Live look at me yesterday trying to buy tickets for the UNC game in Nashville when the presale opened:
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
It's interesting to compare the cadence of games these teams have to start out. For simplicity's sake, I will just use FOX's preseason rankings since they were very recent.
Week One
Nov. 2 - Fairleigh Dickinson at #3 Illinois
Nov. 2 - Army at #2 Duke
Nov. 2 - Miami (FL) vs. #1 Florida (Tampa, FL)
Nov. 5 - Penn at #3 Illinois
Nov. 5 - Coastal Carolina at #2 Duke
Week Two
Nov. 10 - #3 Illinois at #24 Texas Tech
Nov. 10 - #4 Michigan State vs. #2 Duke (Chicago, IL)
Nov. 10 - #1 Florida at Florida State
Nov. 13 - Sam Houston at #3 Illinois
Nov. 13 - SIU Edwardsville at #2 Duke
Nov. 13 - Merrimack at #1 Florida
And then in Week Three on November 17, the Illini will play at Duke. While not likely, if...
(A) We are able to pick up a W in Lubbock and go into Durham undefeated...
(B) Duke is able to take down MSU at the United Center and go into our matchup undefeated...
(C) Florida stumbles out of the gates and loses to either of its instate rivals away from home...
There is at least a possibility that we could have the Illini/Duke game be #1 vs. #2 ... that would be so epic!
Win that game whilst UConn also undefeated..........
UConn would have a lot to bite off, looks like they have Michigan, Ohio St, Duke and Arizona before we get to them.
If it happened, the United Center would be blazing.
If they were cheaper than that, they'd already be sold and listed on seat geek for more than that.
Supply and demand is undefeated.
I think a #1 vs. #3 is very likely here, but not sure I see Florida falling to Miami or FSU.
TTU is one of the 2 regular-season games we aren't favored in according to KenPom, but I would be shocked if Vegas has us as an underdog in this game. I think the preseason analytics favor TTU because 1) TTU is ranked #3 in all of CBB in home-court advantage, and 2) I believe the analytics sites are factoring in that JT Toppin is playing.
JT Toppin tore his ACL 8 months ago. I don't see a world where he's back by November 10th, and McCasland has been pretty open about the fact that he cares about having Toppin back at the end of the season way more than the beginning and will be conservative with him.
We may or may not have Mirk back 100% by that point, but honestly I don't know how TTU would develop a game plan against us without Toppin regardless of Mirk, considering the size difference between the two teams. We'll be 3 inches taller than them on average across all positions, and if last year's Houston team didn't have the horsepower to out-athletic the size difference, I don't think a Toppinless TTU will have the horsepower to either. If Mirk is back, Illinois by 15+ easily.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Also, random trivia ... but if our trip to Durham constitutes a top 5 matchup as we expect (hope), we should all appreciate how incredibly rare and awesome that is ... as far as I can tell, we have only played in 12 top 5 regular season matchups EVER and only 6 in the last 40 years.
Good news is that once we add in the postseason, we have actually won 4 of the last 6 top 5 matchups in which we have played.
2020-2021
W 82-71 vs. #5 Iowa (ILL #3) [BTT Semifinals - Indianapolis, IN]
W 76-53 at #2 Michigan (ILL #4)
L 69-82 vs. #2 Baylor (ILL #5) [Indianapolis, IN]
2004-2005
L 70-75 vs. #3 North Carolina (ILL #1) [NCAAT Championship - St. Louis, MO]
W 72-57 vs. #4 Louisville (ILL #1) [NCAAT Final Four - St. Louis, MO]
W 91-73 vs. #1 Wake Forest (ILL #5)
2001-2002
L 63-76 at #5 Maryland (ILL #2)
2000-2001
L 81-87 vs. #5 Arizona (ILL #4) [NCAAT Elite Eight - San Antonio, TX]
1989-1990
W 101-93 vs #4 Missouri (ILL #5) [St. Louis, MO]
1986-1987
L 77-90 at #4 North Carolina (ILL #5)
1984-1985
W 81-64 vs. #5 Oklahoma (ILL #2) [Springfield, MA]
1978-1979
W 57-55 vs. #1 Michigan State (ILL #4)
1962-1963
L 53-62 vs. #1 Cincinnati (ILL #4) [Chicago, IL]
W 90-78 vs. #5 Ohio State (ILL #5) ... guess we were tied??
1951-1952
W 74-68 vs. #4 Duquesne (ILL #2) [NCAAT Elite Eight - Chicago, IL]
W 78-62 vs. #4 Iowa (ILL #5)
W 78-66 vs. #4 Indiana (ILL #2)
1950-1951
L 74-76 vs. #1 Kentucky (ILL #5) [NCAAT Final Four - New York, NY]
W 79-71 vs. #3 Columbia (ILL #5) [NCAAT Sweet Sixteen - New York, NY]
1948-1949
L 47-76 vs. #1 Kentucky (ILL #4) [NCAAT Final Four - New York, NY]
Good news is that once we add in the postseason, we have actually won 4 of the last 6 top 5 matchups in which we have played.
