Norlander and Parish did their annual tradition of asking 100 D1 coaches the same questions.
Here’s where Illinois was mentioned:
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Here’s where Illinois was mentioned:
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Illini Basketball 2026-2027
I understand the arguments for Florida to be #1 and Haugh to be #1. But the margin seems absurd. Is Haugh THAT much better than second place (Fears)? Is Florida THAT much better than second place (Duke)?
For me, I’d have Fears as the best player and Duke as the best team.
JT Toppin is the best player by definition, but won't even play half the year, so probably doesn’t qualify here.
He'll play the right half of the year. They'll be tough if they get all these guys through and he's back.
I think this year is wide open. Florida's backcourt hasn't really changed much and Scheyer hasn't shown he can win consistently without a phenom NPOY on the team.
If we can figure out the PG spot and Vaaks is the cats meow, right there, along with UConn and their backcourt.
I know I'm in the minority but I just don't see it with Duke (as far as being overwhelmingly better than everyone else; I know they're going to be very good).
Half of their team, however talented they may be, are freshmen.
There's nobody on their roster that I look at and say: "he's a star"
Torvik doesn't know what to do with Blackwell either, and must agree with my assessment of him (a bit overrated) as they have him as the 6th man, basically.
Foster and Boozer are good guards, but neither excites me much more than to say 'good'. When I put the word 'great' next to their names... doesn't check out.
Cam Williams isn't Cam Boozer.
Maybe the key to this is Dame Sarr taking a leap and not being mostly invisible on offense, I dunno.
A lot of talent that's going to be riding the pine, so I can see some potential locker room dysfunction too.
All that said, they're an easy top 3-5 team but I can't put them in front of Florida given the huge gap in continuity and returning production.
Half of their team, however talented they may be, are freshmen.
There's nobody on their roster that I look at and say: "he's a star"
Torvik doesn't know what to do with Blackwell either, and must agree with my assessment of him (a bit overrated) as they have him as the 6th man, basically.
Foster and Boozer are good guards, but neither excites me much more than to say 'good'. When I put the word 'great' next to their names... doesn't check out.
Cam Williams isn't Cam Boozer.
Maybe the key to this is Dame Sarr taking a leap and not being mostly invisible on offense, I dunno.
A lot of talent that's going to be riding the pine, so I can see some potential locker room dysfunction too.
All that said, they're an easy top 3-5 team but I can't put them in front of Florida given the huge gap in continuity and returning production.
Practice body. Hasn't scored a single point in his college career.
WHO was this “star” on 2015 Kentucky? Duke is the deepest and most talented team since then.
The only reasoning I can come up with for not having them #1, is that it's boring to vote for bluebloods. They’re clearly the most talented team, but they’re just Duke, and it’s more fun to give it to Florida. It’s kind of like the MVP voting when a guy wins it in consecutive years.
At worst they’re a lock for a 1 seed, and that’s as high a floor as you could have.
It won’t be “wide open.” It’s just the fantasy when all records are 0-0.
On Selection Sunday, there will be 1-3 “superteams” ahead of everybody else, and one of them will win the national title.
Last year it was Arizona, Duke, Michigan.
We just don’t know WHO those teams will be yet because it’s August.
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If people have questions about Illinois's point guard play, then I have questions about Florida's point guard play.
Vaaks posted a 18.1 assist rate last year, and he's considered "not a point guard" and people are holding that against us.
Fland, who's considered FLA's point guard, was not much better at 18.2.
So, if Illinois doesn't have a point guard, then Florida doesn't either.
(P.S. I'm fully certain that the reason for this is that Vaaks is 6"7 while Fland is 6"1, but let's just pretend that logic is the logic for the sake of the argument)
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
is this a leap year?
PizzaHutParkingLot
- Vodice, Croatia
The fact that you love them makes me think they're probably not even as good as I think they are.
2015 Kentucky? The team that had multiple future NBA All-Stars? That team had multiple stars.
Nobody is a lock for a 1 seed, ever.
Duke is a deep team but has no business being in conversations as the most talented team in 10+ years. Their team last year was not quite as deep, but there was better top end talent.
I went from seeing Florida with possibly both X.Lee and Aberdeen to neither in a few days. Their secondary guards are pretty good but nothing special, but will have to see.
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RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
We have successfully cornered the market on Quentins.
Yes, they did, but their leading scorer averaged 11.0 per game. So, on a team so deep and talented, you don't need a guy to put up huge statistics like a Boozer.
Watkins finally suiting up pushing 40?
