Illini Basketball 2023-2024

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#76      

Calvin

C
Calvin
grue2 said:
Reports are that the twins were contractually paid 33k/month to play for Overtime Elite Academy. That beats most foreign basketball leagues. If this isn't enforcable, then Lebron should fulfill his lifetime dream of playing with Bronny this year -- in college.
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That's one side of it. The other side is they made their money off NIL. I'm not a lawyer, so I have zero opinion on the legal facts, but it seems to me to be a difficult thing to separate out, especially if you compare it to what NIL is for other college players. We all know it's pay for play, but the contracts get set up to say the consideration is for using NIL. Some of the details look like they'll work against the prospects, which seems to be your interpretation.

Be interesting to see how it plays out in court.
 
#78      

lstewart53x3

lstewart53x3
Scottsdale, Arizona
lstewart53x3
For anyone curious about the improvement we’ve seen with Underwood at the helm:

Average final season KenPom ranking in the 4 years leading up the Underwood hire:

76.25 (125 worst / 53 best)

Average final season KenPom ranking over the past 4 years with Underwood:

22.25 (35 worst / 4 best)

+ Preseason 19 this year
 
#80      

HailtotheChief

H
HailtotheChief
It is going to be interesting to watch these pre B10 season games and how it will impact the rotation when the B10 gets here. I watched LaTulip and I agree with him that some players are not going to be happy. He stated and I agree that in closely contested B10 and top tier games the rotation is only going to be 8 or 9 guys. It may change a bit based on who we play. Latulip said TSJ, Hawkins, and likely Domask will play 30 plus minutes so that only leaves around 110 for the rest. He also felt that down the stretch that Dain, Ty, and Harris won't be on the floor given FT shooting issues. I agree that the transfers along with TSJ and Hawkins are our closers like we saw vs KU. I see the top 9 guys in an order like this in terms of minutes. TSJ, Hawk, Domask, Quincy, Ty, Goode, Dain, DGL or Harris. I would lean DGL because he needs experience at PG but I feel DGL or Harris and likely others are not going to be very happy when the don't play much and the transfers dominate the rotation. It will be nice to have Domask with the ball to close out games given he is an elite FT shooter and it seems our other new guys shoot them well too. That was stressful last season and cost us some games.
 
#81      

Calvin

C
Calvin
HailtotheChief said:
It is going to be interesting to watch these pre B10 season games and how it will impact the rotation when the B10 gets here. I watched LaTulip and I agree with him that some players are not going to be happy. He stated and I agree that in closely contested B10 and top tier games the rotation is only going to be 8 or 9 guys. It may change a bit based on who we play. Latulip said TSJ, Hawkins, and likely Domask will play 30 plus minutes so that only leaves around 110 for the rest. He also felt that down the stretch that Dain, Ty, and Harris won't be on the floor given FT shooting issues. I agree that the transfers along with TSJ and Hawkins are our closers like we saw vs KU. I see the top 9 guys in an order like this in terms of minutes. TSJ, Hawk, Domask, Quincy, Ty, Goode, Dain, DGL or Harris. I would lean DGL because he needs experience at PG but I feel DGL or Harris and likely others are not going to be very happy when the don't play much and the transfers dominate the rotation. It will be nice to have Domask with the ball to close out games given he is an elite FT shooter and it seems our other new guys shoot them well too. That was stressful last season and cost us some games.
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In fairness to BU, what coach is going to put a sub-50% FT shooter on the floor when trying to close out a game? The problem isn't BU not trusting these guys --it's an obvious deficiency that (should) keep them off the floor. If they're unhappy, you'd think it would be with their shooting. Transferring doesn't fix that one bit.
 
#82      

socalini

socalini
So Cali
socalini
HailtotheChief said:
It is going to be interesting to watch these pre B10 season games and how it will impact the rotation when the B10 gets here. I watched LaTulip and I agree with him that some players are not going to be happy. He stated and I agree that in closely contested B10 and top tier games the rotation is only going to be 8 or 9 guys. It may change a bit based on who we play. Latulip said TSJ, Hawkins, and likely Domask will play 30 plus minutes so that only leaves around 110 for the rest. He also felt that down the stretch that Dain, Ty, and Harris won't be on the floor given FT shooting issues. I agree that the transfers along with TSJ and Hawkins are our closers like we saw vs KU. I see the top 9 guys in an order like this in terms of minutes. TSJ, Hawk, Domask, Quincy, Ty, Goode, Dain, DGL or Harris. I would lean DGL because he needs experience at PG but I feel DGL or Harris and likely others are not going to be very happy when the don't play much and the transfers dominate the rotation. It will be nice to have Domask with the ball to close out games given he is an elite FT shooter and it seems our other new guys shoot them well too. That was stressful last season and cost us some games.
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I feel like you're missing Harmon somewhere in that list, around the 5-7 spot. Which probably moves DGL or Harris out of the regular rotation. I'd love to see them, and Hansberry in the rotation, but not sure if it will play out that way.
 
#83      

Emerson Bigguns

Emerson Bigguns
Emerson Bigguns
HailtotheChief said:
It is going to be interesting to watch these pre B10 season games and how it will impact the rotation when the B10 gets here. I watched LaTulip and I agree with him that some players are not going to be happy. He stated and I agree that in closely contested B10 and top tier games the rotation is only going to be 8 or 9 guys. It may change a bit based on who we play. Latulip said TSJ, Hawkins, and likely Domask will play 30 plus minutes so that only leaves around 110 for the rest. He also felt that down the stretch that Dain, Ty, and Harris won't be on the floor given FT shooting issues. I agree that the transfers along with TSJ and Hawkins are our closers like we saw vs KU. I see the top 9 guys in an order like this in terms of minutes. TSJ, Hawk, Domask, Quincy, Ty, Goode, Dain, DGL or Harris. I would lean DGL because he needs experience at PG but I feel DGL or Harris and likely others are not going to be very happy when the don't play much and the transfers dominate the rotation. It will be nice to have Domask with the ball to close out games given he is an elite FT shooter and it seems our other new guys shoot them well too. That was stressful last season and cost us some games.
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Yep. No one really plays more than 8 guys in closely contested games. Anytime you have a roster full of B1G caliber players, you're going to have guys who think they should play more. I'd guess DGL and Harris will both be a bit disappointed in their roles. Both guys have obvious skills that can be deployed in certain situations (DGL=instant offense, Buck=Defensive lightning rod), but they also have obvious deficiencies. (DGL=physicality to effectively defend, Buck= not an offensive threat in the half court).
The "old" guys are really well rounded and can fill multiple roles. It's going to be tough for developing guys. Of the Fesh/soph players, I think Amani has the best shot at getting minutes in prime time B1G games. He appears strong enough to hold his own on defense, and the kid is going to get rebounds. He's going to play when there is foul trouble. With Goode and Harmon both likely coming off the bench, opportunities for the young wings will be tough to come by barring injury.

Moretti is still a massive unknown to me... Looks to have really good handles and supposedly can shoot... Just not a ton of film to look at... Brad seems to really like him. Was off the bench early against Kansas. He's a wild card.
 
#84      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
So excited for the season to start! I'll never assume any victory, but I certainly would HOPE we can get past Eastern Illinois, Oakland, Valparaiso, Southern and Western Illinois at home ... so, if we can manage to beat a very good Marquette team in Champaign in 8 days, we have the opportunity to skyrocket fan enthusiasm for this season, IMO. On that note...

I was thinking the other day how there seemed to be a lot of Weber/Groce years where we actually did get off to a pretty nice start only to regress as the season went on. Conversely, while I OBVIOUSLY prefer the Underwood Era in every single way, it has kind of struck me how there has always been one loss early that smacks us in the face, even when we have a great team that recovers. Again, this is just an interesting "oh by the way," but we have not been undefeated going into December in a really long time:

2022-23: Preseason #23. Start off 2-0 and move up to #19. Move to 4-0 after beating #8 UCLA in Vegas, but we cannot top #16 Virginia, and we get our first loss on November 20th.

2021-22: Preseason #11. Start off 2-0 and move up to #10. Drop a heartbreaker at Marquette and then a headscratcher to Cincinnati to fall to 2-2. Even though this team rebounded nicely and won 9 of 10 games between November 22nd and January 17th (with the only loss being a hard-fought one to #11 Arizona), it took us a month and a half to climb back to #25 in the polls. In other words, I don't think our fan base really felt we were "back" until we beat #10 MSU on January 25th and started a new winning streak.

2020-21: We obviously know this team turned out to be a great team, but I remember thinking that it sucked we had to play #2 Baylor (the eventual National Champion) in our 4th game. Again, it didn't really negatively affect our season, but I was so hungry to have an elite team for the first time in years, and it sucked to lose so early.

All of this is to say that if we can beat Marquette, we should be 6-0 heading into our away game at Rutgers on December 2nd. Marquette will no doubt be a tough game, but we just beat Kansas, Marquette just lost to Michigan and it's in Champaign ... could we lose?? Of course, it might even be likely! But we have an excellent chance, IMO. And I think it would be really nice to get past Thanksgiving undefeated for this team's confidence.

As for the fun facts, this is the last time we were undefeated in December (record as of December 1st below):

2022-23: 6-1 (#16)
2021-22: 5-2 (NR)
2020-21: 3-0 (#5) ... weird example because of COVID year
2019-20: 6-1 (NR)
2018-19: 2-5 (NR)
2017-18: 6-1 (NR)
2016-17: 5-3 (NR)
2015-16: 4-3 (NR)
2014-15: 6-0 (#24)

Who had 2014-15 on his/her BINGO card?! Lol.
 
#85      

HailtotheChief

H
HailtotheChief
socalini said:
I feel like you're missing Harmon somewhere in that list, around the 5-7 spot. Which probably moves DGL or Harris out of the regular rotation. I'd love to see them, and Hansberry in the rotation, but not sure if it will play out that way.
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Yep I meant to put him around 7th. I feel Harris will lose the most minutes this season with the additions to this team. DGL hopefully can get substantial minutes in the blow outs to get experience, improve, and keep him somewhat pleased. Quite frankly Ty will play decent minutes but likely less than I thought he would prior to the KU game. We saw who finished and I expect that barring injury going forward.
 
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#86      

mysterio2525

mysterio2525
mysterio2525
Fighter of the Nightman said:
So excited for the season to start! I'll never assume any victory, but I certainly would HOPE we can get past Eastern Illinois, Oakland, Valparaiso, Southern and Western Illinois at home ... so, if we can manage to beat a very good Marquette team in Champaign in 8 days, we have the opportunity to skyrocket fan enthusiasm for this season, IMO. On that note...

I was thinking the other day how there seemed to be a lot of Weber/Groce years where we actually did get off to a pretty nice start only to regress as the season went on. Conversely, while I OBVIOUSLY prefer the Underwood Era in every single way, it has kind of struck me how there has always been one loss early that smacks us in the face, even when we have a great team that recovers. Again, this is just an interesting "oh by the way," but we have not been undefeated going into December in a really long time:

2022-23: Preseason #23. Start off 2-0 and move up to #19. Move to 4-0 after beating #8 UCLA in Vegas, but we cannot top #16 Virginia, and we get our first loss on November 20th.

2021-22: Preseason #11. Start off 2-0 and move up to #10. Drop a heartbreaker at Marquette and then a headscratcher to Cincinnati to fall to 2-2. Even though this team rebounded nicely and won 9 of 10 games between November 22nd and January 17th (with the only loss being a hard-fought one to #11 Arizona), it took us a month and a half to climb back to #25 in the polls. In other words, I don't think our fan base really felt we were "back" until we beat #10 MSU on January 25th and started a new winning streak.

2020-21: We obviously know this team turned out to be a great team, but I remember thinking that it sucked we had to play #2 Baylor (the eventual National Champion) in our 4th game. Again, it didn't really negatively affect our season, but I was so hungry to have an elite team for the first time in years, and it sucked to lose so early.

