“handsome” lolol at that age that would’ve absolutely made my day
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
you may be smaller but you are now on unofficial body guard duty. make us proud
PizzaHutParkingLot
- Vodice, Croatia
Jokić lobs to Stojaković would feed families
Bigtex
- DFW
@istewart53x3 My response.... has Illinois ever had 3 guys average 30 min/game? 4 guys? Hard to believe 5 guys
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
A couple of things:
1. I wasn’t talking about their season long average. I was talking about true, non blowout games, that happen in the heart of the season. Cupcakes bring down a star players season average.
2. My post wasn’t meant to be a minutes breakdown post. My point was that because this team is well established there won’t be a whole lot of minutes available for the 9th man. Sure, Vaaks might average 32 and Coleman, as an example, might average 28, but that still leaves the same amount minutes available for the 9th man.
3. Last year, we had 3. Mirk played 29.5 on the season and way more than that in close games. I imagine we would have had 4 had Andrej been fully healthy. He played 26.5 on the season and mentioned that he wasn’t fully healthy until the tournament.
4. I later corrected myself that Tomi likely wouldn’t get there.
BillyBob1
- Champaign
A missed strength is DJ skills and keeping secrets!
Casey Jacobson does the fox rankings. He currently has Illinois 2.
I personally, don't think it's very realistic to claim we're better than Duke or Florida
Having us #1 isn't a hot take when we've been #1 in multiple national publications was the entire point
He has Illinois 2 spots ahead of Duke... so also just sorta funny you point to his ranking to note Florida being ahead of Illinois, but his rankings must also simultaneously be trash since he has Duke at 4
Workouts are starting in the next few days. Going to be really interesting to see who steps up, looking at the Williams, Zens, and Brown battle.
It's called blue blood boredom.Having us #1 isn't a hot take when we've been #1 in multiple national publications was the entire point
He has Illinois 2 spots ahead of Duke... so also just sorta funny you point to his ranking to note Florida being ahead of Illinois, but his rankings must also simultaneously be trash since he has Duke at 4
They're by far the deepest and most talented team. Torvik projects them as the top defense AND top offense.
If they hit on their pieces, they could mirror the 2015 UK squad. Having them 4th is pretty silly.
If my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle
They're ranked 4th by FOX Sports, I guess you'll have to just deal with that idk
EDIT: Sports Illustrated has them 6th
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Torvik updated things recently- now we're projected to have the #1 offense and Duke is #3. But Duke is still projected #1 overall in a tier by themselves, and we're #4
I feel the trepidation with Duke is overall is:
- Roster inexperience and having less continuity than other top teams
- Freshmen are good but highly unlikely any of them matches Cam Boozer's production
- Their #1 Torvik rank seems based on having a projected ADJDE that is nearly 2 points higher than anyone else (unlikely that plays out)
- Evans > Blackwell, other two transfers are pretty meh
- Roster inexperience and having less continuity than other top teams
- Freshmen are good but highly unlikely any of them matches Cam Boozer's production
- Their #1 Torvik rank seems based on having a projected ADJDE that is nearly 2 points higher than anyone else (unlikely that plays out)
- Evans > Blackwell, other two transfers are pretty meh
Duke lost way too much and to expect these freshman to be good every year is unrealistic. I don't see this Duke team having another Flagg or Boozer. Duke should win the weak !!! ACC. Florida had there same big guys return from the National Championship team and they lose in the second round. I'm not impressed with Boogie Fland or their other backcourt pieces. Michigan has lost way too much. Illinois should be the prohibitive #1 team in the country.
Landon Davis, Jason Jakstys, Blake Fagbemi have new bulletin board material.
I would not put Brown at that level this year....but Williams and Zens will likely battle to give AS a rest now and then....or maybe not as Morillo might take that job. Who knows? In my mind, not a single person including the staff at the moment.
For sure....these kids are all Illini. JJ has some credit under his belt and minutes available to him if he can play and the game has slowed for him a bit. No one seems to even know if he is healthy enough to play this season.
Z,Tomi and Jake Davis will be at a clinic for 7 to 17 year olds Sunday afternoon in Champaign
I'm gonna play devil's advocate here because I'm bored and actually agree with your Duke hesitation. similar could be said about Illinois and their torvik.
point 1.. not applicable since we retain
point 2.. freshman are good but unlikely to replace Keaton... this one could be applicable to Illinois
point 3 Illinois' ADJOE is 2 points above everyone (could happen but I do think Duke will be a defensive monster)
point 4 vaaks should be better than kylan on offense but the defense will be much worse but yet our defensive rating is actually better in his projection this year
bonus he has big z rated higher offense rating than vaaks with the same usage. that's odd
overall I think Illinois is right where they need to be at 4. I think Duke will be worse on offense but really good on defense
I honestly would not argue too much with any of Florida, Duke, Illinois ranked between 1 and 4 (or maybe even 5)
What's bothered me more is folks saying things like "Illinois being 1st is a hot take" or "Duke being 4th is a hot take" as if we can prognosticate to that degree of precision 5 months before a game is played.
Here is the breakdown from last season. Kylan (30) and Keaton (33.9) combined for 63.9 mpg. Who played the other 16 guard minutes?
Tomi (25.4) and Z (17.2) combined for 42.6.
Jake (19.6) and Andrej (26.3) 45.9.
Mirk (29.5) and Ben (22.5) 53.
Note That rotation consisted of 4 bigs, 2 wings, and 2 guards.
Next year projects to be 3 bigs, 2 wings, and 3 guards.
Realistically, Tomi and Z will take all the quality center minutes.again. They might play together a little more often. Can Mirk play more than 30 mpg? There should be 5 minutes or more for JJ or small ball with Zens?
Jake and Andrej return and should take all or most of the quality 3 minutes? Andrej starts and likely plays close to 30 if he is healthy.
I can't see Coleman and Vaacks matching almost 64 mpg. I am guessing 20 to 25 bench minutes will be available with Morillo getting most of them.