Haven't seen or heard much of Morillo in the highlight videos. Was impressed by him in the US vs International game.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
I like it.
I still think this was the most foreseeable outcome of this, to the point that it almost seems intentional by the NCAA to have another piece of "chaos" to point to and beg for legislative help.
All of their losses have been about not limiting folks' economic rights in an arbitrary way and saying one group gets 5 years but not the other is wildly arbitrary.
I never heard this story..what happened?
Amazing how far the pendulum has swung towards the athletes. The NCAA was feared for so long time with their tremendous power over athletes through eligibility. What money they got had to be under the table.
Give me a tie that ends with both teams winning
The NCAA got 1.1 billion for the rights to the tournament. They got plenty of money over the table.
The '24 team was so bad defensively. And '26 was the second best offense ever.
But ANY team would've been scared to see Shannon that year, with the run he was on (minus probably UCONN and Purdue, the clear top two teams who had elite rim protection).
Tomi and Z would dork Ty Rodgers all game.
Keaton and Domask are super close offensively IMO (meant to be a huge compliment to Marcus). And TSJ the best college player of the group by far.
But i actually think i pick 2025-26 pretty easily. That 2024 group was down at 80th defensively. Last year's roster would just be too big and would require Guerrier and Coleman to hit a crazy amount of three's and i straight up don't think Ty could have played.
That said, I think 2024 was a masterclass of a coaching year by Brad. Talent wise, they really weren't final four worthy, But he spammed TSJ, and turned Domask into a superstar. For my money, they ended the year as the 3rd best team in the sport, which is kinda wild.
film from 3 years ago? i see long forgotten illini around him.
With the recent ruling, will we be in on Dix? 
Where do we stand with Storr?
Where do we stand with Storr?
Not sure about this. It has always been the case that players have four years of eligibility with a few exceptions a fifth. Covid is one of those exceptions. Have to draw the line somewhere. Should a player the year before the covid exception be allowed to come back and play another year because they only got four years? Just thinking out loud. Life isn’t fair, but I am not sure this is an issue of fairness anyway. This is about money.
Covid players got 5 years to play, there were multiple 6th year players. A pandemic is not the same.
NCAA set criteria for 5 and 5 then said a specific group wouldn't qualify even though they met the criteria.
It was wildly arbitrary and so dumb that it's easy to believe it was intentional.
ILFaninFL
- Nature Coast in Florida
Think of when the rule was made. Teams had already committed to NIL for players, and suddenly the pool changes. Now, after teams have been working toward next season, this is dumped on them. At this point, what can Brad do? Bringing in someone of starter caliber will be disruptive in numerous ways. I get the win-at-all-costs mentality, but this will have ripple effects on team chemistry. I doubt very much that better teams will be interested in these guys this late in the process.
I don't think it would make sense for us to add a star type player. Duke and a few others keep adding top talent, even at spots where they already have an obvious starter. I think there's too much potential to screw up chemistry. A few months ago, both Vaaks and Coleman were balking at committing to us if we took Blackwell.
I love the makeup of our likely starting five. IMO you've got guys that fit the roles perfect.
Wouldn't mind a veteran forward to come off bench but I get the chemistry point.
I'm so confused. What does this have to do with the viability & intent of an NCAA rule?
I think it helps everyone not IL since our roster is set.
Yeah, a guy to play the role Ben did last year would be a nice addition.
I feel like the 2024 team actually matches up pretty well with the 2026 though and would create some serious matchup issues.
2026 doesn't have anyone that can guard Shannon or keep him out of transition. We saw the 2026 Illini have problems with explosive guards(Boyd, Dent, etc.). Shannon would absolutely dominate in this matchup.
Then Domask would also be a huge problem. 2026 has nobody to matchup with him. He would kill Boswell or Stojakovic in the post and would blow by Mirk or Ben.
The advantage the 2026 team has is having two 7 foot centers but they didn't really pound the ball inside enough and score in the paint where it would hurt 2024. Coleman would be fine guarding the twins and be able to draw them away from the basket on the other end.
I know the metrics weren't kind to the 2024 defense but I think they were better than the metrics suggest and were capable of stepping up on that end.Shannon was a good point of attack defender and had the size, length, and quickness to force Wagler into a lot of tough shots. Ty probably does a decent job on Stojakovic, and Guerrier was athletic enough and strong to be fine on Mirk. Would be very hard to hunt matchups for the 2026.
2026 is a deeper roster but the 2024 top 3 of Shannon, Domask, and Coleman is killer and I think they actually match up well. Plus if you told me to name the 4 best players in that matchup 3 of them are on 2024(Shannon, Wagler, Domask, and Coleman are the 4 best players across the two years).
AI says 24 by 5, but I think I'd lean 26 given Ivisic in the middle over Hawkins, who really didn't have a ton of paint presence.
24 could have made a run had it not been for that UConn team. Two losses to Purdue by 5-6, could have hung with them on a neutral floor as they had no one to deal with TS on the perimeter. Had they stuck us in Bama or NCSt's region, likely a F4 team. Sucks we had to run into them, but sucks even more for Purdue, who may have arguably had the second best team of the decade. I'm not sure there is an NC in the last 30 years that could have beaten that UConn team. They were slaughtering teams and it looked like they were toying with them. Bama shot 8-10 from 3 in the first half of the semi's and were down 4 at the half, not sure how that's even possible. I can't think of a team in the last 30 years that could match up with them as they had zero weaknesses. 2018 Nova, maybe, just not sure UConn doesn't just beat them up on the inside and reduce Nova's offense to middy's.
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92 days
All great and interesting points - and a fun question.
No doubt TSJ would have been a problem and gotten his. Domask could also slow down and match the slow pace. I agree the defense did seem better than 80th - but 80th is hard for me to ignore ha.
I do think while Domask would be awesome, last year’s size would have made it somewhat difficult for him to see and shoot over. And I actually think Andrej wouldn’t be a horrible option for TSJ (but TSJ would cook anyone).
You think you’d choose Coleman as the 4th best guy between those two teams? The way Mirk was playing in March, I think I’d actually lean him.
TSJ would’ve “gotten his” against anybody. He was unguardable the whole year (sans like two games ).