Illini Basketball 2024-2025

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#26      
soupy17
Fan Since '70 said:
Have feeling Will will come on like gangbusters by end of season and be drafted. Ivisic is the one that looks rated way too low for what he's shown.
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For what it's worth, Tomi is 30 spots higher than his brother. I think being a little more limited athletically will keep his ceiling low, but if he can keep his shooting numbers up he feels like a safe second round prospect, maybe sneaking into the first.
 
#28      
AirNeazy
aaeismacgychel said:
I'm surprised Will is as low as he is. Just by eye test, he looks surefire pro starter to me, even over Kaspar. But hey, they want to drop him to 2nd Round so he comes back for Season 2 so he can be a lottery pick, I ain't going to complain at all.
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If he can beef up a bit, no doubt in my mind he'll be 1st Team All- B1G, AA level next year and a top 15 draft pick if he comes back.

Up to him and his family if he feels like the tradeoff between lottery $$ vs. being one year closer to your second NBA contract if he goes pro this year is worth it.
Win-win for Illinois imo, either we get 2 NBA 1st rounders drafted (amazing for recruiting and program trajectory), or we get a stud returning next year.
 
#29      
Old Farm Illini
AirNeazy said:
If he can beef up a bit, no doubt in my mind he'll be 1st Team All- B1G, AA level next year and a top 15 draft pick if he comes back.

Up to him and his family if he feels like the tradeoff between lottery $$ vs. being one year closer to your second NBA contract if he goes pro this year is worth it.
Win-win for Illinois imo, either we get 2 NBA 1st rounders drafted (amazing for recruiting and program trajectory), or we get a stud returning next year.
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There's not a significant difference between a mid/late lottery and being in the later in the first round. If he's projected middle of the first round, which he currently is, it would be smart to take the money unless he gets a HUGE NIL deal to stay.
 
#30      
ChiTown
I can also say that Nikola Jokic is far from being athletic and his defensive rating as a rookie leaves much to be desired.His career defensive rating is still below average,as long as Big T can keep improving throughout the season both offensively and defensively….just saying.
www.statmuse.com

Nikola Jokić Career Defensive Rating | StatMuse

Nikola Jokić has a defensive rating of 108.0 in his career.
www.statmuse.com www.statmuse.com
 
#33      
BDMAN
Fan Since '70 said:
Have feeling Will will come on like gangbusters by end of season and be drafted. Ivisic is the one that looks rated way too low for what he's shown.
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He needs to gain strength he gets knocked off his line and dribble too easily when bodied up. Another year with Fletch in the weight room and he is a lottery pick!!
 
#35      
LTUtd
soupy17 said:
Not sure if this is the best place for this, but Sam Vecenie of The Athletic released the latest iteration of his 2025 NBA Draft Big Board ($$), where he ranks the top 100 draft prospects.

Illini:
5. Kasparas Jakucionis (!)
31. Will Riley
50. Tomislav Ivisic
94. Ben Humrichous

Other notables (mostly B1G opponents):
1. Cooper Flagg, Duke
2. Egor Demin, BYU
3. Dylan Harper, Rutgers
4. Ace Bailey, Rutgers
15. Jase Richardson, Michigan St.
36. Derik Queen, Maryland
39. Mackenzie Mgbako, Indiana
46. Juni Mobley, Ohio St.
54. Kwame Evans Jr., Oregon
58. Braden Smith, Purdue
59. Payton Sandfort, Iowa
72. Owen Freeman, Iowa
87. Saint Thomas, USC
90. Bruce Thornton, Ohio St.
95. Kobe Johnson, UCLA

We have 4 players on his board, no other B1G school has more than 2 (Rutgers, Ohio St. Iowa)
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Worth mentioning that Vecenie has a youtube channel where he and another guy often do mock drafts during the season and talk a lot about draft prospects. So there should be some talk about not only Jakucionis, but Riley/Ivisic as well.

www.youtube.com

Game Theory Podcast w/ Sam Vecenie

This is the Game Theory Podcast. Hosted by Sam Vecenie (often with Bryce Simon), we chat about the NBA, college basketball, and the NBA Draft, as well as all levels of basketball. Oh, and movies. We talk a lot about movies, too.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
#37      
chudaman
AirNeazy said:
If he can beef up a bit, no doubt in my mind he'll be 1st Team All- B1G, AA level next year and a top 15 draft pick if he comes back.

Up to him and his family if he feels like the tradeoff between lottery $$ vs. being one year closer to your second NBA contract if he goes pro this year is worth it.
Win-win for Illinois imo, either we get 2 NBA 1st rounders drafted (amazing for recruiting and program trajectory), or we get a stud returning next year.
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I'll take the under on Will's position in the actual vs. mock 2025 draft, especially if the mock draft has KJ ahead of him and especially in comparison to Hood-Shifino who was drafted #17. Regarding KJ, to me DJ Wagner taking KJ off the dribble without needing a screen exposed KJ as too slow on D to be a lottery pick.
 
#39      
The Galloping Ghost
Dan said:
"Leading directly out of the Bears-Lions NFL game, the Thanksgiving Day Illinois-Arkansas men’s college basketball game averaged 5.1 million viewers on CBS — marking the second-largest regular season college basketball audience since 2008."

https://twitter.com/x/status/1864065242696708515
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A heck of a job well done by everybody involved to get our game into that time slot. We are a big deal program and we are making darn sure everybody knows.
 
#40      
altgeld88
Dan said:
"Leading directly out of the Bears-Lions NFL game, the Thanksgiving Day Illinois-Arkansas men’s college basketball game averaged 5.1 million viewers on CBS — marking the second-largest regular season college basketball audience since 2008."
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The Galloping Ghost said:
A heck of a job well done by everybody involved to get our game into that time slot. We are a big deal program and we are making darn sure everybody knows.
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BU worked hard to make the Arkansas/Cal matchup happen and then our team absolutely crushed the first pitch out of the stadium into the parking lot. It's fantastic to be back where we belong.
 
#41      
InDaAZ
Dan said:
"Leading directly out of the Bears-Lions NFL game, the Thanksgiving Day Illinois-Arkansas men’s college basketball game averaged 5.1 million viewers on CBS — marking the second-largest regular season college basketball audience since 2008."

https://twitter.com/x/status/1864065242696708515
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#42      
aaeismacgychel
Dan said:
"Leading directly out of the Bears-Lions NFL game, the Thanksgiving Day Illinois-Arkansas men’s college basketball game averaged 5.1 million viewers on CBS — marking the second-largest regular season college basketball audience since 2008."

https://twitter.com/x/status/1864065242696708515
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In fairness, 2.7M of those viewers were in a catatonic rage state after watching the Bears go full Eberflus that they couldn't change the channel.
 
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