It's about extracting money from the fans who can afford it.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
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I suspect both of those players know pretty much what their respective roles and expectations are at the beginning of the season. They probably both know that it is fluid.
Not complaining, but did you hack the Ubben cameras and if so, why didn’t you do it earlier than now?!?!?
Yup. 140-150 is the typical range and i don’t expect this season to be different. We know who our 5 best guys are, and barring injury, foul trouble, or early season cupcake blowouts, those 5 will be out there a lot.
I said it was dumb to schedule a weekday UC game and inferred that a final 4 team caliber program should expect to sell out the UC. I went on to explain exactly why me as a common alumnus (I think) is probably not alone. That's all I said. You've now acknowledged twice that my point is true!
My complaint was about scheduling, not the fans. I never said the game, atmosphere or attendees sucked. Frankly it's a dick move to try and take your interpretation of things I didn't even say and then claim that it's my fault because I didn't caveat them in a way you prefer. It's the same strawman, everythingmustbeliteral, skyisfalling nonsense that has plagued this board this off-season. You, amongst others, need to touch some grass.
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foby
- Bonnaroo Land
Don't think I'm putting that burden on either of them.
I think after 8 guys, you start to risk your best three not being on the court for enough minutes. Three of Mirk, Stoya, probably QC or Vaaks need to be on the court with at least one of the twins 65% of the time to play at the highest level. not gonna find minutes for 9-10 guys.
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Nervous about a guy who is 4th in betting odds for player of the year wanting the ball in his hands more? He SHOULD want the ball in his hands more. A quicker and stronger Mirk will be a beast!
The changing of Mirk's role is certainly driven by what the staff wants to do. I can't imagine he's just saying this because it is his idea.
Yup. This notion of "saving" guys so they're fresh come tournament time is not well thought out. Using that logic, why not just skip practice, so our guys are fresher for the real games and we don't get injured in superfluous practice? Or go beyond ND football and just request that we skip our regular season and be auto-qualified for the tournament so we can be completely fresh?
The idea is to win every game in front of you. Winning the most games during the season helps you in the tournament because you'll get a better seed. Possibly more importantly, it helps develop the habit of winning.
These are 18-22 year old guys. Playing 30+ mpg is unlikely to deplete their energy for a game days or weeks later.
There's a reason the vast majority of coaches play an 8-man rotation and tune that down to 6/7 come tournament time. You want your best guys on the floor. And you want those guys to be a well-oiled machine which requires them playing together a lot.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
I agree that top teams often pare down for the tournament. But the last 5 champions all got at least 14mpg beyond their top 8 over the whole season. Maybe it had nothing to do with their success, but it's definitely common among the elite teams. And it wasn't 5 guys getting 2-3min of garbage time on a regular basis- their 9th men averaged 9.6mpg and their 10th men averaged 2.4mpg.
Just looked up UConn's last NC. Seven players averaged 14 or more minutes per game for the whole season. That's a 7-man rotation. And it was paired down for the tournament.
For Florida last year, also 7.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Just a somewhat bored Illini propaganda post on this Friday afternoon, but I was just thinking how there always seem to be a lot of good Big Ten basketball programs in the 2020s, but really only a couple have been consistently players. Sure, Iowa and Maryland pop up here and there, Wisconsin is quietly consistent, etc. However, I just wanted to look at (A) what teams had made a "deep" Tournament run, defined here as Elite Eight or beyond, and (B) what teams had been able to hang a Big Ten Championship banner of some type. And since this is a propaganda post, I am absolutely giving us a share of the 2021 championship, lol.
DEEP TOURNAMENT RUN
National Championships
Michigan (2026)
Final Fours
Purdue (2024)
Michigan (2026)
Illinois (2026)
Elite Eights
Michigan (2021)
Purdue (2024)
Illinois (2024)
Michigan State (2025)
Michigan (2026)
Illinois (2026)
Iowa (2026)
Purdue (2026)
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP BANNER
BTT Championships
Illinois (2021)
Iowa (2022)
Purdue (2023)
Illinois (2024)
Michigan (2025)
Purdue (2026)
Big Ten Championships
Maryland (2020)
Michigan State (2020)
Wisconsin (2020)
Michigan (2021)**********
Illinois (2021)**********
Illinois (2022)
Wisconsin (2022)
Purdue (2023)
Purdue (2024)
Michigan State (2025)
Michigan (2026)
While there are a decent number of Big Ten teams who have done at least one of those, there are only three who show up on every list:
1. Michigan - 1 National Championship, 1 Final Four, 2 Elite Eights, 2 Big Ten Championships and 1 BTT Championship
2. Illinois - 1 Final Four, 2 Elite Eights, 2 Big Ten Championships and 2 BTT Championships
3. Purdue - 1 Final Four, 2 Elite Eights, 2 Big Ten Championships and 2 BTT Championships
And it's actually crazy how evenly matched they are in these categories! All have had their ups and downs, but with Michigan's rebound these last two years, these seem to be pretty clearly the "big three" of the Big Ten this decade. And considering Michigan just had a coaching change and that we will come into the season ranked significantly higher than Purdue, this year really could be a GOLDEN opportunity to solidify ourselves as top dog in the conference. Great job, Brad and Co.!
