Illini Basketball 2026-2027

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#203      
Eddie Murphy Crowd GIF
 
#206      
What do we project Vaaks’s 3pt attempts to be?

He shot 8.4 threes/game at Providence, which was 5th amongst all Power Conference Players.

For context:
Plummer was 7.3
Shannon was 6.7
Keaton was 5.9

(A lot of this does have to do with pace: more possessions = more shots. Providence was top 20 in pace last season)
 
#207      
What do we project Vaaks’s 3pt attempts to be?

He shot 8.4 threes/game at Providence, which was 5th amongst all Power Conference Players.

For context:
Plummer was 7.3
Shannon was 6.7
Keaton was 5.9

(A lot of this does have to do with pace: more possessions = more shots. Providence was top 20 in pace last season)
He’ll play the Keaton role. Responsible for both scoring and playmaking. So I imagine he’ll be in the Keaton range. I’ll say 6.something.
 
#210      
He’ll play the Keaton role. Responsible for both scoring and playmaking. So I imagine he’ll be in the Keaton range. I’ll say 6.something.
Keaton was at 6.5 3pt/attempts from the TENN game onward, and only 3.8 in the first 8 games before that.

…..

What’s funny to me is that in the media, the Nebraska loss is what became exclusively known as the “turning point of the season” because we rattled off 12 in a row after that.

But anyone who truly paid attention, knows the real “turning point” was Tennessee. I mean sure you could claim Nebraska was the “motivation” to lock in defensively (although all it really was is a team going out of their minds from 3 paired with an egregious call in the last 30 seconds)…

but Tennessee is the game that saw our new look offense in full effect. It was Keaton’s first game as the full time lead guard, and from that game onward he averaged 19.3 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 45 percent from the field, 41 percent from 3 and 79 percent from the line. That, in contrast with 13.3 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists on 43/33/81 splits (and those numbers are honestly inflated playing cupcakes; in our three T25 games of TTU / BAMA / UCONN they weren’t near as strong).

He went on to have a historic season, and Illinois was the #1 offense in history all the way up until the UCONN tourney loss (as Purdue marginally inched ahead, because we scored under 1pt per possession in that game).

I remember right before we had the putrid showing against UCONN at MSG (worst offensive performance of the season), but had a full 7 or 8 days to prepare for Tennessee. BU has always earned the trust to prepare for the next game, coming off a loss with a week’s time in between (especially if it’s against a quality opponent).
 
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#213      
I'll keep beating the drum with Vaaks...I think he's gonna be terrific this year, exceeding expectations.

He'll obviously be different then Keaton...Vaaks is definitely more of a gunslinger, where as Keaton was more passive for the right reasons. I think there will be games where Vaaks may wear us out as far as shot selection...but when he's on....he's going to light some teams up.

Keaton was a master in the pick and roll, I think Vaaks can be just as good...also, he's walking around at a legit 6'7. I guarantee there will be more then zero dunks. I can't wait to see it....

Bonafide lottery pick IMO.
 
#216      
Duke is the game where we've essentially booked a loss. Perhaps it's good for experience, but that's about it.

Every other game i think we have a legitimate chance. Uconn I think is a team that might or might not struggle in the non con, but in the big east, they'll dominate (alot like Gonzaga over the years).
 
#217      
I'll keep beating the drum with Vaaks...I think he's gonna be terrific this year, exceeding expectations.

He'll obviously be different then Keaton...Vaaks is definitely more of a gunslinger, where as Keaton was more passive for the right reasons. I think there will be games where Vaaks may wear us out as far as shot selection...but when he's on....he's going to light some teams up.

Keaton was a master in the pick and roll, I think Vaaks can be just as good...also, he's walking around at a legit 6'7. I guarantee there will be more then zero dunks. I can't wait to see it....

Bonafide lottery pick IMO.
I think he'll be the highest player drafted from this season's team, though not betting on Lottery just yet.
 
#218      
I'll keep beating the drum with Vaaks...I think he's gonna be terrific this year, exceeding expectations.

He'll obviously be different then Keaton...Vaaks is definitely more of a gunslinger, where as Keaton was more passive for the right reasons. I think there will be games where Vaaks may wear us out as far as shot selection...but when he's on....he's going to light some teams up.

Keaton was a master in the pick and roll, I think Vaaks can be just as good...also, he's walking around at a legit 6'7. I guarantee there will be more then zero dunks. I can't wait to see it....

Bonafide lottery pick IMO.
Keaton wasn't a checker. Just wasn't his game.

Vaaks will undoubtedly cost us games with his shot selection, but he'll also win us games if he's hot. Hopefully he can toe that line better than a Matt Mayer.

The difference though between him and Mayer is the play-making. Vaaks makes his teammates better.
 
#219      
Coach is right on Mirk. He wasn't the most athletic last season and still brought ball up court. Initiated offense quite a bit. Could be top 5 in country this fall. He is special.
Unlike many on here, the more frequent we rely on Mirk to bring the ball up the court or play de facto pg duties, expect opposing defensive coaches to attack him with quicker and handsy defenders.

In one of the videos, Coleman ripped him…actually straight up took it from him.
 
#221      
With Vaaks, I think the shot selection will be reigned in by more than a tad bit

Unlike many on here, the more frequent we rely on Mirk to bring the ball up the court or play de facto pg duties, expect opposing defensive coaches to attack him with quicker and handsy defenders.

In one of the videos, Coleman ripped him…actually straight up took it from him.

And most of the time I expect Mirk to back that defender into the paint for a layup
 
#223      
Unlike many on here, the more frequent we rely on Mirk to bring the ball up the court or play de facto pg duties, expect opposing defensive coaches to attack him with quicker and handsy defenders.
Don't remember that happening much to Frosh Mirk; I expect it to happen even less with Soph Mirk.

Frosh Mirk did occasionally dribble into double or triple teams and lose the ball, hopefully Soph Mirk does that a LOT less, totally correctable by coaching
 
#224      
Unlike many on here, the more frequent we rely on Mirk to bring the ball up the court or play de facto pg duties, expect opposing defensive coaches to attack him with quicker and handsy defenders.

In one of the videos, Coleman ripped him…actually straight up took it from him.
Coleman showed himself to be an absolute pest at the u17s. I dunno how far that clip is worth extrapolating on.. (I'm so excited to see Quentin playyyy)

If you have a guard on Mirk it means you have a big on a shooter or Andrej. Mirk had a 2:1 ato with 24-5% usg and less than 2 tos a game Feb on. I think you can trust him to pass out of a trap or unfavorable matchup to our advantage...
 
#225      
Keaton wasn't a checker. Just wasn't his game.

Vaaks will undoubtedly cost us games with his shot selection, but he'll also win us games if he's hot. Hopefully he can toe that line better than a Matt Mayer.

The difference though between him and Mayer is the play-making. Vaaks makes his teammates better.
Yep, I hope there’s A LOT of difference; and I suspect there definitely is. 😆

For one thing, he’s 5-10 times the passer that Mayer is/was. Seems to relish making the right play and is just looks to be a WAY a better: dribble, pass, shoot type player.
 
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