2018 Off Season Thread

Deleted member 631370 · Mar 20, 2018

FightingIllini09 said:
I'd assume we'll be picked about 12th - 13th, ahead of Rutty and perhaps Iowa. I'd be willing to bet a pretty penny we finish no higher than 10th.

Iowa returns everybody. They are going to be picked in the top 9 or 10 in the conference, IMO.

A lot of the non-tournament teams return a lot of guys. The top of the conference is going to dip a bit with MSU losing Bridges and Jackson (presumably), Purdue losing all their seniors, and Ohio State losing KBD (presumably) and Tate. But the rest of the league will be much better.

And that doesn't bode well for us.

GortTheRobot · Mar 20, 2018

Peoria Illini said:
We will not be worse next year than we were this year. Talented Freshmen (Trent, DaMonte, Ebo) will all be much improved and more comfortable in BU's system. TeJon (if he stays) now knows what's expected from him and will be a great asset on defense.

Same can be said for Kipper. He know understands what the coach needs/wants from him. He turned into a great 3rd option at the end of the year and took over some parts of the game when Leron and Trent were our or not hitting.

If Finke can be moved back to the 4, he'll be better.

Ayo, Samba and Griffin can provide solid minutes at their positions and add much needed athleticism. And we will bring in a couple of more recruits that will do the same.

If we improve our finishing at the rim, we will be much better.

The loss of Leron, Alstork and Smith this year does not equal the loss we had of Malcolm Hill, Thorne, Tate, Morgan, DJWilliams, Abrams and JCL.

This is all true, and reason to look forward to next season. I don't know if that means we make the dance, but we will see the program on the upswing.

PlayAZ · Mar 20, 2018

Kane will start by B1G season imo, all the guards will take a step forward with Trent taking a step back scoring wise to allow the growth, DaMonte will come in looking like a slasher/driver with an additional 20 pds of muscle.

ChiefIllini · Mar 20, 2018

Not saying this means much, but this season we were 343 out of 351 in terms of kenpom's "luck" rating. Thats pretty awful and its likely we would've been a few plays away from 3 or 4 more wins with more neutral luck. I think thats the kind of improvement we see next year. I still see us in the group labelled "if Rutgers wasn't in the B1G, these teams would be tied for worst."

IllinoisMGR · Mar 20, 2018

Hi guys, I'm not able to start a Thread so I thought putting this in the Offseason Thread would be the best place to share. Us Illinois Managers are in the Sweet 16 for the Manager Tournament (Yes there's such a thing, crazy, I know). We need to win this round vs. Texas and then we get to go to San Antonio for the Elite 8 and play 7 other schools with the chance to win the whole thing. I was wondering if you guys could take 5 seconds out of your time and vote for us against Texas in the Twitter poll.

Attached is the link:

https://twitter.com/ManagerGames_/status/975891158130970624

All you have to do is click and vote for Illinois. Dan, if you think this needs its own thread, please feel free to move it. Thanks again for all the help! I-L-L!

CAIllini · Mar 20, 2018

IllinoisMGR said:
Hi guys, I'm not able to start a Thread so I thought putting this in the Offseason Thread would be the best place to share. Us Illinois Managers are in the Sweet 16 for the Manager Tournament (Yes there's such a thing, crazy, I know). We need to win this round vs. Texas and then we get to go to San Antonio for the Elite 8 and play 7 other schools with the chance to win the whole thing. I was wondering if you guys could take 5 seconds out of your time and vote for us against Texas in the Twitter poll.

Attached is the link:

https://twitter.com/ManagerGames_/status/975891158130970624

All you have to do is click and vote for Illinois. Dan, if you think this needs its own thread, please feel free to move it. Thanks again for all the help! I-L-L!

DONE - Good luck!

Illini B-Ball Fan · Mar 20, 2018

Done, currently IL 59%, TX 41%.

ILL in IA · Mar 20, 2018

PlayAZ said:
Kane will start by B1G season imo, all the guards will take a step forward with Trent taking a step back scoring wise to allow the growth, DaMonte will come in looking like a slasher/driver with an additional 20 pds of muscle.

Not sure he needs 20 lbs of muscle. I'll take a kid with some fresh legs not coming off a long rehab and an improved jumper.

foby · Mar 20, 2018

Illini B-Ball Fan said:
Done, currently IL 59%, TX 41%.

