Illini Basketball 2021-2022

The Wooden Award top 20 is out and Kofi, unsurprisingly, makes it. Meanwhile, Hunter Dickinson and Trevion Williams got dropped.

By the way, I forgot to post this in the MSU postgame thread, but...

With the victory vs. #10 Michigan State, I BELIEVE we just got a victory vs. a top ten opponent in four straight seasons for just the second time in program history! Here they are, for those who like to reminisce:

2018-19
W 79-74 vs. #9 Michigan State

2019-20
W 71-62 vs. #5 Michigan
W 62-56 at #9 Penn State

2020-21
W 83-68 at #10 Duke
W 80-75 vs. #7 Iowa
W 76-53 at #2 Michigan
W 73-68 at #7 Ohio State
W 82-71 vs. #5 Iowa (BTT)
W 91-88 vs. #9 Ohio State (BTT)

2021-22
W 56-55 vs. #10 Michigan State

The only longer streak seems to be the 1984-85 season (kickstarted by a victory over #5 Oklahoma in Springfield, MA to start that season) until the 1990-91 season (bookended by beating #10 LSU 102-96 in Champaign just before Christmas of 1990).

In light of Iowa's beautiful loss and their continued post-Garza slide toward irrelevance, I find myself so appreciative of how BU has built things here.

I know it sounds like coach speak, but he has truly built a culture around things that don't necessarily require loads of talent - work ethic, toughness, selflessness.

So while the Ayos and Kofis will come and go, I get the feeling that our brand of basketball is here to stay.

It's just nice to have an identity that's bigger than any one player. It has been SO long since we could say that. And I guess the juxtaposition of a Fran led Iowa team that is wilting without Garza has made this very apparent to me tonight.

21ChampaignSt said:

In light of Iowa's beautiful loss and their continued post-Garza slide toward irrelevance, I find myself so appreciative of how BU has built things here.

I know it sounds like coach speak, but he has truly built a culture around things that don't necessarily require loads of talent - work ethic, toughness, selflessness.

So while the Ayos and Kofis will come and go, I get the feeling that our brand of basketball is here to stay.

It's just nice to have an identity that's bigger than any one player. It has been SO long since we could say that. And I guess the juxtaposition of a Fran led Iowa team that is wilting without Garza has made this very apparent to me tonight.

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I wonder what we would be saying if Trent, Damonte, and Kofi didn’t come back?

Longtimelurker said:

I wonder what we would be saying if Trent, Damonte, and Kofi didn’t come back?

Click to expand...

But they did. Which again speaks to the culture of the team and not our reliance on a single individual.

Think we often exaggerate differences in player’s abilities. There is a reason why there are so many close games and upsets with pretty substantial differences in ratings. How did we beat MSU without Kofi or MIch. without Ayo? How does Whisky lose most of their team and yet tie for lead in BIG. Have a lot of confidence in BU adapting without Kofi just as he changed to utilize him. Doesn’t mean I don’t love having the biggest, toughest weapon on my side. Just like to maximize record while we have him and the rest of the crew.