Illini Basketball 2024-2025

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#26      
Emerson Bigguns
BatteredWifeSchwartz said:
Marcus Domask is the correct answer.

Sneaky answer, Alfonso Plummer. Dude was electric shooting the 3 when he was here. That's exactly what this team needs. He'd plug straight into the 2 and be the "go-to" sharpshooter.

TSJ and Ayo are the clear "best" players and certified bucket getters, but the problem you run into is that you would have 3 or 4 guys on this team who all do the same thing on offense.
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I had the Domask thought, but TJ was a more reliable 3-point shooter and better defender. No one on our offense does what TJ could do. Getting to the FT line is often undervalued because it doesn't look cool.

If we are talking sharpshooters, we have to at least consider Corey Bradford. He was putting up 3's in bunches before it was cool. More positional size than Plummer.

The lack of frontcourt suggestions, kind of illustrates what had been on on-going issue with the program. Good, but not great big men. Kofi changed that, but he would kind of muck up what we do currently. If you are playing with Kofi, you have to play through him. Tomi is already the most skilled big man I can recall in the last few decades. (Cook is a strong submission, Mike Davis, too. Marcus Liberty or Eddie Johnson would also fit in pretty well...)

Regardless of fit, give me the best player & figure out how to make it work. Give TSJ BH or Tre's minutes & we are probably undefeated.
 
#29      
Fighter of the Nightman
Not sure where to put this, but I was thinking of how we actually had one of our better court designs in a long time with the minor yet important exception of the awful F1GHT1NG 1LL1N1 font on the baseline, haha. And it got me thinking how much cooler and more old school everything would look if we combined most of our current design...

66033b991adbc.image.png


... with what we had circa 2010 or so but with the actual block FIGHTING ILLINI font that we have on our orange Flyin' Illini uniforms:

usa-today-7609672.0.jpg


So pretty much our current court design but (1) switch from 1LL1NO1S font to the classic 1980s block lettering and (2) make "FIGHTING ILLINI" in white font and navy outline rather than the other way around. Also, personally ... I am a huge sucker for that more yellow-tinted court color. It is so much more classic, and I kind of hate the trend these days of wanting this really pale hue to the court.
 
#30      
RockfordIllini
We have 9 games left in the regular season. Conference title is likely out of reach. I want to see 3 things between now and BTT:
1. Win enough games to lock our bid. Obviously very comfortably in at the moment, probably somewhere between a 4-6 seed. But we need at least 3 more wins to clinch. And as we’ve seen, no gimmes in the BIG.
2. Get healthy - I want Tomi to get his wind back in time for the postseason. I think he can get there in a month. I’m amazed he played 29 minutes and looked really solid considering. But I’m also including Kasparas. This is pure speculation on my part but I think his left arm is still bothering him or he reaggravated it. I feel like he had several TOs at Nebraska where he just lost control of the ball. Tells me he’s not right.
3. Find consistency in the 3 point shot - I’m not going to be greedy here. I’d just like to see 7 of 9 games north of 30% from 3. I’m not concerned about volume. Starting with Sparty, I think we really found something in that home plate action with Tomi that Ant documented. That should get us some good looks from 2. And if this version of Will Riley is here to stay, I think we can also use our positional size to matchup hunt. If we can just be decent from 3 we will be a really tough out.

We get healthy and can show we can shoot over 30% in a 6+ game sample size, I like our chances for a deep run. Outside of maybe Auburn, not another team in the country scares me if we are healthy and shooting at a decent clip.
 
#31      
the juiceman cometh
BatteredWifeSchwartz said:
Marcus Domask is the correct answer.

Sneaky answer, Alfonso Plummer. Dude was electric shooting the 3 when he was here. That's exactly what this team needs. He'd plug straight into the 2 and be the "go-to" sharpshooter.

TSJ and Ayo are the clear "best" players and certified bucket getters, but the problem you run into is that you would have 3 or 4 guys on this team who all do the same thing on offense.
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Let's say trading is a thing in college basketball, and the Illini have their current roster plus TSJ, and Domask is at another team. Would you trade TSJ straight up for Domask? If your answer is no, then Domask, as awesome as he is, is not the correct answer.

