Illini Basketball 2024-2025

Illini4Christ · Dec 15, 2024

25-26

tomi, rez, riley, white, bam, constanza, lee, keaton, davis and jakstys. I hope booth comes back as I think he can be a star in time.

I feel that there will be or is another 7 foot euro player coming.

Hmmm. That’s pretty potent.

mysterio2525 · Dec 15, 2024

NarrowJ said:
The main lingering concern with this team for me is the poor shooting.

I think that we can improve in a lot of other areas, such as rebounding, reducing turnovers and poor execution after dead balls & timeouts.

We've improved at the free throw line somewhat, but we are going to have a rough W-L record if we continue to shoot 43/32/73 the rest of the way.

We need to get now easy baskets in the paint. Tomi not having good shootings games hurts the balance of this team. If we can get him back rolling and get more from tre white inside that helps. Also morez will help with that. Keep shooting 3s but need to have some interior threats as well to space the floor

DeeIL89 · Dec 15, 2024

I am not concern of losing spacing if Ben is taken out of the starting 5. I think Tomi is skill enough to play the 4. We've seen how good of a passer Tomi is and we know he can shoot the 3. Tomi at the 4 will give us enough spacing and Morez will be at the 5 spot. Because Ben is not expected to do anything in the midrange, opposing teams find it easy to keep track of where he is for the most part. However, with Tomi at the 4 I think opposing teams would have to do more.

PleaseMakeABowlGame · Dec 15, 2024

LMAO. Now it's putting this year in the dumpster and looking at 2026..... and it's not even 2025 yet lol. All while penciling in a top 10 player who it's a coin flip we're even in house for.

Oh, and I've got literal page proof of you calling this team "the best team in Illinois history" ..... feeling pretty good huh?

DICKnaggie · Dec 15, 2024

DeeIL89 said:
I am not concern of losing spacing if Ben is taken out of the starting 5. I think Tomi is skill enough to play the 4. We've seen how good of a passer Tomi is and we know he can shoot the 3. Tomi at the 4 will give us enough spacing and Morez will be at the 5 spot. Because Ben is not expected to do anything in the midrange, opposing teams find it easy to keep track of where he is for the most part. However, with Tomi at the 4 I think opposing teams would have to do more.

The real issue is does Tomi have the foot speed and lateral quickness to defend athletic 4's? The answer is no.

Combo · Dec 15, 2024

Illini4Christ said:
25-26

tomi, rez, riley, white, bam, constanza, lee, keaton, davis and jakstys. I hope booth comes back as I think he can be a star in time.

I feel that there will be or is another 7 foot euro player coming.

Hmmm. That’s pretty potent.

Impossible to predict lineups a year out these days. You're assuming all those guys come back and that we're getting Constanza, which are very optimistic assumptions.

fatboyslim · Dec 15, 2024

phats22 said:
also, just to remind ourselves, through 10 games last year we were: 8-2 with neutral court loss to Marq (#4, by -7), away loss to Tennessee (#17, by -7) and one W against a ranked opponent FAU (#11).

given how much production was lost and how young this team is, its incredible we already have 2 ranked Ws and barely lost to #1.

not dismissing criticism and ive been frustrated too but, zooming out a bit, this season has been amazing so far.

We lost to Marquette at home.

DeeIL89 · Dec 16, 2024

DICKnaggie said:
The real issue is does Tomi have the foot speed and lateral quickness to defend athletic 4's? The answer is no.

True, but this team's ability to defend athletic 4's has already been a question mark no matter who we have. Obviously Ben is slow as well and Will Riley's weight against a stronger 4 is a concern. Our personnel at the 4 this year is obviously not what it was last season. Ain't no TSJ walking through the door.

DeeIL89 · Dec 16, 2024

DeeIL89 said:
True, but this team's ability to defend athletic 4's has already been a question mark no matter who we have. Obviously Ben is slow as well and Will Riley's weight against a stronger 4 is a concern. Our personnel at the 4 this year is obviously not what it was last season. Ain't no TSJ walking through the door.

Pretty much we don’t have anyone like a Coleman or TSJ on the wing that is really good athletically and quick on defense.

blackdog · Dec 16, 2024

DICKnaggie said:
The real issue is does Tomi have the foot speed and lateral quickness to defend athletic 4's? The answer is no.

Why would you have Tomi guarding them instead of Morez? Just because they fill a role on offense doesn't mean they are locked in there on defense too.

Vinegarben · Dec 16, 2024

I am disappointed in the play so far this season. They played a great game on a neutral floor in beating Arkansas. Played Wisconsin tough but at home. To me the shooting was billed as the main asset of this team but so far it hasn't played out. I don't know if you can light a fire under these guys or not but the way things are going I see them getting blown out in the Braggin Rights game and finishing 500 in the Big.
I am tired of hearing year after year about disgruntled players not getting enough playing time. Seems to be a trend with Brad and the and the Illini. Just shut up and play ball.