Illini Basketball 2026-2027

[HailtotheChief]

Think I'm going with Tomi...does he stay relatively healthy this year? "Good Tomi" makes us so dang hard to deal with

So would Big Z if he could find his 3 pt shot. Coming into last season I thought Z had better numbers from beyond the arc but stuggled some last season. I hope they both get up closer to 38% or so. If that happens our team is so scary to try and stop..

 

[Second place is 1st loser]

So would Big Z if he could find his 3 pt shot. Coming into last season I thought Z had better numbers from beyond the arc but stuggled some last season. I hope they both get up closer to 38% or so. If that happens our team is so scary to try and stop..

Some? I think that's an understatement. He went on a 3 for 30 type stretch(or something of the like), which stretched February - April.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

So would Big Z if he could find his 3 pt shot. Coming into last season I thought Z had better numbers from beyond the arc but stuggled some last season. I hope they both get up closer to 38% or so. If that happens our team is so scary to try and stop..

I really wonder if his minutes increase this year, pretty noticeably (like, 20+ minutes).

Say Tomi plays 26 at the 5; and Z plays 14 at the 5; at Mirk plays 30 at the 4.

Who else is getting the non-Mirk 4 minutes? Saying Z wouldn't get at least 5-6 .... the logic just wouldn't add up.

Some? I think that's an understatement. He went on a 3 for 30 type stretch(or something of the like), which stretched February - April.

3 for his last 31.

Starting from the MSU game all the way to UCONN.

 

[HailtotheChief]

Davis needs to look for his shot more. He's the best shooter on the team.

Ben and Jake were virtually identical players offensively. However, Ben's 3pt attempts per game were significantly higher.

Jake should have many of the same shots available to him (and he's a far better shooter than Ben).

I expect Vaaks is the best shooter on the team, especially if they are being guarded. If Brad feels he is the best offensive player in the portal a huge part of it is his diffucult shot making ability. The distance and difficulty of the type of shots he took at Providence are not the same as Jakes open corner 3s. Now, if Jake is wide open and Vaaks is too i bet they are real similar and awesome from 3. Ill take either all day long on a wide open look.

 

[HailtotheChief]

I really wonder if his minutes increase this year, pretty noticeably (like, 20+ minutes).

Say Tomi plays 26 at the 5; and Z plays 14 at the 5; at Mirk plays 30 at the 4.

Who else is getting the non-Mirk 4 minutes? Saying Z wouldn't get at least 5-6 .... the logic just wouldn't add up.

3 for his last 31.

Starting from the MSU game all the way to UCONN.

In close games i bet Mirk plays as much as possible and closer to 35 but i do think most games Z will get 15 or a lil more at the 5 and another 5 to 8 backing up Mirk. If its not a blow out id expect Z and T to have fairly similar minutes on the floor. In blow outs some others will get some tick behind Mirk and maybe even T.

 

[PleaseMakeABowlGame]

I really wonder if his minutes increase this year, pretty noticeably (like, 20+ minutes).

Say Tomi plays 26 at the 5; and Z plays 14 at the 5; at Mirk plays 30 at the 4.

Who else is getting the non-Mirk 4 minutes? Saying Z wouldn't get at least 5-6 .... the logic just wouldn't add up.

I really don’t get the position-minutes logic.

For instance, Ben last year played 22.5 minutes and Mirk played 29.5.

Let’s say Mirk played all his minutes at the 4. That only leaves 10.5 available for Ben. So where are the 12 other minutes coming from?

The 3? That’s where we have Stojakovic and Davis, who each played 19.6 and 26.3 respectively.

Obviously he’s not a PG, SG, or C.

 

[NarrowJ]

I really don’t get the position-minutes logic.

For instance, Ben last year played 22.5 minutes and Mirk played 29.5.

Let’s say Mirk played all his minutes at the 4. That only leaves 10.5 available for Ben. So where are the 12 other minutes coming from?

The 3? That’s where we have Stojakovic and Davis, who each played 19.6 and 26.3 respectively.

Obviously he’s not a PG, SG, or C.

Stojakovic and Davis both played a non-negligible amount of minutes at the 2… Having Mirkovic as a ballhandler allowed you to play Jake at SG as a non-handling connector.

More than a few times (mostly while Bam was out) we ran a lineup of Wagler, Davis, Ben, Mirk and Tomi for an extended period and another game we ran out a giant Wagler, Ben, Mirk, Z, Tomi lineup (anyone remember which game this was? I remember it happened but can’t recall against who).

 

[IlliniwekKDR]

Maybe a little off topic, but I really hope Hunter sent Kofi a card today