DEEP TOURNAMENT RUN
National Championships
Michigan (2026)
Final Fours
Purdue (2024)
Michigan (2026)
Illinois (2026)
Elite Eights
Michigan (2021)
Purdue (2024)
Illinois (2024)
Michigan State (2025)
Michigan (2026)
Illinois (2026)
Iowa (2026)
Purdue (2026)
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP BANNER
BTT Championships
Illinois (2021)
Iowa (2022)
Purdue (2023)
Illinois (2024)
Michigan (2025)
Purdue (2026)
Big Ten Championships
Maryland (2020)
Michigan State (2020)
Wisconsin (2020)
Michigan (2021)**********
Illinois (2021)**********
Illinois (2022)
Wisconsin (2022)
Purdue (2023)
Purdue (2024)
Michigan State (2025)
Michigan (2026)
While there are a decent number of Big Ten teams who have done at least one of those, there are only three who show up on every list:
1. Michigan - 1 National Championship, 1 Final Four, 2 Elite Eights, 2 Big Ten Championships and 1 BTT Championship
2. Illinois - 1 Final Four, 2 Elite Eights, 2 Big Ten Championships and 2 BTT Championships
3. Purdue - 1 Final Four, 2 Elite Eights, 2 Big Ten Championships and 2 BTT Championships
And it's actually crazy how evenly matched they are in these categories! All have had their ups and downs, but with Michigan's rebound these last two years, these seem to be pretty clearly the "big three" of the Big Ten this decade. And considering Michigan just had a coaching change and that we will come into the season ranked significantly higher than Purdue, this year really could be a GOLDEN opportunity to solidify ourselves as top dog in the conference. Great job, Brad and Co.!
You can draw the line for a rotation anywhere you want, but the last five champions all got a lot more minutes outside their top 8 than we did last year:
| 9th+ Men | 9th Man | 10th Man | 11th+ Men | |
| Michigan | 18.7 | 13.0 (Cason; Tschetter was 8th with 13.7) | 2.1 (Goodman) | 3.5 |
| Florida | 14.8 | 6.5 (Klavzar) | 5.3 (Handlogten) | 3.0 |
| UConn | 14.1 | 8.2 (Stewart) | 2.5 (Ross) | 3.3 |
| UConn | 15.8 | 11.6 (Diarra) | 1.2 (Johnson) | 3.0 |
| Kansas | 19.3 | 7.9 (Yesufu) | 4.4 (Adams Jr.) | 7.0 |
| Average | 16.5 | 9.5 | 3.1 | 3.8 |
| 2025-26 Illini | 8.1 | 2.9 (Petrovic) | 2.0 (Lee) | 3.1 |
I'm not saying we should force it and play terrible players if that's what we have. But depth appears to be a good thing, and should be used if we have it.
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Florida has a loaded frontcourt but still has an issue with guards unless Aberdeen gets a waiver. Which if he does then it would open up every 4 year guy to return for a 5th year this year.
I think Duke should pretty clearly be 1. Think Illinois has a legitimate case for 2 though.
Not true. He’s applying for a waiver for a season he was injured (but perhaps may have played too many games, we’ll see).
It would not “open up every 4 year guy to return.” (like Boswell)
That's where I'm at as well.
For me "rotation" would be 70% of games played, and at least 5-10 minutes per game. That generally means coach trusts you to play in most games, not just cupcakes.
Do I hope we play a 9 man rotation?
Generally yes, and most years we do actually... but if our 9th Man isn't even serviceable, which is unfortunate, then no.
From a roster building standpoint, the expectation should be to have 9 playable guys. Right now we have 8; with the gamble that one of the freshman can emerge.
Probably worth noting that we were also unexpectedly down Ty Rodgers too.
Seems like the team is in a good position this year to give opportunities in the 8/9 spot if guys perform at the level needed
Bolded is the key.
They didn’t last year - Lee and Petro. And all of Brown, Williams, Zens are rated below where Lee was.
I'm looking at UConn's NC team. Their 8th guy was at 11.5 mpg. Which is barely part of the rotation. I don't know where you're getting your numbers, and assuming they're accurate, they're showing that most teams play an 8-man rotation.
I think it's also relevant that our likely starters for next year's team are pretty clear. And those 5 guys will play as much as possible because they're likely just better than the rest. The only exception is Z, who will by necessity need to play a lot, and maybe Jake. Obviously it's possible a Keaton-type could surface, but I''m guessing that was a once-a-century event.
As another poster pointed out, if we would have had Ty, he likely would have played some of those 8/9 man minutes.
It would be interesting to see whether these teams were so good because they played 9+ guys or if they played 9+ guys because they were so good. In other words, were they playing with such large leads throughout the year that they could afford to give the end of their bench more minutes?
Looking at Michigan from last year, in games decided by 10 or fewer points, their 9th+ man averaged just 7.6 minutes. So, in competitive contests they tightened their rotation significantly.
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