Illini Basketball 2026-2027

[IlliniCoaster]

UConn Tickets

It looks like Uconn tickets are now on sale. I couldn't figure out how to order them. I left a voice mail and a digital email and have not heard from them. I am an I Fund contributor.

select Renew Season Tickets on your home page, and that will take you to the link to request UC tickets.

 

[Det_Illini_fan]

Illinois is pretty clearly a step behind the two in terms of depth. We’ll rely on great injury luck, along with needing our newcomers to hit perfectly. Still, floor spacing and scheme will be good enough to generate good shots, and hopefully another efficient offense.

Bro, I mean I don’t like getting my hopes up because I value keeping your head down to the grind and the motto of “jobs not finished until you’re at the podium,” but I fail to see us being “clearly a step behind” them. Especially USC.

Just go ask Rutgers how they enjoyed having two lottery pick freshman on the same team. Where did they end up? Freshman can be a huge wild card on whether or not they’ll deliver even if they work with the right coaching staff. There are very few programs in the country that can take multiple highly sought after Freshman on the same team and convert them into a cohesive team title contending team; and USC has not proven itself to be one of them. They have a talented roster on paper in comparison to other incoming freshman classes, but also because they don’t have the upperclassmen depth of other schools.

There’s a reason your title contending teams are predominantly mid to upperclassmen with experience and chemistry. Plus a coaching staff narrowing in on the right formula of play schemes.

 

[wc_illini]

Yeah, I mean looking at Draft Kings player of the year betting odds, USC and Illinois both have 4 players on the list.

USC’s players are ranked:

45, 48, 80, 81

Illinois has 3 players ranked higher than USC’s best player:

4, 11, 35, 72

In no world is USC a more talented team. If Brad rolled out USC’s roster in 2026/2027, the fans on this board would want him fired.

This is a obviously a re-hash of the discussion a couple weeks ago, but Torvik ranks USC #6 in "Talent", while we're #9. They drop a ton in the actual prediction because of program history and other factors.

On his FAQ page, he says his talent rating "is based on composite recruiting ranks weighted for minutes played", but it isn't clear if that's just freshman, freshman & transfers, or all players, and if it's the latter it isn't clear how it's calculated for returning players.

 

[lstewart53x3]

This is a obviously a re-hash of the discussion a couple weeks ago, but Torvik ranks USC #6 in "Talent", while we're #9. They drop a ton in the actual prediction because of program history and other factors.

On his FAQ page, he says his talent rating "is based on composite recruiting ranks weighted for minutes played", but it isn't clear if that's just freshman, freshman & transfers, or all players, and if it's the latter it isn't clear how it's calculated for returning players.

Yeah, I don’t really understand Torvik’s talent ranking. How is Cal ranked 86 in his projections but 7 on talent? 247 puts this year’s Cal transfer class at 60 and it’s recruiting class at 65. 51 and 85 last year. So I’m not sure how that adds up to the 7th most talented team in college basketball.

That said, Vegas’s player of the year odds have 3 Illinois players ahead of the top ranked USC player.