Illini Basketball 2024-2025

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#51      
No way he averages 9 assists a game... When was the last time a big ten player did that? And without edey sucking in the defense for wide open shooters or easy dump off to edey for quick bucket. No way.

I think Purdue takes a step back for sure. I'll go 16/6/4 for Braden and it's borderline first team/second team big ten.... Still very good year

Yep, nobody has averaged 8 let alone 9 assists (I only went back to 2000, so maybe someone did it before then?). Most of his assists last season were to a guy who was one of the most efficient scorers that the league has ever seen. They no longer have that, and he's going to be asked to score more anyhow.
 
#52      
No way he averages 9 assists a game... When was the last time a big ten player did that? And without edey sucking in the defense for wide open shooters or easy dump off to edey for quick bucket. No way.

I think Purdue takes a step back for sure. I'll go 16/6/4 for Braden and it's borderline first team/second team big ten.... Still very good year
Is there some place I can bet on his assist numbers dropping? No easy dump ins to Edey and no longer a top 10 offense.

Still wouldn’t bet against him makin All Big Ten, but I’d hammer the under at 9 APG and would heavily bet under 7.5. IANAPG.
 
#53      
Brad past 5 years have been excellent. If we are not a top 20 program then we are very close. Only thing missing is an NCAA banner. Brad has adapted to transfer portal and NIL very well. Saying that adjusting to new environment is only reason we are better is just silly logic. Everybody has to adjust to new environment.

Lets see how post Edey Purdue looks this season. Its like when we had Kofi. Everybody else on team was shooting wide open 3 pointers. I think Brad has reloaded very well and we should be near the top of B10 again next season. We have 4 players showing up on NBA draft board - KJ, Riley, Boswell and Booth. When was last time that happened?

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#55      
Is there some place I can bet on his assist numbers dropping? No easy dump ins to Edey and no longer a top 10 offense.
Still wouldn’t bet against him makin All Big Ten, but I’d hammer the under at 9 APG and would heavily bet under 7.5. IANAPG.
It seems that dude's comment and prediction of 9 assists caught all of our eyes. I was coming to post the same thing. No way he gets more assists without all the easy tosses to Edey just inside the FT line for the easy score. How high is Edey's hand reaching above his head? 8.5 ft? Toss it up where no one can grab it and let him score. I bet he gets 3 assists a game off a simple play like that. I'm kind of just guessing.
 
#58      
You're trying you find a rallying cry around a very good article. They are showing love to BU and rightfully so. Anyone who thinks that we were remotely close to a top 20 program for over a decade is lying to themselves.

The amount of streaks that BU broke was/is astounding. We were a bad program. We got to a point where being a bubble team was exciting. Call it what it is. BU coming here was a complete shock and is purely because Oklahoma State was stupid. Even Self was shocked and he coached here!!! We were not a coveted job. We were in the Cuonzo Martin realm without BU making the move.

Today's college kids either weren't born or they weren't outside of their cribs since the last time we were relevant on a national level and yes, NIL has helped immensely. We don't have the roster that we did last year without NIL. That was an "old" team that was NIL driven. TSJ, CH coming back, Guerrier, Domask...all transfer/NIL.

Which BU recruited High School recruits are still on the roster? How many guys has BU coached for 4 years? He had to replace 86% of his productivity from last year. How do you think that he did that?

This is all ok and it's a good thing.

We are clearly one of the beneficiaries of the transfer portal and NIL. We have a lot of money and he uses it. Newsflash.....if that money dried up and he didn't have the resources to do what he needs to do, he'd leave in a heartbeat and nothing about the program's history would bring anyone, even remotely close to his level, through the front door.

Being nationally relevant in the 80's was great and memorable....for those over 50.
 
#59      
#60      
Someone play devils advocate and tell me, other than history and Painter, why Purdue is a clear front runner for BIG champs.

They have talent but lose one of the best players in CBB history and replace him with no one.
They're the only one of last year's good Big Ten teams that's returning a lot.

I interpret them being at the top of that poll not as a great degree of certainty that they'll be the best team, but that they are the most certain to be AMONG the good teams.

The range of potential outcomes contains more downside risk for everybody else.
 
#61      
The Athletic has a pre-season Big Ten ranking. Indiana was third with Illinois fourth.

Exactly what are people seeing in Indiana? I don't get it. They are still coached by Mike Woodson, and he'll still run the most inefficient offense in college or pro basketball with guys chucking up 19-21 foot jumpers (the worst shot on an expected points basis in the game). Do they really have that much of an upgrade in talent to overcome his playing style?
 