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Shared this a while ago. This is from a list of the top 100 players in the player of the year betting odds. Duke and Illinois very comparable. Duke with more depth though that doesn’t necessarily show up on this list. But I’m not sure I’d classify Duke as a super team, at least not preseason, and I’d still have Florida #1.
| School | Players | Best Rank | Top 25 | Top 50 | Avg Rank |
| Michigan | 5 | #14 | 3 | 3 | 33.8 |
| Illinois | 4 | #4 | 2 | 3 | 30.5 |
| Florida | 4 | #2 | 3 | 3 | 23.0 |
| Duke | 4 | #3 | 2 | 4 | 29.3 |
| Arkansas | 4 | #8 | 2 | 2 | 56.0 |
| Kentucky | 4 | #16 | 1 | 1 | 53.3 |
| North Carolina | 4 | #31 | 0 | 2 | 54.3 |
| Tennessee | 4 | #12 | 1 | 2 | 56.8 |
| USC | 4 | #45 | 0 | 1 | 63.5 |
| Houston | 4 | #39 | 0 | 2 | 66.5 |
C'mon - Fland came out of HS a PG. He's a traditional PG.
Vaaks is a 6'7" combo/wing archetype that did some ballhandling because they had no options. There isn't a soul on the planet that would say Vaaks is a PG.
Not a soul?
Raw PPG might be the most irrelevant thing ever. You seemed to posit they had no star players, they had multiple. The fact a guy averages 11 PPG in college doesn’t make him not an NBA All-Star.
Interesting though that Kentucky only scored 74 PPG as a team that year, seems very atypical for a top team with the kind of offensive talent they had.
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2015 - Towns, Booker and Steins. Harrison brothers were way overrated. Talented, young, as usual with Cal. They did have top pick, 4 lottery picks total. Towns was NBA ROY.
You could argue 2025 Duke was more talented with Flagg, Kneupel and Maluach. Rare do you have the top pick of the draft, considered generational, NBA ROY, as well as two other picks top 10 picks, with another the runner up NBA ROY. Sion James went early 2nd, Proctor also went second. Scheyer blew the pooch on that one - what killed him was that Final 4 was OLD.
This Duke team isn't that good. They do have some seniority.
Foster - a good, not great player
Blackwell - can score, but not a physically imposing type
Sarr - hard of scoring, great defender
X Factor - if either of these kids are really good, that could be makes this team really good. Young.
Ngonbga - always hurt, chronic foot issues. Did a lot of scoring last year because of Boozer getting doubled.
How deep is Scheyer going to really go? He's traditionally had 7-8 man rotations. The depth might be overhyped.
This Duke team is going to be as good as what they get out of the 4. This JBB cat is apparently first pick of the 2028 draft, so could be special or could be really young.
For some reason, I think Florida is a let down.
He's not a PG. Here's a good scouting report on him, that lists him as a SG/SF. Maybe he's de facto PG here. Any scouting report you'll see on the kid is SG/SF.
Stefan Vaaks Scouting Report
As one of the best offensive engines in college ball, Stefan Vaaks' potential to play in the NBA has to be investigated. Here's my in-depth scouting report on his future role and long-term potential:
edemirnba.substack.com
Duke is loaded and deep. But I agree they're a bit odd in that im not sure they even have a lotto pick. And if they do have a lotto pick it's probably one of the big guys who are projectable nba players, not necessarily dominant in college.
Haugh, Mirkovic, Holt, Fears are all DUDES.
They remind me a bit more of those Virginia teams (in talent level - not play style), who were just solid as hell top to bottom. But even they had Hunter who was a top 5 pick. They're very unique IMO.
Wildcard is probably Cam Williams - theres a change he might awesome right away.
Haugh, Mirkovic, Holt, Fears are all DUDES.
They remind me a bit more of those Virginia teams (in talent level - not play style), who were just solid as hell top to bottom. But even they had Hunter who was a top 5 pick. They're very unique IMO.
Wildcard is probably Cam Williams - theres a change he might awesome right away.
I didn't say they had no star players. I said they had no college star players. College star player means someone who puts up star numbers on their college team (like Boozer, who you mentioned is the "star" Duke doesn't have).
2015 Kentucky didn't have that, because they had TOO MANY great players for someone to emerge like Boozer did.
Likewise, this year's Duke team doesn't need someone to be that star, because they have that kind of incredible depth.
That doesn't sound overly consistent
.Regardless, raw PPG is useless. Kentucky was 9th in the nation in points per possession that year, and was the 4th best offense according to Kenpom.
I would agree it's not QUITE as insane as the roster might suggest.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
What makes a player a point guard?He's not a PG. Here's a good scouting report on him, that lists him as a SG/SF. Maybe he's de facto PG here. Any scouting report you'll see on the kid is SG/SF.
Stefan Vaaks Scouting Report
As one of the best offensive engines in college ball, Stefan Vaaks' potential to play in the NBA has to be investigated. Here's my in-depth scouting report on his future role and long-term potential: