Early Projection for Next Season

illiniguy24 · Apr 4, 2017

No Illini in sight in Launardi's early projection bracket for 2017-2018

B1G teams in:

NW
MICH
MSU
MINNY
WISC
PU
IU

http://m.espn.com/ncb/bracketology?src=desktop&rand=ref~{"ref":"http://m.facebook.com"}

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Calvin · Apr 4, 2017

CtownILL said:
You guys have a lot of talkative beach houses

Yeah, I think we'll be good next year, but I wouldn't want to take that one. NW returns some good players and should be solid. We have a good incoming class and I really like the coaching hire, but no beach house bets for me.

Calvin · Apr 4, 2017

illiniguy24 said:
No Illini in sight in Launardi's early projection bracket for 2017-2018

B1G teams in:

NW
MICH
MSU
MINNY
WISC
PU
IU

http://m.espn.com/ncb/bracketology?src=desktop&rand=ref~{"ref":"http://m.facebook.com"}

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Seems entirely reasonable. We should fly under the radar until BU starts winning games here.

BananaShampoo · Apr 4, 2017

I think we end up about 7th next year, really trending up towards the end of the season. If we get Mark Smith, I'll say we end up 5th-6th.

PlayAZ · Apr 4, 2017

WesterveltVictoryCigar said:
Good discussion here on the Illinois and Indiana hires and dealing with expectations.

None for Illinois in the Way to Early to know what the Hell we are talking about bracketology. Just focus on Recruiting BU, no tourney expectations...lol

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

IlliniFin86 · Apr 4, 2017

Any others think 2017-18 is the Year Wisconsin takes a fairly big step back? Badgers around 8th or 9th.

mdonsbach · Apr 4, 2017

IlliniFin86 said:
Any others think 2017-18 is the Year Wisconsin takes a fairly big step back? Badgers around 8th or 9th.

We expect it to happen every year and every year they over achieve. Seems like the antithesis of the Illini

illini80 · Apr 4, 2017

If we play the way BU says he wants to play, I'm not too concerned about where we finish because we will clearly be building something. That said, I think until we see how the roster rounds out, these things are a complete waste of time.

MakesNoSense · Apr 5, 2017

mdonsbach said:
We expect it to happen every year and every year they over achieve. Seems like the antithesis of the Illini

Because they are not over achieving they are good.

Ga65 · Apr 5, 2017

IlliniFin86 said:
Any others think 2017-18 is the Year Wisconsin takes a fairly big step back? Badgers around 8th or 9th.

Losing Showalter, Konieg, and Hayes is big. The real difference will be Bo Ryan's replacement. Tough to tell how good he is up to this point. If they are in top 5 he is the real thing.

whovous · Apr 5, 2017

Ga65 said:
Losing Showalter, Konieg, and Hayes is big. The real difference will be Bo Ryan's replacement. Tough to tell how good he is up to this point. If they are in top 5 he is the real thing.

I've seen reports that the players don't like Greg Gard. I wonder if Wisconsin faces a Bruce Weber trajectory now.

Dan fan 86 · Apr 6, 2017

This site should be called the Illinois Hope Board. Without Tilmon, and no other top bigs coming in, I can't see our record better than last year and we wont make the tourney. It is getting pretty old to be in this position. Yes, we have a new coach, who I hope is good, but it will take time for him to prove it. Yes, we have a new assistant/ top recruiter, but it will take even more time to prove it. After making the championship game in 2005, I thought we would be set for years. It has been a long 12 years. Now we just hope it will turn around sometime soon. The glory years are becoming faint memories. Sorry to unload, but how many disappointments can a guy take.

On the bright side, Thank God for the Cubs. I can completely forget about U of I bb and enjoy the season. It also shows that things can turn around. I just hope we have the right people in charge now.

FiveStar · Apr 6, 2017

Dan fan 86 said:
This site should be called the Illinois Hope Board. Without Tilmon, and no other top bigs coming in, I can't see our record better than last year and we wont make the tourney. It is getting pretty old to be in this position. Yes, we have a new coach, who I hope is good, but it will take time for him to prove it. Yes, we have a new assistant/ top recruiter, but it will take even more time to prove it. After making the championship game in 2005, I thought we would be set for years. It has been a long 12 years. Now we just hope it will turn around sometime soon. The glory years are becoming faint memories. Sorry to unload, but how many disappointments can a guy take.

On the bright side, Thank God for the Cubs. I can completely forget about U of I bb and enjoy the season. It also shows that things can turn around. I just hope we have the right people in charge now.

Somebody new always shows up. Stay patient. Maybe Antigua has an ace up his sleeve.

salparadisejr · Apr 6, 2017

Dan fan 86 said:
This site should be called the Illinois Hope Board. Without Tilmon, and no other top bigs coming in, I can't see our record better than last year and we wont make the tourney. It is getting pretty old to be in this position. Yes, we have a new coach, who I hope is good, but it will take time for him to prove it. Yes, we have a new assistant/ top recruiter, but it will take even more time to prove it. After making the championship game in 2005, I thought we would be set for years. It has been a long 12 years. Now we just hope it will turn around sometime soon. The glory years are becoming faint memories. Sorry to unload, but how many disappointments can a guy take.

On the bright side, Thank God for the Cubs. I can completely forget about U of I bb and enjoy the season. It also shows that things can turn around. I just hope we have the right people in charge now.