The correct answer is TSJ, Ayo, or Kofi, because any of those 3 gives you instant offense when the shooting goes cold, as it tends to do with this team. Ayo and TSJ were great at getting to the rim, and Kofi is amazing at making space down low, just gotta get the ball to him and it's as close to a guaranteed bucket as exists in this sport. I'd honestly lean towards Kofi over the other two because he was essentially a cheat code on offense, which is what this team needs sometimes.
 
#33      
Fighter of the Nightman
RockfordIllini said:
We have 9 games left in the regular season. Conference title is likely out of reach. I want to see 3 things between now and BTT:
1. Win enough games to lock our bid. Obviously very comfortably in at the moment, probably somewhere between a 4-6 seed. But we need at least 3 more wins to clinch. And as we’ve seen, no gimmes in the BIG.
2. Get healthy - I want Tomi to get his wind back in time for the postseason. I think he can get there in a month. I’m amazed he played 29 minutes and looked really solid considering. But I’m also including Kasparas. This is pure speculation on my part but I think his left arm is still bothering him or he reaggravated it. I feel like he had several TOs at Nebraska where he just lost control of the ball. Tells me he’s not right.
3. Find consistency in the 3 point shot - I’m not going to be greedy here. I’d just like to see 7 of 9 games north of 30% from 3. I’m not concerned about volume. Starting with Sparty, I think we really found something in that home plate action with Tomi that Ant documented. That should get us some good looks from 2. And if this version of Will Riley is here to stay, I think we can also use our positional size to matchup hunt. If we can just be decent from 3 we will be a really tough out.

We get healthy and can show we can shoot over 30% in a 6+ game sample size, I like our chances for a deep run. Outside of maybe Auburn, not another team in the country scares me if we are healthy and shooting at a decent clip.
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I agree with all of this, and I would add that my ultimate goal is to get back to that #3 seed territory. I don't know about anyone else, but I have utter PTSD about being in the top half of the bracket all of these years and cutting potential runs short, and it was such a breath of fresh air last season getting to be on the bottom half. It just sucks being a #4 seed and having a #1 waiting for you in the Sweet Sixteen ... with this group, I would honestly prefer the #6 seed.

These are the times we have been a #4 seed in our history under the modern Tournament format...

2022: Second Round loss to #5 Houston
2006: Second Round loss to #5 Washington
2003: Second Round loss to #5 Notre Dame
2002: Sweet Sixteen loss to #1 Kansas (notable that we got to play #12 Creighton due to an upset...)
2000: Second Round loss to #5 Florida
1986: Second Round loss to #5 Alabama

So yeah ... we are literally 0-5 in the 4/5 Second Round matchup, and I am just fundamentally pessimistic about getting a #4. :ROFLMAO: Then we get a #3 seed last year and shatter the "can't perform in the Tournament narrative" by making the Elite Eight ... so give me that bottom half!!
 
#35      
RollChief
It's felt like we have a drag on performance at the end of games on the whole so I took a look at all games (with Quad 4 removed) to look at offensive and defensive performance on aggregate across 4 quarters of play in 10 minute increments.

The tables below show total offensive and defense output by quarter based on score, and then the 5 "best" and "worst" quarters of the year so far based on scoring margin. Don't know if this is really meaningful but my takeaway is that this team really needs to buckle down on clutch defense, if you look at the 8 totals in the first table, the largest sum is the amount of points given up in the 4th quarter.

1738627616611.png
 
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#36      
Brosky
Pomeroy has us ranked #13 in latest poll. Purdue is only BIG team in the top 10 (#8). Right behind Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Mich. State and Michigan are all bunched up between Illinois and #20. OSU is still #26. I didn't even hunt for Oregon they have fallen too far.
 
#37      
theNewGuy
RollChief said:
It's felt like we have a drag on performance at the end of games on the whole so I took a look at all games (with Quad 4 removed) to look at offensive and defensive performance on aggregate across 4 quarters of play in 10 minute increments.