DONE - Still this

foby · Mar 20, 2018

PlayAZ said:
Kane will start by B1G season imo, all the guards will take a step forward with Trent taking a step back scoring wise to allow the growth, DaMonte will come in looking like a slasher/driver with an additional 20 pds of muscle.

If this happens, it means he gets it fast, and is producing. He has to pass Finke and Ebo at least in terms of what he can provide that they can't or at least not as well. So if that is where he is at that point, then awesome.

drewillini89 · Mar 20, 2018

Here's to hoping everyone has a healthy off-season and knowing that Fletch is going to do work. I'm especially excited to see how much Eboigbodin and DMW grow. The idea of Da'Monte with an extra 20 pounds of muscle and finally healthy for the first time in years makes me drool. Hopefully all the freshman recruits get on campus ASAP as well. We all saw the difference it made in Trent, DMW, GE, MS versus Matic and to an extent even Alstork.

IlliniJim20 · Mar 20, 2018

IllinoisMGR said:
Hi guys, I'm not able to start a Thread so I thought putting this in the Offseason Thread would be the best place to share. Us Illinois Managers are in the Sweet 16 for the Manager Tournament (Yes there's such a thing, crazy, I know). We need to win this round vs. Texas and then we get to go to San Antonio for the Elite 8 and play 7 other schools with the chance to win the whole thing. I was wondering if you guys could take 5 seconds out of your time and vote for us against Texas in the Twitter poll.

Attached is the link:

https://twitter.com/ManagerGames_/status/975891158130970624

All you have to do is click and vote for Illinois. Dan, if you think this needs its own thread, please feel free to move it. Thanks again for all the help! I-L-L!

Illini B-Ball Fan said:
Done, currently IL 59%, TX 41%.

Done!

Texas got a point back, 58-42%. Lets extend that lead Illini fans.!!!

Greensboro · Mar 20, 2018

ChiefIllini said:
Not saying this means much, but this season we were 343 out of 351 in terms of kenpom's "luck" rating.

Not sure how that works, but I think some of our close losses were a result of not being a great/skilled/athletic team. I think when it comes down to 1 play to decide a game, the better team is more likely to step it up a notch to get over the hump and that wasn't us.

Greensboro · Mar 20, 2018

Peoria Illini said:
We will not be worse next year than we were this year. Talented Freshmen (Trent, DaMonte, Ebo) will all be much improved and more comfortable in BU's system. TeJon (if he stays) now knows what's expected from him and will be a great asset on defense.

Same can be said for Kipper. He know understands what the coach needs/wants from him. He turned into a great 3rd option at the end of the year and took over some parts of the game when Leron and Trent were our or not hitting.

If Finke can be moved back to the 4, he'll be better.

Ayo, Samba and Griffin can provide solid minutes at their positions and add much needed athleticism. And we will bring in a couple of more recruits that will do the same.

JMO

JMO

If we improve our finishing at the rim, we will be much better.

The loss of Leron, Alstork and Smith this year does not equal the loss we had of Malcolm Hill, Thorne, Tate, Morgan, DJWilliams, Abrams and JCL.

That's a lot of good things happening, not all of it will. Trent was a good player at the end of last year, I don't him to be a lot better, Ebo/Damonte show promise, but I don't expect a miracle for next year.

Ayo should help, but he is still a freshman, Kane looks like he could be a good one, but I don't expect that next year, same for Griffin.

Maybe we didn't lose as much talent, but we didn't have as much talent to lose.

It is late in the recruiting cycle to expect much freshman help next year, Grad transfers tend to fill holes, but it is a lot to ask to expect them to get us to middle of B1G.

If the stars align we could compete for middle of B1G & NCAA bubble, but we need too much to expect that at this point.

foby · Mar 20, 2018

Greensboro said:
Not sure how that works, but I think some of our close losses were a result of not being a great/skilled/athletic team. I think when it comes down to 1 play to decide a game, the better team is more likely to step it up a notch to get over the hump and that wasn't us.

Speed and athleticism. Looking forward to having a team where half the players don't look like they're paying barefoot in the wet sand.

BlindLoyalty · Mar 20, 2018

Greensboro said:
If the stars align we could compete for middle of B1G & NCAA bubble, but we need too much to expect that at this point.

Conference strength ebbs and flows from year to year, but middle of the B10 didn't sniff the bubble this season.

TCTORNADO · Mar 20, 2018

BlindLoyalty said:
Conference strength ebbs and flows from year to year, but middle of the B10 didn't sniff the bubble this season.

It will be interesting to see what 20 B1G games do this year. At least it will raise the overall SOS. Another year of only 4 teams to the dance would not be good. Fifth or sixth rated conferences get no respect. Maui and Missouri games will be very important.

Poe's Law · Mar 20, 2018

TALKTOCHUCK said:
I believe we will be better next year.

I believe the results will be better next year.

Illini B-Ball Fan · Mar 20, 2018

TCTORNADO said:
It will be interesting to see what 20 B1G games do this year. At least it will raise the overall SOS. Another year of only 4 teams to the dance would not be good. Fifth or sixth rated conferences get no respect. Maui and Missouri games will be very important.

So does that mean we'll be playing 2 fewer non-conference games this coming season?

Greensboro · Mar 20, 2018

BlindLoyalty said:
Conference strength ebbs and flows from year to year, but middle of the B10 didn't sniff the bubble this season.

True & it is unfortunate, was hoping for the best for all the B1G teams in the tournament to maybe raise our swagger a bit & maybe make the tournament think twice about only putting in 4 teams. I'm sure on paper it shouldn't matter, but it makes me feel better about the conference standing.

Deleted member 4333 · Mar 20, 2018

IlliniJim20 said:
Done!

Texas got a point back, 58-42%. Lets extend that lead Illini fans.!!!

56% - 44% now.

Illini_1979 · Mar 20, 2018

IllinoisMGR said:
Hi guys, I'm not able to start a Thread so I thought putting this in the Offseason Thread would be the best place to share. Us Illinois Managers are in the Sweet 16 for the Manager Tournament (Yes there's such a thing, crazy, I know). We need to win this round vs. Texas and then we get to go to San Antonio for the Elite 8 and play 7 other schools with the chance to win the whole thing. I was wondering if you guys could take 5 seconds out of your time and vote for us against Texas in the Twitter poll.

Attached is the link:

https://twitter.com/ManagerGames_/status/975891158130970624

All you have to do is click and vote for Illinois. Dan, if you think this needs its own thread, please feel free to move it. Thanks again for all the help! I-L-L!

I don't do the Twitter thing so can't vote but best of luck to you!

IllinoisMGR · Mar 20, 2018

rbachhuber said:
56% - 44% now.

Getting a little nervous. We reached out to Brandon Paul and he tweeted about it, so hopefully we can get Meyers and a couple other former players to tweet out so we can get this win. Please vote if you haven't yet! I-L-L

yeahyeahyeah · Mar 20, 2018

my breakout Illini next year will be.... Da'Monte. Didn't play basketball the year before last because of injury.... I see a big step up this year with an off season to improve.

I see others improving... Trent in leadership, Kipper in consistency, Lucas in shooting, Ebo in finishing, Vesel in strength, AJ in quicker release, and Finke in confidence.

Ayo will bring front court depth, Kane will add a physical presence to the paint and Griffin will bring depth to the wings.

still more players to come...

the core of the team has played in the system a year now, which will also help the newcomers... also the staff will be together too for a year ( as far as we know now)... they were also novices to BU's system.

foby · Mar 20, 2018

yeahyeahyeah said:
my breakout Illini next year will be.... Da'Monte. Didn't play basketball the year before last because of injury.... I see a big step up this year with an off season to improve.

I see others improving... Trent in leadership, Kipper in consistency, Lucas in shooting, Ebo in finishing, Vesel in strength, AJ in quicker release, and Finke in confidence.

Ayo will bring front court depth, Kane will add a physical presence to the paint and Griffin will bring depth to the wings.

still more players to come...

the core of the team has played in the system a year now, which will also help the newcomers... also the staff will be together too for a year ( as far as we know now)... they were also novices to BU's system.

I really hope you're right on all fronts.

2018 Off Season Thread

Deleted member 631370

Guest

GortTheRobot

PlayAZ

ChiefIllini

IllinoisMGR

CAIllini

Illini B-Ball Fan

ILL in IA

foby

foby

drewillini89

IlliniJim20

Greensboro

Greensboro

foby

BlindLoyalty

TCTORNADO

Poe's Law

Illini B-Ball Fan

Greensboro

Deleted member 4333

Guest

Illini_1979

IllinoisMGR

yeahyeahyeah

foby