Illini Basketball 2026-2027

#401      
Uihoop2023!
FeelYourPaign said:
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.
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He will have half of July, majority of August, all of September and October to work on adjusting to our offense..he will be fine
 
#402      
PepeSilvia
FeelYourPaign said:
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.
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I don't think it will take a collegiate player much time to learn the offense since it is basically just iso's, a pick and roll, or a dribble hand off until they get the matchup they want to attack.

It's not like he's learning to play the UConn, Nebraska, or Oakland offense.
 
#403      
bavanga3
jamarvelous31 said:
This is an awful lot of fluff just to agree with me.

It wasn't a sellout in Chicago. A city 12 times larger than C-U where the Bulls average 20,244 and IL got 17,775. Imagine how much louder/rowdier it would be with over 2,000 more fans.

IL had 7th best odds to win the natty preseason, were the 8th ranked team going into the game and they were a final 4 team. Not sure your problem there.

Have we really reached the point where saying a destination game should be on a weekend is controversial?!?!
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Are you really crying over this? Jesus. Having almost 18,000 fans at a college basketball game in November for a team that hadn't gone to a final 4 in 20 years is damn impressive.
 
#404      
Fly Illini Fly!
QC practice highlights:

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#405      
jamarvelous31
lstewart53x3 said:
Yes, are the fans who want to trade neutral site games for home games the same fans who attend the home games, sit on their hands, get upset when the fan in front of them stands, and give us one of the worst home court advantages of any top 10 team in the country?
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Personally, I'm the fan that has a job that I start at 7a and two kiddos under 4. It's hard for me to make an 8pm tip off on a Weds downtown on a non-holiday week. I don't think I'm that unusual.

The point is that it's not fan centric and dumb for the program. Not that the home game set up is perfect (which is helped by having students in session for big games) or that THE UC GAME SUCKED OMG.

Imagine the atmosphere of a premium neutral site game if you set it up to maximize the number of your own fans that could attend... what they did was dumb and it's ok to say that.
 
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#406      
ugottabjoshinme
Fighter of the Nightman said:
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.
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Home and homes are going to be harder to schedule because it is easier to keep it a Q1 loss if the home team loses when it is at a neutral site.
 
#410      
21ChampaignSt
lstewart53x3 said:
Yes, are the fans who want to trade neutral site games for home games the same fans who attend the home games, sit on their hands, get upset when the fan in front of them stands, and give us one of the worst home court advantages of any top 10 team in the country?
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I'd say it's all fans who attend games (primarily season ticket holders who have to up their ante every year) which is inclusive of the good fans and the quiet fans.
 
#412      
pweo
lstewart53x3 said:
Yes, are the fans who want to trade neutral site games for home games the same fans who attend the home games, sit on their hands, get upset when the fan in front of them stands, and give us one of the worst home court advantages of any top 10 team in the country?
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It's not exclusive to home games - ran into one of those in Greenville this year.
 
#413      
jimbo72
nichi said:
...

More of a luxury than a need.

I would rather see the 9th and 10th man get 8 - 11 mpg.

It can be done. Way back in the day, Ricky Pitino had some success with 10 or even 11 man rotations at UK. Of course, he had lots of future NBA players.

Also, Lon Kruger played 11 guys 10 mpg or more his last season right here at UI.

The concept is simple enough. Assume our basic 8 man rotation consists of three bigs (Mirk, Tomi, and Z), two wings (Andrej and Jake),* and three guards (Vaaks, Q, and Morillo.

For a deep 11 man rotation, just work in a 4th big, 3rd wing, and 4th guard 4 to 6 minutes per half. Easy peasy. /s

*I stipulate that Andrej and Jake will see the floor together. Rotations are guidelines, not rules.
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We will never be playing 10, unless tons of foul trouble or we're up by 50. The minutes simply don't allow it, plus you take players out of rhythm. It shrinks in tourney.
 
#415      
Det_Illini_fan
Tears of joy fill my eyes seeing the offense highlights, and reading the early leaks of progress from that side of the ball for this next year.

On the flip side, are there any insights into how defense is or should be developing this next year? I imagine it’s hard to hype or see the fruits of in comparison to offense, but one area I am hoping we can improve upon next year. I think some pundits and commentators were super harsh on our defensive struggles last year, acting like we pure traffic cones out there, but I did think it was an area that needed some help (obviously; I mean if you have the best offensive efficiency, defense won’t be so that could use improvement). It was still good but not elite. But any insight on our athleticism and defensive schemes we can anticipate for next year?

I figure if we can beef that up just a bit more (get some more steaks, etc), while maintaining our offensive prowess, we’ll be unstoppable juggernaut territory!
 
#417      
RabidDawgClassic
jamarvelous31 said:
Personally, I'm the fan that has a job that I start at 7a and two kiddos under 4. It's hard for me to make an 8pm tip off on a Weds downtown on a non-holiday week. I don't think I'm that unusual.

The point is that it's not fan centric and dumb for the program. Not that the home game set up is perfect (which is helped by having students in session for big games) or that THE UC GAME SUCKED OMG.

Imagine the atmosphere of a premium neutral site game if you set it up to maximize the number of your own fans that could attend... what they did was dumb and it's ok to say that.
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Have you seen the prices? NOTHING is fan centric anymore — at least not the fans that have 7am jobs and kiddos under four. 🫤
 
#420      
RollChief
Illwinsagain said:
I love everything about this article...

www.news-gazette.com

David Mirkovic in leadership role: 'Coach is giving me an opportunity'

Illini star could have played for Montenegro's national team but chose to say in Champaign
www.news-gazette.com www.news-gazette.com
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David is the man, looking forward to some all-time moments this season.

One thing I was thinking about in reading this- I wonder how Vaaks is responding to David's leadership with regards to playing overseas for national teams over the summer...
 
#423      
jamarvelous31
Username said:

I dont know if this is the right thread or not, but looks like UCLA is gonna be tough for the next couple years...or at least tougher than I was expecting.
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Probably. But also remember that Aday Mara was projected to be the 6th pick until Cronin got his hands on him..

247sports.com

BREAKING: Spanish Post Aday Mara Announces He Has Signed with UCLA

It's finally happened. Spanish phenom Aday Mara publicly announced his long-time commitment to UCLA, and that he has signed...
247sports.com 247sports.com
 
#424      
Username
jamarvelous31 said:
Probably. But also remember that Aday Mara was projected to be the 6th pick until Cronin got his hands on him..

247sports.com

BREAKING: Spanish Post Aday Mara Announces He Has Signed with UCLA

It's finally happened. Spanish phenom Aday Mara publicly announced his long-time commitment to UCLA, and that he has signed...
247sports.com 247sports.com
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Agree - our best hope is that this poor kid gets the Cronin treatment. Maybe after Tomi and Mirk become all Americans and lead us to a natty, he gets out of his multi-year NIL deal w/UCLA and transfers to us next offseason.


Glen Powell Hitman GIF by NETFLIX
 
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