Doug Altenberger.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
Adonis Del la Rosa
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Did you notice how little teams pressed Mirk? Just seemed like the guards got pressed quite a bit but once the ball was in Mirk’s hands, they sagged off.
Hope to see Williams get some minutes, dude is a dog and would be a great energy and defensive piece off the bench.
It’ll be interesting…
I think Illinois is hoping teams press. Sure, dribbling through a press at times as you pointed out with Bam is important.
But equally, having 5 guys who can all pass with height (so you can just play over the top) is extremely valuable and rare. I’m not sure you wanna be in the business of doubling this group.
Usually the teams who struggle with press are that way because the guards are really bad or the bigs are total liabilities on the catch.
If anything, I think teams might press to see if they can get us out of our pace… I thought Alabama did that well, where we scored a ton off their press, but we got in a shootout that wasn’t advantageous to us
When you press, its a gamble in pulling defenders away from the opponent's (offense) end of the floor. When a guy is 6'9" and is that strong with the ball, that gamble immediately becomes a full-blown liability.
1. He can see and pass over really any defender
2. Physically, he's untrappable (strength/ball security; smaller players bodying up or setting a trap are at an extreme disadvantage)
3. If the hulky 6'9" guy has the ball, it means all of the faster offensive players are available to sprint up the floor
A 250lb power forward coming down the court with momentum is a terrifying assignment for retreating defenders. If you don't settle into your half court defense, he's either going to take it all the way himself or throw it over you to someone who doesn't have a defender near them.
I would say if you're looking at it according to roles then this is correct.
What role did Kylan play last year? Then we can expect that role for QC (which is scary to consider if Coleman outperforms Bam statistically and with his motor somehow, because non-statistically Kylan impacted the game in a lot of ways that you couldn't put down on a stat sheet)..
Likewise I expect Vaaks to takeover Keaton's role 100%. Will he always be the one to bring the ball up the court? No. Keaton didn't have to either..
QC can bring the ball up a lot if he wants, but next year, when we run our ball screen actions and our pick and role isos to one side of the court, Vaaks and Mirk will be the main 2 guys running that action. Andrej too, but Mirk and Vaaks will be picking teams apart with guys like QC, Tomi, and Jake in the corner or popping out for a 3.
Even though Keaton is a PG, I just always saw him as a 2 in our offense when he and Bam played together. To me, Bam was your hard nosed point guard and Keaton ran the majority of your actions...
But regardless of position as a 1 or 2, Vaaks will be orchestrating these actions similar to Keaton, and can really highlight his drive off the dribble and shot-making ability in this offense for us next year.
RichardKeenesCousin
Richard Keene's Cousin
That's already in my closet.
Responding to my own post (which, I think, is a penalty box violation), LvilleILL1 just yesterday posted this about Vaaks: Better than expected. He's not going to be elite on that end, but he is passable. Effort has been good.
So, first, I guess it depends on what “passable” means or will mean in the upcoming season, and second, my concept of time is way out of whack.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
But but but…. Point guard!!!
You mean to tell me basketball is about 5 guys working together to put a ball through a hoop and stopping the other team from doing the same? It doesn’t even matter what name you give these players? This is fascinating!
These guys seem very high on Williams at 44:15
Though I have no idea if they know anything at all (and probably have lots of in-the-state bias).
Though I have no idea if they know anything at all (and probably have lots of in-the-state bias).
Good observation. But here are my perceived reasons.
Mirk is an aware passer and if they drop off their man to pester him, they just cut to the hoop and shoot a layup off his pass.
Also, not much a guy the size of Fears can do without fouling when a strong, 6'9" guy holds the ball over his head. Mirk was pretty good at keeping the ball up...unlike Z (and Z MUST get that corrected).
It is a strength of our frontcourt players to always keep the ball up and be aware of the double while watching for cutters.
Well, there goes the season. We all know that no team can win a game without a point guard. The season is done.
And said point guard has to be under 6'2"tall or he is worthless. (OK....up to 6'4" maybe...but not an inch more.) No wonder BU can't win a title with all those 6'6" point guards. So that definitively proves my point!!
The truth is, I love the idea of a positionless team makeup....as long as they all can knock down triples at 35%+. So get your game up to snuff AS!
Dan
Admin
We are positionless and also not positionless at the same time.Well, there goes the season. We all know that no team can win a game without a point guard. The season is done.
And said point guard has to be under 6'2"tall or he is worthless. (OK....up to 6'4" maybe...but not an inch more.) No wonder BU can't win a title with all those 6'6" point guards. So that definitively proves my point!!
The truth is, I love the idea of a positionless team makeup....as long as they all can knock down triples at 35%+. So get your game up to snuff AS!
Vaaks is the point guard / primary ball hander the same way Keaton was last year. The same way KJ was the year before.
He’s just too tall for some people’s liking, but that’s really not the staff’s problem. They’ll recruit the guys that give us the best chance to win.
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Shroedinger's Illini
Not sure I’d trust them as an intel source, but perhaps good to hear their analysis and predictions.
Agree that Vaaks is the PG - people arguing otherwise haven't watched him play. IMO he's literally the perfect fit for what we want out of our PG (at least offensively - and defensively he usually won't be defending the opponent's PG).
On the last point - there may be such people. But at the same time, there seem to be more people that get aroused at the idea of the tallest lineup possible, regardless if the kid can actually play at a high level. If they had their way, I think a few would just put the twins, JJ, Mirk, and the next tallest guy on the floor and think we automatically win cause we're taller.
As you said, we're "positionless and also not positionless at the same time." I love Underwood, but he tends to say a lot of stuff that shouldn't be taken literally.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
It all comes down to whether we actually observe the positions.
Mizzou playing 3 games in 5 days in 3 different stadiums 12/18 at Indiana, 12/20 Braggin Rights in STL, and the 12/22 vs Chicago State at Home. That's some crazy scheduling. Even if the Chicago State game is a easy game, they are going to be struggling that week.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. People put far too much stock in rankings IMO.