Illini Basketball 2026-2027

#76      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
Fly Illini Fly! said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2087902426061816107

“1. David Mirkovic, Illinois​

In addition to being arguably the sport’s most entertaining personality, Mirkovic is also an incredible talent coming off a monster freshman season. He has a unique skill set offensively, capable of being deployed as a jumbo ballhandler who can create for others, dribble into post-ups and hunt mismatches all over the floor. And buzz out of Champaign is that he has made a massive jump this spring and summer, with Illinois planning to use him as its primary offensive engine at times.”
Click to expand...
His rankings have been a bit strange.

He left Andrej Stojakovic off the top 10 Small Forwards.

But the weirdest part is that when he first released the top 10 Point Guards, the list had Vaaks at #8. Then he changed it, and Vaaks is nowhere mentioned in the article. Wonder what that was about?
 
Last edited:
#77      
NarrowJ
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
I think for the coaching staff it was always Wagler.

For the outsiders, it was Petrovic.
Click to expand...

I just posted video commentary re: an October 25th, 2025 press conference from Brad stating that Keaton would be the backup point guard. Though it was said he'd be backing up Kylan, not Mihailo (though as RollChief says, this was after Mihailo had the injury).
 
#78      
HoopsterMan
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
His rankings have been a bit strange.

He left Andrej Stojakovic off the top 10 Small Forwards.

But the weirdest part is that when he first released the top 10 Point Guards, the list had Vaaks at #8. Then he changed it, and Vaaks is nowhere mentioned in the article. Wonder what that was about?
Click to expand...
You wonder how much effort the author puts into these, or if they're just pushing these out for content's sake. Jamie Shaw of on3 posted his best sophomore list the other day and he had junior Pat Ngongba on it, then scrubbed it off later.
 
#80      
Ga65
Am curious as to defensive changes for this season.
1. Have had everyone for summer (mostly) to install defensive nuances.
2, have some serious athleticism in Dre, QC, and Lincoln. Could enable some pressure defense ala Houston.
3. With scouting and excellent players any defense will be challenged in BIG. Believe it is important to change the defense throughout the game to keep the offenses off balance.
4. Thinking any guard is going to stay in front of players like Fears isn’t realistic in my opinion. There must be rim protection in the paint. We seemed to do that much better in the tournament.
5. Rebounding solves a lot of shooting problems and may be toughest for us to duplicate from last year. Keaton, Kylan, and Ben were all excellent offensive rebounders. Ben doesn’t have a replacement and Mirk is missing in the short term.

Don’t want to see any close games to lose in OT. When you have them down, stomp on them.
 
#82      
Fly Illini Fly!
#86      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
ugottabjoshinme said:
"Keeps him on the court" when he scored 15.8 ppg in the Big East last year and will only get better this year.
Click to expand...
“Keeps him on the court” meaning he'll play no doubt starter minutes.

AJ Storr averaged 16.8 points in the big ten, transferred, and played only 15.7 minutes at Kansas.

Owen Freeman averaged 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in the big ten, transferred, and played only 11.9 minutes on an awful Creighton team.

Ian Jackson averaged 11.9 points in the ACC, transferred, and played only 18.3 minutes at St. John's.

I'd be very careful about penciling in huge, immediate impacts from first-year-transfers (compared to returners like Mirkovic and Stojakovic).

Now yes, I WOULD NOT predict Vaaks ends up like one of those examples because of his shooting ability. It’s about skill set (not some mere point total at your previous stop).
 
Last edited:
#88      
RollChief
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
Owen Freeman averaged 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in the big ten, transferred, and played only 11.9 minutes on an awful Creighton team.
Click to expand...
The Owen Freeman case is a particular one. He was injury-prone at Iowa as a sophomore and tore his meniscus shortly after transferring to Creighton, and missed the entire summer. After that it seems like he never recovered. It looks like he's on a similar trajectory at Auburn. Not disagreeing with your point here but it stinks for him since he showed a ton of promise his Freshman year at Iowa.

1786666982617.png
 
#90      
LarryGotFouled
Fly Illini Fly! said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2087902426061816107

“1. David Mirkovic, Illinois​

In addition to being arguably the sport’s most entertaining personality, Mirkovic is also an incredible talent coming off a monster freshman season. He has a unique skill set offensively, capable of being deployed as a jumbo ballhandler who can create for others, dribble into post-ups and hunt mismatches all over the floor. And buzz out of Champaign is that he has made a massive jump this spring and summer, with Illinois planning to use him as its primary offensive engine at times.”
Click to expand...
This is just so wild. I distinctly remember the last summer podcasts - "Keaton likely won't see the floor and should redshirt." "Mirkovic - weird haircut. Maybe can rebound a little but likely won't see the floor."