The tables below show total offensive and defense output by quarter based on score, and then the 5 "best" and "worst" quarters of the year so far based on scoring margin. Don't know if this is really meaningful but my takeaway is that this team really needs to buckle down on clutch defense, if you look at the 8 totals in the first table, the largest sum is the amount of points given up in the 4th quarter.

View attachment 39386
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I think this is extremely interesting and definitely confirms my feeling that this team starts offense slow and lets up defensively at the end of the game
 
#38      
chudaman
illini011923 said:
I'm on the younger than probably most on this board so I was alive during the 05 team but was too young to remember any of the games. My first real (atleast good) memories was the Tyler Griffey back door winner against Indiana and Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson led team.

Luther (and Dee) as you outlined is a PERFECT choice.
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Young fellow Kendall Gill would be even more perfect.
 
#39      
RockfordIllini
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I agree with all of this, and I would add that my ultimate goal is to get back to that #3 seed territory. I don't know about anyone else, but I have utter PTSD about being in the top half of the bracket all of these years and cutting potential runs short, and it was such a breath of fresh air last season getting to be on the bottom half. It just sucks being a #4 seed and having a #1 waiting for you in the Sweet Sixteen ... with this group, I would honestly prefer the #6 seed.

These are the times we have been a #4 seed in our history under the modern Tournament format...

2022: Second Round loss to #5 Houston
2006: Second Round loss to #5 Washington
2003: Second Round loss to #5 Notre Dame
2002: Sweet Sixteen loss to #1 Kansas (notable that we got to play #12 Creighton due to an upset...)
2000: Second Round loss to #5 Florida
1986: Second Round loss to #5 Alabama

So yeah ... we are literally 0-5 in the 4/5 Second Round matchup, and I am just fundamentally pessimistic about getting a #4. :ROFLMAO: Then we get a #3 seed last year and shatter the "can't perform in the Tournament narrative" by making the Elite Eight ... so give me that bottom half!!
Click to expand...
Agree wholeheartedly. For better or worse, the toughest part of our schedule is coming up. And if we can get healthy and figure out how to consistently shoot over 30% from 3, I’m confident we can accumulate enough Q1 wins to push us to the 2/3 line.

Just for funsies, I went back and looked and how many more games we would have won if we would just consistently shoot a decidedly mediocre 33% from 3. By my count we would have won all but Bama and Maryland. USC was close and I will admit I fudged a bit going from 30% to 33%, which would bump us from 7 to 10.5 made 3’s in a ten point game, but I rounded up and late free throws etc I think pushed that score out a bit such that I think 3-4 more made 3’s wins it.

It really is amazing how many absolute clunkers we’ve had shooting the ball. Of our top 9, Morez is the only non shooter. Everyone else I would be confident could shoot 33% or better on 3. And I still maintain ~75% of our looks are good, open in the flow of the offense type shots. And yet we consistently shoot in the 20% range as a team.

Glad Brad seems to be adjusting but on paper this should be a good shooting team. Even a modest 33% and we are likely 20-2. If we shot closer to Purdue we may very well be undefeated. Just feels like this season is a statistical outlier and not in a good way.
 
#40      
Bigtex
RockfordIllini said:
Agree wholeheartedly. For better or worse, the toughest part of our schedule is coming up. And if we can get healthy and figure out how to consistently shoot over 30% from 3, I’m confident we can accumulate enough Q1 wins to push us to the 2/3 line.

Just for funsies, I went back and looked and how many more games we would have won if we would just consistently shoot a decidedly mediocre 33% from 3. By my count we would have won all but Bama and Maryland. USC was close and I will admit I fudged a bit going from 30% to 33%, which would bump us from 7 to 10.5 made 3’s in a ten point game, but I rounded up and late free throws etc I think pushed that score out a bit such that I think 3-4 more made 3’s wins it.

It really is amazing how many absolute clunkers we’ve had shooting the ball. Of our top 9, Morez is the only non shooter. Everyone else I would be confident could shoot 33% or better on 3. And I still maintain ~75% of our looks are good, open in the flow of the offense type shots. And yet we consistently shoot in the 20% range as a team.