All of this is to say that if we can beat Marquette, we should be 6-0 heading into our away game at Rutgers on December 2nd. Marquette will no doubt be a tough game, but we just beat Kansas, Marquette just lost to Michigan and it's in Champaign ... could we lose?? Of course, it might even be likely! But we have an excellent chance, IMO. And I think it would be really nice to get past Thanksgiving undefeated for this team's confidence.

As for the fun facts, this is the last time we were undefeated in December (record as of December 1st below):

2022-23: 6-1 (#16)
2021-22: 5-2 (NR)
2020-21: 3-0 (#5) ... weird example because of COVID year
2019-20: 6-1 (NR)
2018-19: 2-5 (NR)
2017-18: 6-1 (NR)
2016-17: 5-3 (NR)
2015-16: 4-3 (NR)
2014-15: 6-0 (#24)

Who had 2014-15 on his/her BINGO card?! Lol.
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We beat Marquette this year! Write it down!
 
#87      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
mysterio2525 said:
We beat Marquette this year! Write it down!
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That is a monumental game. Again, if you assume we can win the home games we should, you are looking at one of two scenarios as you head into Piscataway on December 2nd:

(A) 6-0, likely ranked around #15 and with a massive Quad 1 win on the books.

(B) 5-1, likely still ranked around #25 and with zero good wins.

I don't care how good/bad they are, playing at Rutgers is always just tough. And it will be our first road game. With FAU in NYC, an away game vs. a top 10 Tennessee game and the always-tough Braggin' Rights Game on the horizon, I do NOT want to feel like that away game at Rutgers is a "must win" to save the season. If we lost to Marquette and Rutgers, all of a sudden you are looking at 5-2 potentially becoming 6-5 after Braggin' Rights if some things do not bounce our way. I am not in any way saying that is likely, but I would personally (as of today) rank the likelihood that we win each of our "big games" before Braggin' Rights like this:

1. vs. #5 Marquette
2. vs. #10 Florida Atlantic (New York, NY)
3. at Rutgers
4. at #9 Tennessee

I would just love to be playing with house money when we head to Knoxville, and that has to start with beating Marquette on our home floor.
 
#88      

mysterio2525

mysterio2525
mysterio2525
Fighter of the Nightman said:
That is a monumental game. Again, if you assume we can win the home games we should, you are looking at one of two scenarios as you head into Piscataway on December 2nd:

(A) 6-0, likely ranked around #15 and with a massive Quad 1 win on the books.

(B) 5-1, likely still ranked around #25 and with zero good wins.

I don't care how good/bad they are, playing at Rutgers is always just tough. And it will be our first road game. With FAU in NYC, an away game vs. a top 10 Tennessee game and the always-tough Braggin' Rights Game on the horizon, I do NOT want to feel like that away game at Rutgers is a "must win" to save the season. If we lost to Marquette and Rutgers, all of a sudden you are looking at 5-2 potentially becoming 6-5 after Braggin' Rights if some things do not bounce our way. I am not in any way saying that is likely, but I would personally (as of today) rank the likelihood that we win each of our "big games" before Braggin' Rights like this:

1. vs. #5 Marquette
2. vs. #10 Florida Atlantic (New York, NY)
3. at Rutgers
4. at #9 Tennessee

I would just love to be playing with house money when we head to Knoxville, and that has to start with beating Marquette on our home floor.
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In my head Tennessee and Rutgers are losses. No shame but I think our weaknesses show in those games but we can use it as good teaching and learning moments. I think we get our Marquette revenge from 2 years ago this year... Similar role reversal where they have high expectations and we can sneak up on them. FAU I think we take as well.
 
#91      

Birdus

B
Birdus
PepeSilvia said:
Those rankings are pretty bad imo.

Nate Oats is way way too low. Muss should be way higher. Cooley is overrated based on his track record. Think Larranaga is also being disrespected.

Holtmann being ranked over Brad is a joke. Brad should probably be somewhere between 15-20 imo and I'm not even that high in him.

Also, no Dana Altman anywhere to be found on the list. I'm curious if the people that made it even like watching college basketball.
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Those rankings are a joke.
 
