I dated this girl many years ago, and she had the idea for each of us to pick one person for a guilt free hook up, if the opportunity ever arose. She chose Antonio Banderas and I picked the woman who lived across the street. Things were never the same after that.
Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
Just transferring over all his credits and stuff, should be announced any day now. Everything is signed.
Not too shabby. Losing KW, but gaining a good freshman class and most of the roster getting a year older and wiser.
In fairness, I should mention we've settled our roster a lot earlier than most, so I'd expect other rosters to improve relative to today.
This was such a fun team to watch - feel very lucky we're getting an encore.
Not complaining about having us as a 2, but how TF does one put MSU as a 1?espn releases first bracketology.
Men's Bracketology: Florida debuts as No. 1 overall seed for 2026-27
The Gators return their leading scorer to top the first forecasted field for next season's NCAA tournament.www.espn.com
Illinois a 2 seed???? BOOO!!!!
espn releases first bracketology.
Men's Bracketology: Florida debuts as No. 1 overall seed for 2026-27
The Gators return their leading scorer to top the first forecasted field for next season's NCAA tournament.www.espn.com
Illinois a 2 seed???? BOOO!!!!
Of course ESPN just haaaaad to project the SEC with the most teams
SEC bias remains undefeated.
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Thank you very much for the update. Much appreciated.
This offseason (except for Duke) has shown being a blue blood is almost inconsequential. If your school has a good coach and a load of resources you have a chance at anything. The historical benefit of being a blue blood has very few ramifications on recruitments today.
Immediately invalidates the list.
They lost two high impact seniors and their best player off the bench. Carr and Fears still can’t shoot. Lot riding on freshmen and transfers.
I think my response got lost, so I'll try again:
I see you got the gif treatment. I'll try to offer a strong counterpoint instead...
For championship odds, all six sportsbooks I checked have UM as the highest among B1G, then Illinois, then MSU. After that, there's a big gap and no consensus on who's next. Still got to play the games, but you're definitely going against the grain with that opinion.
On that note, sportsbooks seem to be converging on:
Tied 1-3: Duke, Florida, Michigan
(big gap)
4. Uconn
5. Illinois
6. Arizona
Closely bunched 7-10: MSU, Houston, Arkansas, Louisville
After that, probably Kansas and Texas, but lots of teams are close enough that there's more variation between the books
Field of 68 rankings also has MSU over Illinois. I don't see it. 2nd year in a row they are going to lose top players and not replace them. They do have a good freshman class, but Izzo isn't known for relying on freshman.
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
Joe Lunardi 2027 Bracket: Hey, can I borrow your homework?
Actual 2026 Bracket: Yea, just change it up a bit so no one notices.
Actual 2026 Bracket: Yea, just change it up a bit so no one notices.
Of course ESPN just haaaaad to project the SEC with the most teams
SEC bias remains undefeated.
Meant to include this, my b
Attachments
Honestly, how do you know that with his size/frame and a summer to body up, he's not a John Wall, one and done type? The answer is, you don't.
Keaton was great for us, but also had peaks and a couple of significant valleys. He had a stretch there where he was taking 17 shots to get 19 points, 15 shots for 17, etc. He also had issues finishing at the rim.
He is not being drafted highly because of the season he had in totality, he's being drafted by what teams think he can be and what they are projecting him to be three years from now. In no way is Keaton ready to go in and play day 1. He'd get physically humiliated.
That's the NBA draft nowadays. In what world should KJ have been drafted earlier than TSJ or Ayo? He was a walking turnover his freshman year, while TJ was arguably the most dominant player in college basketball. The problem with TJ was his age.
Youth and projection > experience and being a proven commodity.
So, with regards to college production, yes..... Keaton's production can be replaced. His upside.... probably not.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Torvik has it:
2 Michigan
7 Michigan St
8 Illinois
2 Michigan
7 Michigan St
8 Illinois
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
To toot my own horn a little bit, I was saying this about paying players over a decade ago.
Illinois' first five-star in a class has more value than Duke's fourth, and NIL allows that market to clear.
I don't, but I think he'll shoot more efficiently, which will stretch defenses with him standing in the corner more than Boswell did.
I really appreciate the flexibility and selflessness with which Boswell took on multiple different roles in his time here, but Coleman as a freshman is better suited to just be a catch-and-shoot weapon that can attack an undisciplined closeout. If we put him in a position to play simple basketball I think he'll eat that up.
Who do you think is a better prospect coming out of college, Wagler or Riley and why?
Is the assumption that Michigan is getting Mara and Morez back? That's awfully imposing if so. If not, they're a really good team, but not in that group of 3.
Florida, currently, is absolutely stacked and is easily the favorite.
this one is actually more material... at least compared to those other jabronis. torvik and kenpom do have issues with preseason rankings in general because of a lack of data but.... they both absolutely nailed Illinois last year being a top 6 team in the preseason when the polls had Illinois at 17.
Illin618
- The Dirty Dale
That’s because we do!
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
No its the Izzo factor... always punched above his reach
1m4tr
Cliffmas
I bet Misko and Brad have something worked out. I know we paid a pretty penny to get our guys to return but we still probably got a better deal than they’d have gotten on the open market. I’m sure Misko has a dollar amount in mind that he wants for this 14th member of Illinois and it’ll just be a negotiation on what player Brad wants. Maybe we get a better player on the condition to bring along a lesser player like Bilic for the last spot.
Any chance Indy that this is how it works?