Illini Basketball 2026-2027

#627      
ptgrd23
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
Depth isn’t about removing three players. It’s about how many guys can realistically play in Big Ten games.
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Real depth 2024 - Dain Dainja, Luke Goode, Justin Harmon
Real depth 2025 Morez Johson, Will Riley .DGL
Real depth - 2026 Ben Humrichous, Big Z, Jake Z

Real depth 2027 - Big Z Jake, Lukas (PG?), Lincoln (def?)

Very rare you go past 8
 
#628      
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?
NarrowJ said:
To me, depth is not about 'who are your 9th and 10th players who will play 4 minutes in a lopsided game?' but rather about how well you could withstand player absences.

Big Z is as good of a backup center as there is in the nation, likely is the best.

Jake Davis is as solid of a replacement on the wing as anyone in the country as well.

If a ballhandler goes down, you have the same issue most everyone else has. How good are Michigan St without Fears or USC without Rice? Just for example...

If 3-4 guys go down, again you have the same issue most everyone else has as that's too much to overcome anyhow as you don't have another star or two sitting at the end of the bench.

Deep team, but our 9/10th guys are top 100 while other team's are ranked a bit higher than that, which is really just a big old meh-who-cares-mc-nothing-burger.
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Where exactly are you seeing our "9th/10th guys" ranked top 100?

247composite:

Zavier Zens is 146
Lincoln Williams is 202
Ethan Brown is 211
Landon Davis is 244

That's only 1 in the top 200 (at 146).
 
#629      
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?
ptgrd23 said:
Real depth 2024 - Dain Dainja, Luke Goode, Justin Harmon
Real depth 2025 Morez Johson, Will Riley .DGL
Real depth - 2026 Ben Humrichous, Big Z, Jake Z

Real depth 2027 - Big Z Jake, Lukas (PG?), Lincoln (def?)

Very rare you go past 8
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In 2025, Jake Davis played 9.5 minutes per game. In 2024, DGL played 7.1 minutes per game.

Both did it over the course of playing at least 75% of team games.

It's generally ideal to have a guy behind the top 8, who can absorb those low-maintenance minutes.
 
#630      
blackdog
the juiceman cometh said:
Just getting caught up here, but we're sweating the depth of a team that's starting Bonke at the 5?

Temu Big Z in their starting lineup and we think they're deeper than us? Am I getting that right? I mean I swear I searched for "Zvonomir Ivisic" on AliExpress and Bonke popped up for $17.62 (with a free gift ratchet set). Pretty sure that's where Izzo found him.
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Its just one guy posting a lot and everyone else is arguing with him lol
 
#631      
Fly Illini Fly!
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:
Where exactly are you seeing our "9th/10th guys" ranked top 100?

247composite:

Zavier Zens is 146
Lincoln Williams is 202
Ethan Brown is 211
Landon Davis is 244

That's only 1 in the top 200 (at 146).
Click to expand...
Big drop after Lucas. Hopefully somebody emerges.

#9thMan

bloomfield hills wtf GIF
 
#635      
NarrowJ
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:
Where exactly are you seeing our "9th/10th guys" ranked top 100?

247composite:

Zavier Zens is 146
Lincoln Williams is 202
Ethan Brown is 211
Landon Davis is 244

That's only 1 in the top 200 (at 146).
Click to expand...

I may have parroted someone else, but I wasn’t considering Landon Davis at all given what we know about these four players. Zens is a 4 star.

Why do we have to have nitpick fights over guys who are unlikely to see a box score outside of major injury or 30 point blowout?

Constant negativity about things that don’t even budge the needle is just annoying (which is actually my theory on why it exists on a fan forum of a top 3 ranked team: people like to be annoying and stir pots or whatever).
 
#643      
BrownTown
Lincoln Williams has All Big potential. Not this year….but by his junior season?
 
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