Keaton a #5 pick and Mirk the #1 power forward in college basketball this year? WILD. Is this real life??


Just shows that all these definitive opinions on Morillo or Landon Davis, etc....don't be so sure we know what these kids might become. Enjoy the ride.
 
#91      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
LarryGotFouled said:
This is just so wild. I distinctly remember the last summer podcasts - "Keaton likely won't see the floor and should redshirt." "Mirkovic - weird haircut. Maybe can rebound a little but likely won't see the floor."

Keaton a #5 pick and Mirk the #1 power forward in college basketball this year? WILD. Is this real life??


Just shows that all these definitive opinions on Morillo or Landon Davis, etc....don't be so sure we know what these kids might become. Enjoy the ride.
Click to expand...
Keaton was a once in a generation exception.

I don’t remember anyone saying Mirkovic “likely won’t see the floor.” At worst he was the backup 4 and a quality bench piece.
 
#92      
Joel Goodson
Joel Goodson said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2088053025524818198

development kid, for sure, but has an intriguing skill set
Click to expand...

until last summer, Davis played center. his AAU team had a very athletic 7 footer (Diane), pushing Davis to PF. so, he's on the perimeter some for the first time and he kinda showed out. enough so to be excited about his potential. sure thing? nope. but a lot of upside, IMO
 
#93      
jamarvelous31
Joel Goodson said:
until last summer, Davis played center. his AAU team had a very athletic 7 footer (Diane), pushing Davis to PF. so, he's on the perimeter some for the first time and he kinda showed out. enough so to be excited about his potential. sure thing? nope. but a lot of upside, IMO
Click to expand...
He seems like the sort of guy that Iowa & Wiscy used in the 2010s to great effect to annoy the crap out of me.

So at minimum it's addition by subtraction there.
 
#94      
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?
LarryGotFouled said:
This is just so wild. I distinctly remember the last summer podcasts - "Keaton likely won't see the floor and should redshirt." "Mirkovic - weird haircut. Maybe can rebound a little but likely won't see the floor."

Keaton a #5 pick and Mirk the #1 power forward in college basketball this year? WILD. Is this real life??


Just shows that all these definitive opinions on Morillo or Landon Davis, etc....don't be so sure we know what these kids might become. Enjoy the ride.
Click to expand...
I believe LVille’s first post about Mirkovic when we recruited him, was that he’s a “Tomi level player.”
 
#95      
HoopsterMan
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
Keaton was a once in a generation exception.

I don’t remember anyone saying Mirkovic “likely won’t see the floor.” At worst he was the backup 4 and a quality bench piece.
Click to expand...
I wonder when the last 150+ HS recruit turned OAD lottery pick was. Can we think of one? Carrington out of Pitt was close to 100 a few years back.
 
#96      
Emerson Bigguns
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
I think the shooting keeps him on the court.

if nothing else, he can make his mark as a monster shooter.
Click to expand...
I just go back to the Providence tape. He’s more than just a shooter.

I’d wager it’s more about feeling out his teammates. He’s already walking into a gym full of strangers and being handed the keys. I Imagine there is a part of him that is trying to avoid looking like a ball hog to his teammates.

If you are going to be the keystone of the offense, guys have to trust that you will find them. If they think you are a me first guy, they might cut a little less hard, or when you actually pass them the ball they don’t give it back.

You don’t just have to win over your coaches…you have to win over your teammates. I’m sure there are a couple guys on the roster who looked at his usage rate last year and wondered if they would still get their shots. To get in, you gotta fit in.

I don’t think it will be tough for the coaches to get him to be more aggressive once he’s more comfortable in the offense and in the locker room. That’s what he has been when the lights are on.
 
#97      
NarrowJ
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:
I believe LVille’s first post about Mirkovic when we recruited him, was that he’s a “Tomi level player.”
Click to expand...

He did, and there was a lot of pushback on that, which even continued after he played in the Hoop Summit. Specifically, “never see the floor” wasn’t something that was written to my knowledge though.
 
#100      
Big Jack
Joel Goodson said:
until last summer, Davis played center. his AAU team had a very athletic 7 footer (Diane), pushing Davis to PF. so, he's on the perimeter some for the first time and he kinda showed out. enough so to be excited about his potential. sure thing? nope. but a lot of upside, IMO
Click to expand...
Thanks for the insight. Kid looks skilled from this tape. I am really hoping that this season with the early games we can get all of these new guys plenty of playing time. Be nice to see these freshman get 10 minutes of time together starting in second halves.
 
Back