Of all the major sports basketball is the easiest to turn around. Underwood can spend 17-18 season laying the foundation and with a monster 2018 class we are back in B10 title contention the next year. I'm not saying it'll happen, just that the potential for a quick turnaround is there.

IlliniTargetAcquired · Apr 6, 2017

FiveStar said:
Hard to have a monster class with 2 schollies to give.

There may be more spots available if we go the 5th year route any of the remaining available rides this year.

helppitch · Apr 6, 2017

FiveStar said:
Hard to have a monster class with 2 schollies to give.

If Tilmon does not come we presently have 3 schollies available.

Dan fan 86 · Apr 6, 2017

Sorry Fivestar, I have been watching Illini bb for 40 years. I read this site daily, I just don't post that much. I would say Ive been patient through many downturns, its just this one has been abnormally long and painful. When I was in Orange Krush, we were always fighting for the top of the big ten. That was my normal, not these recent years.

FiveStar · Apr 6, 2017

Dan fan 86 said:
Sorry Fivestar, I have been watching Illini bb for 40 years. I read this site daily, I just don't post that much. I would say Ive been patient through many downturns, its just this one has been abnormally long and painful. When I was in Orange Krush, we were always fighting for the top of the big ten. That was my normal, not these recent years.

Patience is relative. Most of the new staff was announced yesterday and Underwood was hired like 3 weeks ago. If you're out of patience with them by now, you were never in anyway.

RichardKeenesHair · Apr 6, 2017

Dan fan 86 said:
This site should be called the Illinois Hope Board. Without Tilmon, and no other top bigs coming in, I can't see our record better than last year and we wont make the tourney. It is getting pretty old to be in this position. Yes, we have a new coach, who I hope is good, but it will take time for him to prove it. Yes, we have a new assistant/ top recruiter, but it will take even more time to prove it. After making the championship game in 2005, I thought we would be set for years. It has been a long 12 years. Now we just hope it will turn around sometime soon. The glory years are becoming faint memories. Sorry to unload, but how many disappointments can a guy take.

On the bright side, Thank God for the Cubs. I can completely forget about U of I bb and enjoy the season. It also shows that things can turn around. I just hope we have the right people in charge now.

I think many people will be really surprised what a difference having a good basketball coach will make

Calvin · Apr 6, 2017

Dan fan 86 said:
This site should be called the Illinois Hope Board. Without Tilmon, and no other top bigs coming in, I can't see our record better than last year and we wont make the tourney.

If you've followed the bubble since they went to 68 teams, you'd know you don't need to be all that good to make the NCAA tournament. So making the tournament isn't a huge leap even if we have a positional weakness.

I agree we have a problem at center. I'm not sure how it will be solved, either. But, I expect something will be done about it before guys suit up for games, and I also know that we'll have a relatively young roster that will grow. I'm ok with patience after what we experienced previously. And, I think we'll be playing a style of play that's more enjoyable, as well as getting to see guys get noticeably better. That's fun to see as a fan.

FiveStar · Apr 6, 2017

HTT said:
9-9 in big12 is not too much different from 8-10 in big 10. That is where a team cannot defend can get to at best. BU has not built a team with top 50(or even 100) defense nationally so he needs to prove a lot more here before called a "good coach".

Yep he just gets to the tournament where he is regularly competitive and until this tournament was victorious at an amount that was disproportionate to the talent level he coached.

IlliniInTexas · Apr 6, 2017

Dan fan 86 said:
This site should be called the Illinois Hope Board. Without Tilmon, and no other top bigs coming in, I can't see our record better than last year and we wont make the tourney.

The expectation next year should not be making the tournament. Preseason guides will probably have us 8-12, which is as reasonable a guess as can be made.

The goal and hope should be the tournament. Look no further our brethren from Michigan as 2 teams without bigs that made the tournament this year. MSU lost both their starting bigs before the year started, and Michigan hasn't had a good big man since Mitch McGary. Teams have demonstrated that playing small can work, as long as you make your system fit the personnel you have. It's not like we're lacking in talent with 2 RSCI top 50, and another 2-3 RSCI top 100 players. We'll just be super young and probably going through a big offensive and defensive transition.

mattcoldagelli · Apr 6, 2017

HTT said:
BU has not built a team with top 50(or even 100) defense nationally so he needs to prove a lot more here before called a "good coach".

Dang, how does it feel to get so served, every college basketball writer in America?

WesterveltVictoryCigar · Apr 6, 2017

HTT said:
9-9 in big12 is not too much different from 8-10 in big 10. That is where a team cannot defend can get to at best. BU has not built a team with top 50(or even 100) defense nationally so he needs to prove a lot more here before called a "good coach".

His last SFA team was #38 nationally in defensive efficiency.

IlliniInTexas · Apr 6, 2017

HTT said:
9-9 in big12 is not too much different from 8-10 in big 10. That is where a team cannot defend can get to at best. BU has not built a team with top 50(or even 100) defense nationally so he needs to prove a lot more here before called a "good coach".

This is such a ludicrous post. The dude went 35-1 over 3 years in conference at SFA. Nobody does that unless they're a "good coach". Just to disprove your point even more, here are his defenses over his 3 years at SFA, per KenPom:

2016 - 38
2015 - 98
2014 - 105

And this is with SFA quality players! You can make the argument that it might take a while to adjust to his system. You can make the argument that hasn't proven it at an elite level in a major conference. You can even make the argument that our offense won't be on a level of OSU's without a Jawun Evans caliber player. You can't make the argument that he's not even a "good coach". That's just absurd.

Early Projection for Next Season

Captain 'Paign