#92      

Birdus

B
Birdus
Fighter of the Nightman said:
So excited for the season to start! I'll never assume any victory, but I certainly would HOPE we can get past Eastern Illinois, Oakland, Valparaiso, Southern and Western Illinois at home ... so, if we can manage to beat a very good Marquette team in Champaign in 8 days, we have the opportunity to skyrocket fan enthusiasm for this season, IMO. On that note...

I was thinking the other day how there seemed to be a lot of Weber/Groce years where we actually did get off to a pretty nice start only to regress as the season went on. Conversely, while I OBVIOUSLY prefer the Underwood Era in every single way, it has kind of struck me how there has always been one loss early that smacks us in the face, even when we have a great team that recovers. Again, this is just an interesting "oh by the way," but we have not been undefeated going into December in a really long time:

2022-23: Preseason #23. Start off 2-0 and move up to #19. Move to 4-0 after beating #8 UCLA in Vegas, but we cannot top #16 Virginia, and we get our first loss on November 20th.

2021-22: Preseason #11. Start off 2-0 and move up to #10. Drop a heartbreaker at Marquette and then a headscratcher to Cincinnati to fall to 2-2. Even though this team rebounded nicely and won 9 of 10 games between November 22nd and January 17th (with the only loss being a hard-fought one to #11 Arizona), it took us a month and a half to climb back to #25 in the polls. In other words, I don't think our fan base really felt we were "back" until we beat #10 MSU on January 25th and started a new winning streak.

2020-21: We obviously know this team turned out to be a great team, but I remember thinking that it sucked we had to play #2 Baylor (the eventual National Champion) in our 4th game. Again, it didn't really negatively affect our season, but I was so hungry to have an elite team for the first time in years, and it sucked to lose so early.

All of this is to say that if we can beat Marquette, we should be 6-0 heading into our away game at Rutgers on December 2nd. Marquette will no doubt be a tough game, but we just beat Kansas, Marquette just lost to Michigan and it's in Champaign ... could we lose?? Of course, it might even be likely! But we have an excellent chance, IMO. And I think it would be really nice to get past Thanksgiving undefeated for this team's confidence.

As for the fun facts, this is the last time we were undefeated in December (record as of December 1st below):

2022-23: 6-1 (#16)
2021-22: 5-2 (NR)
2020-21: 3-0 (#5) ... weird example because of COVID year
2019-20: 6-1 (NR)
2018-19: 2-5 (NR)
2017-18: 6-1 (NR)
2016-17: 5-3 (NR)
2015-16: 4-3 (NR)
2014-15: 6-0 (#24)

Who had 2014-15 on his/her BINGO card?! Lol.
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Nice outlook! I appreciate all that you wrote and agree with all of it. Rutgers would probably be really touch to get it but I guess I am greedy and want that one too!
 
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#94      

WillyG42

WillyG42
WillyG42
I was at the women’s game yesterday and saw DGL sitting by himself on one end by the Orange Crush and then a big group of players on the other end. Just thought it was strange that he was all by himself when other players were there
 
#95      

battle

battle
battle
WillyG42 said:
I was at the women’s game yesterday and saw DGL sitting by himself on one end by the Orange Crush and then a big group of players on the other end. Just thought it was strange that he was all by himself when other players were there
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You are making someting of nothing. He started on the other end and was only player there. My wife congratulaed him and he was nice as all could be. Anthem was sung by a men's choir who then sat there . He moved to crush. Other players didn't arrive until late first half (notsure when)
 
#96      

WillyG42

WillyG42
WillyG42
battle said:
You are making someting of nothing. He started on the other end and was only player there. My wife congratulaed him and he was nice as all could be. Anthem was sung by a men's choir who then sat there . He moved to crush. Other players didn't arrive until late first half (notsure when)
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Tim Anderson and others were there for the whole first half I wasn’t making a big deal about it just wondered why he sat on the other end
 
#97      

mysterio2525

mysterio2525
mysterio2525
battle said:
You are making someting of nothing. He started on the other end and was only player there. My wife congratulaed him and he was nice as all could be. Anthem was sung by a men's choir who then sat there . He moved to crush. Other players didn't arrive until late first half (notsure when)
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Clearly a conspiracy and you are all involved!
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