lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
That concept only works right up until one of the key cogs gets hurt or there is the inevitable foul trouble within a game. The real right answer to win a title is to figure out how to have a consistent 10 man rotation (with the 9 & 10 man being 5 minute a game guys). I think that is one thing that hurt us at the end last season. Those last couple games our shooters looked tired. We beat Iowa basically on guts & desire plus the fact we were a more skilled team.
I think basically playing 8 guys from January on was showing its effects. Just getting 2 more guys a few minutes a game saves some wear & tear on your key guys at the end of the year. If you can buy 5 more minutes of rest a game for one of your starters, by game 32 you have basically saved 4 games worth of usage on that person.
Probably not a "do or die" thing as we made the final four with that lineup. But this year is about doing everything in November to early March so that you play 6 games in the tournament. It requires a level of attention to every detail to win those last few games.
Please delete, others posted my point already
He'll be back in Champaign on 10 July. At this moment, the Estonian national team's head coach said to our media that his return for the games on August 27 and 30 is not certain, but the talks to have him are active with Illinois. His participation means a lot to us, especially because this window's games were the first after his debut before coming to the US, and he visibly put the team on his shoulders at the important moments.
I choose to view our guys playing in these games as a major net positive.
Injury risk and lack of practice time domestically are the two massive negatives. But brand exposure is real and strengthening the euro pipeline can only be beneficial. I’d love for the Illini brand to flourish in Estonia and elsewhere in Europe and having star players play for the Orange and blue is awesome.
Injury risk and lack of practice time domestically are the two massive negatives. But brand exposure is real and strengthening the euro pipeline can only be beneficial. I’d love for the Illini brand to flourish in Estonia and elsewhere in Europe and having star players play for the Orange and blue is awesome.
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
this. and preventing our players from representing their national teams when it's the offseason is really poor form
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Ranked non-conference opponents by year of Brad's tenure. For this upcoming season, I am using these.
2026-2027
at #2 Duke
vs. #4 UConn (Chicago, IL)
vs. #21 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
vs. #25 North Carolina (Nashville, TN)
(Surprised Texas Tech isn't on here, though I admit I have not followed them...)
2025-2026
vs. #5 UConn (New York, NY)
vs. #11 Alabama (Chicago, IL)
vs. #11 Texas Tech
vs. #13 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)
2024-2025
vs. #1 Tennessee
vs. #3 Duke (New York, NY)
vs. #8 Alabama (Birmingham, AL)
vs. #19 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO)
2023-2024
vs. #4 Marquette
vs. #11 FAU (New York, NY)
at #17 Tennessee
2022-2023
vs. #2 Texas (New York, NY)
vs. #8 UCLA (Las Vegas, NV)
vs. #16 Virginia (Las Vegas, NV)
2021-2022
vs. #11 Arizona
2020-2021
vs. #2 Baylor (Indianapolis, IN)
at #10 Duke
2019-2020
at #21 Arizona
2018-2019
vs. #3 Gonzaga (Maui, HI)
2017-2018
N/A
I, for one, absolutely LOVE this trend. Not only is it just really fun as a fan to be able to watch matchups like this, but I think it pretty clearly is to our advantage come March Madness, both in terms of our seed and the experience it gives us!
2026-2027
at #2 Duke
vs. #4 UConn (Chicago, IL)
vs. #21 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
vs. #25 North Carolina (Nashville, TN)
(Surprised Texas Tech isn't on here, though I admit I have not followed them...)
2025-2026
vs. #5 UConn (New York, NY)
vs. #11 Alabama (Chicago, IL)
vs. #11 Texas Tech
vs. #13 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)
2024-2025
vs. #1 Tennessee
vs. #3 Duke (New York, NY)
vs. #8 Alabama (Birmingham, AL)
vs. #19 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO)
2023-2024
vs. #4 Marquette
vs. #11 FAU (New York, NY)
at #17 Tennessee
2022-2023
vs. #2 Texas (New York, NY)
vs. #8 UCLA (Las Vegas, NV)
vs. #16 Virginia (Las Vegas, NV)
2021-2022
vs. #11 Arizona
2020-2021
vs. #2 Baylor (Indianapolis, IN)
at #10 Duke
2019-2020
at #21 Arizona
2018-2019
vs. #3 Gonzaga (Maui, HI)
2017-2018
N/A
I, for one, absolutely LOVE this trend. Not only is it just really fun as a fan to be able to watch matchups like this, but I think it pretty clearly is to our advantage come March Madness, both in terms of our seed and the experience it gives us!
TTU had a pretty bad offseason (IMO). The talent just isn’t there without Toppin. I’m excited to see what DGL can do there I thought he was close here but he will have plenty of opportunity on that tech roster.
Agreed that the noncon is awesome. It’s reflective of our teams status too (no one wants to play middling P5 schools those games only hurt NET).
I’d love to see more home and home as opposed to neutrals but that take has been echoed far and wide—including from BU.
One last thing: Winthrop beat us in the 16/17 season. What an awful time to be an Illini fan. I personally love keeping that perspective top of mind. We’re in a golden age of Illini basketball.
Amen to the home and home. But I bet the neutral site and prime time broadcast paydays are pretty tough to ignore
Not to mention the level of competition and stage. He's playing against veteran professionals who are representing their countries, in well attended arenas.
Competitive games in a high pressure context>Practice in a closed gym.
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
I'm a little conflicted on this point, since our offense has been so efficient. That seems to suggest that the guys need to practice and play together, as apparently our offense is different than others. The difference comes mostly I think from patience and willingness to work for the best shot. That is easy to say, but does take some repetitions to become engrained. I generally agree with the point that games bring out things that practice doesn't, but working to be the best Estonian he can be might not be quite the same as the best Illini he can be.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
My opinion on this issue has always been that not all neutral sites are created equal, and thus we shouldn't see it as a dichotomy. There are roughly three types of neutral site games, IMO.
1) 50/50 crowd splits that just make WAY too much sense and thus create a special "event-like" atmosphere that is even better than a home-and-home for that specific series ... for us, this would be Braggin' Rights, and a football example is Texas/Oklahoma in Dallas.
2) Throwing a bone to a major market that has a large fan base there and/or is super important for the athletic program's success ... for us, this is the United Center game, and the vast majority of programs on the hoops side do this (e.g., Michigan/MSU in Detroit, Indiana/Purdue in Indianapolis, etc.).
3) Pointless neutral site games that would have been much better as a home-and-home series on the campuses ... for us, this is playing UNC in Nashville rather than Champaign, and a recent football example was USC and LSU meeting at Allegiant Stadium in Vegas than either one of their historic stadiums.
I'm firmly against #3, and I think that is where most of the hate for neutral site games comes from. I think #2 depends highly on context ... OSU doesn't get nearly as much mileage from playing a game in Cleveland as we do maintaining our United Center tradition. The neutral site games that fall in the #1 category need to be protected at all costs ... anyone who would ever want Braggin' Rights played on campus has simply never been, or he is insane! Those atmospheres are so rare and so cool.
TL;DR
For the Illini, I would want to keep Braggin' Rights in St. Louis forever and try to play at the United Center once per year, as both easily justify their existence ... all other non-conference games should be home-and-home, if possible.