#62      
The Athletic has a pre-season Big Ten ranking. Indiana was third with Illinois fourth.

Exactly what are people seeing in Indiana? I don't get it. They are still coached by Mike Woodson, and he'll still run the most inefficient offense in college or pro basketball with guys chucking up 19-21 foot jumpers (the worst shot on an expected points basis in the game). Do they really have that much of an upgrade in talent to overcome his playing style?
They have a ton of proven high major talent and check a bunch of boxes they’ve missed in previous Woodson years.

Frankly if I’m IU, Woodson is gone if he doesn’t finish top 3. Zero excuses this year.
 
#63      
They're the only one of last year's good Big Ten teams that's returning a lot.

I interpret them being at the top of that poll not as a great degree of certainty that they'll be the best team, but that they are the most certain to be AMONG the good teams.

The range of potential outcomes contains more downside risk for everybody else.
A good way of expressing things
 
#64      
They have a ton of proven high major talent and check a bunch of boxes they’ve missed in previous Woodson years.
Frankly if I’m IU, Woodson is gone if he doesn’t finish top 3. Zero excuses this year.
Woodson has done terrible roster construction and lineups in past 3 years. He has ignored 3 point shooting and played 2-3 post players at same time. Its like he thinks he is coaching in 1980s. He has a lot more talent and several good portal guards this year but if they win it will be in spite of him not because of him. He also has not recruited HS well. Very little improvement in 3 years. I suspect he will be gone no matter what in 2 seasons.

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Contrast him with Hoiberg who has been steadily improving at football school with very small HS recruiting in-state pool
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#67      
Someone play devils advocate and tell me, other than history and Painter, why Purdue is a clear front runner for BIG champs.

They have talent but lose one of the best players in CBB history and replace him with no one.
They have a talented 7'4" frosh to replace him.........Not as good as Sasquatch was but has skills......I watched him play in some tourney a while back and he can play.................JMHO............
 
#68      
I don’t know. He averaged 12/7.5/6 last year in a complementary role to Edey. Maybe he struggles now that Edey won’t suck up so much attention. But now that it’s “his” team, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think he will put up something like 16/9/5 this year. I don’t see any obvious candidates to average 20+ this year, so if Smith puts up that statline he’s at least in the running. It always seems like someone emerges though. Will see who it is. But given a lack of clear alternatives, I understand why Smith is the preseason POY.
16/9/5? Wow, a lot better players than him NEVER came close to those numbers.
 
#69      
Woodson has done terrible roster construction and lineups in past 3 years. He has ignored 3 point shooting and played 2-3 post players at same time. Its like he thinks he is coaching in 1980s. He has a lot more talent and several good portal guards this year but if they win it will be in spite of him not because of him. He also has not recruited HS well. Very little improvement in 3 years. I suspect he will be gone no matter what in 2 seasons.

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Contrast him with Hoiberg who has been steadily improving at football school with very small HS recruiting in-state pool
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I think people really underestimate how good of a coach Hoiberg is. Other coaches have caught up to him because of the transfer portal(he used to make a killing on transfers at Iowa St) but he does a fantastic job of creating open looks.

All that being said I think he needs to start recruiting better athletes. Last year's team was fun because of Tominaga but Williams was the only player that looked like he belonged athletically at the Big10 level. Mast is big and can stretch the floor but he's painfully slow.

Will be interesting to see how he does this year(Mast is out for the season which hurts), but Williams is returning and honestly might be the biggest snub from the preseason all big10 team.
 
#72      
No way he averages 9 assists a game... When was the last time a big ten player did that? And without edey sucking in the defense for wide open shooters or easy dump off to edey for quick bucket. No way.

I think Purdue takes a step back for sure. I'll go 16/6/4 for Braden and it's borderline first team/second team big ten.... Still very good year
McCamey holds the Illinois record at 7.1 in 2010.
 
#73      
Indiana has a good roster on paper.

6'9 F Malik Reneau - returning 15 PPG starter
6'2 G Myles Rice - was Pac-12 Freshman of the Year last season
6'5 G Trey Galloway - returning 11 PPG starter
6'8 F Mackenzie Mgbako - returning 12 PPG starter, Big Ten All-Freshman team last season
7-0 C Oumar Ballo - First Team All Pac-12 and Pac-12 All Defensive Team last season

6'3 G Kanaan Carlyle - 11.5 PPG player at Stanford last season
6'7 G/F Luke Goode - 39.9 % on threes in 20 MPG playing in Big Ten last season
6'6 G Bryson Tucker - Top 30 Recruit in Class of 2024

I could definitely see them being a force even if you're not super high on Woodson.
 
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