Duke will be tough. Easily the most complete team this year with unbelievable depth.
October Exhibition Games
Duke will be tough. Easily the most complete team this year with unbelievable depth.
Fears drives. Hooks defender. Flairs head. Gets to the line. lol. Nothing ever changes with that bum
BillyBob1
- Champaign
Has there been any nut punches yet?
Just an early scout for what the twins will be dealing with.
And Hines a few weeks later.
I found the Tennessee roster makeup a bit odd this year tbh.
I mean. It’s starting to look Michigan 2026 level scary down in Durham.
That does not look like a true freshman. Not to mentioned the defense.
UConn tough as always. This is without Mullins. They hang an L on MSU at Breslin who was playing very hard and trapping/full court pressuring at the end.
I’m concerned about our defense against teams like Duke and UConn. There is a ton of shifty, quick twitch players on the top teams. Even MSU with Fears and Scott.
Tennessee was very clearly overrated. I suspect we might see similar Frankenstein teams like Texas, Louisville, and Kentucky flop.
The teams to beat I think will end up being Duke (looked invincible vs. an AP Top 10 team while barely playing Cameron Williams and without Caleb Foster), UConn (just won @MSU without Mullins), Arizona (Kharchenkov, Krivas and Holt could make a case for the best trio of perimeter/wing/low post players in the country).
MSU is built to be a problematic team for us with hyper-athletic players like Fears, Scott, and Carr in transition. And as per usual they play extremely physical.
The games against Duke, UConn, and MSU will be toss-up’s at best. Every game outside Duke, UConn, and MSU, we should be favored to win… and need to win. Can not drop games like Alabama, Nebraska, Wisconsin (twice), and UCLA (thank god we have the PNW road trip instead of the SoCal one).
TTU sans Toppin, Missouri, and UNC we should win by multiple possessions.
I’m concerned about our defense against teams like Duke and UConn. There is a ton of shifty, quick twitch players on the top teams. Even MSU with Fears and Scott.
Tennessee was very clearly overrated. I suspect we might see similar Frankenstein teams like Texas, Louisville, and Kentucky flop.
The teams to beat I think will end up being Duke (looked invincible vs. an AP Top 10 team while barely playing Cameron Williams and without Caleb Foster), UConn (just won @MSU without Mullins), Arizona (Kharchenkov, Krivas and Holt could make a case for the best trio of perimeter/wing/low post players in the country).
MSU is built to be a problematic team for us with hyper-athletic players like Fears, Scott, and Carr in transition. And as per usual they play extremely physical.
The games against Duke, UConn, and MSU will be toss-up’s at best. Every game outside Duke, UConn, and MSU, we should be favored to win… and need to win. Can not drop games like Alabama, Nebraska, Wisconsin (twice), and UCLA (thank god we have the PNW road trip instead of the SoCal one).
TTU sans Toppin, Missouri, and UNC we should win by multiple possessions.
Saw some of both.
Been saying it for awhile, Duke will have a hard time keeping Rippey off the floor. He's the essence of PG on both sides. High motor, defensive pest and electric with the ball. He can get a little OOC at times, but the upside outweighs the down. I personally think Boozer is in the portal next year. Nice player, more of a combo trying to play PG, no plus traits. Foster has been a pretty average player for 3 years now. If Duke can ge Rippey locked in, along with JBB, they are the scary.
Other point on Duke - looks like their 2nd year PF is much more game ready than Williams & Howard. Those two looks like underdeveloped freshmen.
Personally see Boozer, Willliams and Howard in the portal as they are bringing Montgomery, Luke Paul, Kager Kneuppel and likely Colten Hiller in.
UConn was UConn - tough, strong, precise. Their big Hines is a beast, but he's foul prone. They have two freshman that are men, and look really good.
Trying to give Tenn the benefit of the doubt that they are playing with a whole new starting 5 full of transfers and they have no chemistry but damn that is wide margin.
The prevailing thought on MSU is they have the highest floor in the conference, and I’ve thought that as well.
After watching them tonight, and reading the roster more closely though. I am curious why so many (self included, again), have given them that grace with the amount of questions in their frontcourt.
It’s quite possible, this group of Bonke, Taylor, Ward, and Mccollugh is just a non-starter when it comes to being considered a premier team
After watching them tonight, and reading the roster more closely though. I am curious why so many (self included, again), have given them that grace with the amount of questions in their frontcourt.
It’s quite possible, this group of Bonke, Taylor, Ward, and Mccollugh is just a non-starter when it comes to being considered a premier team
Totally agree, been saying it this offseason but MSU’s preseason KP rank is 2 spots better than their best last year. I don’t see how that’s possible with the massive downgrade in the front court, even if they have one of the best backcourts in the nation.
I guess I dont understand how they have a higher floor than us? We have more coming back than them, we were better than them, how is their floor higher?
I only ask you because you admitted you felt this way.
Seems like a lot of phantom fouls called on his drives but maybe not objective. Will say I am impressed with his defense. Both teams keep constant pressure on the ball. Haven’t had that on our team since Trent graduated.
UConn played 8 men double digit minutes, MSU played 10 double digit minutes.
Michigan State still has a pedestrian offense and rebounding is a concern for them with some of their big men having left.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
At the very least, a 4 OT game would give you a good gauge about where your team’s conditioning and fitness currently sits.
Totally - not sure I feel much more positive about Louisville. Weird Frankensteinian rosters.
MSU seems to be what MSU always is. Izzo refusing to use the portal effectively and building it with a group of 4*'s.
Bonke is an awkward 5 and they have one shooter in the starting 5, the other are flat out bad. Feels like their preseason ranking is their ceiling. I give Izzo credit for the purity of his program, the reality is that it lacks ceiling. You need a little NBA talent on your roster. As nice as Fears and Carr are, they are really limited and easy to prepare for.
Not sure what stopped Izzo from getting a great shooter in the portal or a better 5.
That game against UConn could have been worse if they weren't gifted 34 FTs.
I think I assumed MSU will be locked into a top 20 defense and top 20 offense - whereas we were locked into a top 5 offense, but defense has potential to be down around 30 (again, floor).
Most probably would have taken MSU backcourt over ours and our frontcourt over theirs. While I think that’s still true, one gap seems a lot larger at the moment. Their frontcourt is a mess
they played a ton of hero ball from what I saw but I only started watching when Duke was up 20. no ball movement and quick shots. Terrance Hill was already injured and Tennessee looked like they were done with this game.
duke just brought it and in waves. they will be tough if they hit 3s.... that defense will be tough no matter what
Will our defense be able to slow down the Blue Devils....hope so....our game with them could have each team scoring in the 120's
I feel like a top 5 offense and 30 defense is a better floor than a 20 offense and 20 defense though.
Are you saying you were kind of splitting hairs originally and now you believe that Illinois' advantages are much better than Michigan St advantage?