2020-2021
W 82-71 vs. #5 Iowa (ILL #3) [BTT Semifinals - Indianapolis, IN]
W 76-53 at #2 Michigan (ILL #4)
L 69-82 vs. #2 Baylor (ILL #5) [Indianapolis, IN]
2004-2005
L 70-75 vs. #3 North Carolina (ILL #1) [NCAAT Championship - St. Louis, MO]
W 72-57 vs. #4 Louisville (ILL #1) [NCAAT Final Four - St. Louis, MO]
W 91-73 vs. #1 Wake Forest (ILL #5)
2001-2002
L 63-76 at #5 Maryland (ILL #2)
2000-2001
L 81-87 vs. #5 Arizona (ILL #4) [NCAAT Elite Eight - San Antonio, TX]
1989-1990
W 101-93 vs #4 Missouri (ILL #5) [St. Louis, MO]
1986-1987
L 77-90 at #4 North Carolina (ILL #5)
1984-1985
W 81-64 vs. #5 Oklahoma (ILL #2) [Springfield, MA]
1978-1979
W 57-55 vs. #1 Michigan State (ILL #4)
1962-1963
L 53-62 vs. #1 Cincinnati (ILL #4) [Chicago, IL]
W 90-78 vs. #5 Ohio State (ILL #5) ... guess we were tied??
1951-1952
W 74-68 vs. #4 Duquesne (ILL #2) [NCAAT Elite Eight - Chicago, IL]
W 78-62 vs. #4 Iowa (ILL #5)
W 78-66 vs. #4 Indiana (ILL #2)
1950-1951
L 74-76 vs. #1 Kentucky (ILL #5) [NCAAT Final Four - New York, NY]
W 79-71 vs. #3 Columbia (ILL #5) [NCAAT Sweet Sixteen - New York, NY]
1948-1949
L 47-76 vs. #1 Kentucky (ILL #4) [NCAAT Final Four - New York, NY]
DICKnaggie
- Champaign
Such a great interview with Mirk! Also, he is jacked!
IlliniSaluki
- IL metro east burbs of St. Louis
I prefer the monthly/yearly option because it includes all sports/schools. You used to pay just for your school and hockey was an addon. Now it's all sports/schools including hockey.
College basketball is now a professional league. Fans are watching million dollar salaries running up and down the floor. It's the cost of doing business and just like the NFL, NBA, MLB....that cost is pushed onto the fans via ticket prices, jerseys and concessions.
Do you want a program that can pay for the top talent and compete for Final Fours and National Championships? Hand over the money with a smile on your face.
blackdog
- Champaign
Love this dude. Such a great, fun representation of the team. Knows how to have a good time but all business when it comes to hooping. Seems like he has a great head on his shoulders.
There is a Holiday Inn close enough to walk even if it is brutally cold.
Ten years ago, anyone thinking the Illinois hoops roster is basically all a bunch of euros?Mirk is a character with that short….
5/15 is "all a bunch of Euros"?
I'd say 33% of the roster being Euro-born players qualifies as a "Bunch." However, according to ChatGPT, it is not a "Whole Bunch," as is the case with;
California Baptist University (8 - Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Serbia, Germany (2), England, Croatia)
or
St. John’s University (7 - Greece (2), England, Sweden, Hungary, Portugal, Serbia)
Illinois ties with 5 other schools that also have 5 (Euro-born players) on their team. Those schools are: Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Fresno State, Penn State, San Diego State, and Cal State Bakersfield.
VMI surprised me, being a military academy with foreign-born players on the roster and the known post-college military service requirement. However, I also understand they likely have some sort of exception for foreign athletic recruits/players, etc.
UPDATE: Foreign-born athletes do not take the same U.S.-citizen path or incur the U.S. post-graduation service obligation. They enter through a separate international cadet/midshipman program: their home country nominates them, and after graduation they return home to fulfill that country’s service obligation rather than being commissioned into the U.S. Armed Forces.
Disclaimer: I treated “European-born” geographically rather than simply “international.” Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, South America, etc., are excluded. I also did not automatically count transcontinental countries such as Turkey or Georgia unless the listed birthplace is clearly in geographic Europe.
Last edited:
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
Exactly. I'd rather be priced out of the elite games cause the team is so damn good they demand top dollar than to be able to logon to ticketmaster & get into a conference game for $10. I'll take that trade off 24/7/365. Just save up the coin in case they get to the promised land & I'll buy merch instead of tickets.
Agree. And don't we want them to generate more revenue to reinvest in the program? Plus, the alternative is that they sell out that much quicker.
Yep... Have you seen how much it's going to cost to get a ticket for Illinois vs. Duke at Cameron Indoor? I think UNC vs Duke tickets are usually $1,400 just to get in...
But it's also hard to blame the program's success or CBB as a whole for the skyrocketing ticket prices. The inflation of ticket prices (across the board, in CBB but also for professional games, concerts, etc.) probably has a lot more to do with the ease of buying/selling and the resale/scalping market that Ticketmaster and others opened the floodgates on, and the fees they're getting paid to do so, than it does with the players getting paid...
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
who could have seen it?
I sympathize, truly. But a bad team and low prices go hand in hand.
The Illini are among the very best this year, or I should say, expected to be among the very best. Only you can decide if it's worth it, but if you go, forget the price you paid and enjoy the spectacle.