems like the most achievable offensive goal.

This doesn't include Lee or Wagler, and we've already heard rumblings about Wagler's shooting ability.
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"Elite"
 
#149      
21ChampaignSt
jjv0004 said:
I think Alabama has also been better. Since 2020, Oats has sweet 16 in 2021 and 2023, final four in 2024 and elite 8 in 2025.
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Yeah, I wouldn't argue with that. Certainly they've done better in the tournament. They also have four conference championships. Would have missed the tournament in 2020 though.
 
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