Illini Basketball 2026-2027

#351      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
foby said:
I'm tremendously excited about the upcoming season. Our ceiling truly is our first NCAA Tournament Championship!

2 things I'm really looking forward to;

1) Vaaks passing in the PnR. Tomi feasted with KJ and struggled a bit when he was out. I think the feasting returns with Vaaks.

2) The team on the floor at the end of our blowout wins. Blake, Lincoln, ZZ, Ethan, Landon, JJ - they should be very fun to watch.
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He feasted with Keaton too, just didn’t make the shots.

Tomi’s likely the one that cost Keaton the most assists last year.
 
#353      
ptgrd23
foby said:
1) Vaaks passing in the PnR. Tomi feasted with KJ and struggled a bit when he was out. I think the feasting returns with Vaaks.
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2024-5 was KJ/Tomas pick and roll or Tomas low post. Ben H, Tre White, and Kylan were less effective scorers. Will was not a passer. You could argue Tomas was our #2 option most of the time.

2025-6 Keaton avg 18 ppg on 40% 3pt shooting. Andrej avg 14 ppg driving the lane and David avg 14 ppg posting up and 3's. Tomas' usage was way down most of the season.

2026-7 Vaaks takes a lot of shots like Keaton. Andrej and David are back. Quentin is low usage. Tomas will have work hard to get his shots.
 
#354      
Illinirog1970
ptgrd23 said:
2024-5 was KJ/Tomas pick and roll or Tomas low post. Ben H, Tre White, and Kylan were less effective scorers. Will was not a passer. You could argue Tomas was our #2 option most of the time.

2025-6 Keaton avg 18 ppg on 40% 3pt shooting. Andrej avg 14 ppg driving the lane and David avg 14 ppg posting up and 3's. Tomas' usage was way down most of the season.

2026-7 Vaaks takes a lot of shots like Keaton. Andrej and David are back. Quentin is low usage. Tomas will have work hard to get his shots.
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What did you mean Q is "low usage?"
 
#355      
Second place is 1st loser
ptgrd23 said:
2024-5 was KJ/Tomas pick and roll or Tomas low post. Ben H, Tre White, and Kylan were less effective scorers. Will was not a passer. You could argue Tomas was our #2 option most of the time.

2025-6 Keaton avg 18 ppg on 40% 3pt shooting. Andrej avg 14 ppg driving the lane and David avg 14 ppg posting up and 3's. Tomas' usage was way down most of the season.

2026-7 Vaaks takes a lot of shots like Keaton. Andrej and David are back. Quentin is low usage. Tomas will have work hard to get his shots.
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You're going to want to revisit this thought.
 
#356      
Guest
Emerson Bigguns said:
The vast majority of HM college athletes do most of their work on-line, rather than in class. The flexibility for workouts, practice, and travel is extremely advantageous for them.
It's probably not ideal from a team building/chemistry standpoint, but it's not like he's going sightseeing... he will be playing against some of the best players in the world. Fortunately, he has been around the team a bit this summer, starting that process.
You probably don't get a kid like him on your team, unless you plan to honor his commitment to his country.
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Agree. Pure speculation because I don’t know much about these FIBA games. But it appears that Vaaks and Estonia (and the other Euro teams) are done for the time being. So, I assume Vaaks is back or will be soon. The FIBA European qualifying games restart at the end of August for about 5 days. So, again, I assume he will return at the end of that and have all of September and October to practice with the team. I have gotten the impression that the September/October practices are the most important, generally. So, it really doesn't sound as if he is missing a whole lot.
 
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