Glad Brad seems to be adjusting but on paper this should be a good shooting team. Even a modest 33% and we are likely 20-2. If we shot closer to Purdue we may very well be undefeated. Just feels like this season is a statistical outlier and not in a good way.
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I will say in post game interview, Underwood said Ohio St defense was allowing 2's and trying to take away the 3. That worked well in the 2nd half. Not sure the offense premise has changed going forward. Going into Nebraska game - they work hard to allow teams to shoot 3s and Illinois took the bait and shot 10-42 (23.8%)
 
#41      
From the cheap seats
I realize my answer means I didn't understand the game (perhaps not this game nor basketball), but, assuming KJ returns to form, the guy I think the Illini really need is good Kylan. The Kylan that plays great defense, breaks down the other team's defense, hits 3's at his career average...and finishes at the rim (which he did quite well after the one missed layup against OSU), adds another dimension to this team.
Playing by the fun fantasy rules, I'd add TSJ -- especially the TSJ that rose to the defensive challenge Brad threw down. Can't help but think he'll really be an asset for the Timberwolves at some point in the next couple of years with his length and explosiveness.
 
#42      
Bigtex
From the cheap seats said:
I realize my answer means I didn't understand the game (perhaps not this game nor basketball), but, assuming KJ returns to form, the guy I think the Illini really need is good Kylan. The Kylan that plays great defense, breaks down the other team's defense, hits 3's at his career average...and finishes at the rim (which he did quite well after the one missed layup against OSU), adds another dimension to this team.
Playing by the fun fantasy rules, I'd add TSJ -- especially the TSJ that rose to the defensive challenge Brad threw down. Can't help but think he'll really be an asset for the Timberwolves at some point in the next couple of years with his length and explosiveness.
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pre injury KJ was good to great and you took the good with the bad (turnovers) Post injury KJ more bad than good.
 
#44      
RockfordIllini
Bigtex said:
I will say in post game interview, Underwood said Ohio St defense was allowing 2's and trying to take away the 3. That worked well in the 2nd half. Not sure the offense premise has changed going forward. Going into Nebraska game - they work hard to allow teams to shoot 3s and Illinois took the bait and shot 10-42 (23.8%)
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Good point on the Nebraska game. They definitely goad other teams into shooting 3’s.

I will also say we were without Tomi for that game. And it seems like our “pivot” away from shooting a bunch of 3s is to run offense through Tomi and cut off of him. We did it for the first time against Sparty and then did it again against OSU, the first game he was back,

Glad to have that additional wrinkle if ball screens and/or shooting 3s isn’t working. I do think it makes us harder to scout for/guard.
 
#46      
Fighter of the Nightman
RockfordIllini said:
Agree wholeheartedly. For better or worse, the toughest part of our schedule is coming up. And if we can get healthy and figure out how to consistently shoot over 30% from 3, I’m confident we can accumulate enough Q1 wins to push us to the 2/3 line.

Just for funsies, I went back and looked and how many more games we would have won if we would just consistently shoot a decidedly mediocre 33% from 3. By my count we would have won all but Bama and Maryland. USC was close and I will admit I fudged a bit going from 30% to 33%, which would bump us from 7 to 10.5 made 3’s in a ten point game, but I rounded up and late free throws etc I think pushed that score out a bit such that I think 3-4 more made 3’s wins it.

It really is amazing how many absolute clunkers we’ve had shooting the ball. Of our top 9, Morez is the only non shooter. Everyone else I would be confident could shoot 33% or better on 3. And I still maintain ~75% of our looks are good, open in the flow of the offense type shots. And yet we consistently shoot in the 20% range as a team.

Glad Brad seems to be adjusting but on paper this should be a good shooting team. Even a modest 33% and we are likely 20-2. If we shot closer to Purdue we may very well be undefeated. Just feels like this season is a statistical outlier and not in a good way.
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Thanks for sharing! I've brought up this post a couple times, but here are our results restated by our overall field goal percentage. Remember, this is only against "power conference" teams to get rid of some of the noise from cupcake games:

4-0 when shooting over 45.0%
7-1 when shooting over our average of 43.0%
9-2 when shooting over 40.0%
...
0-5 when shooting below 40.0%

Our three-point shooting NEEDS to improve, but holy smokes ... just make an acceptable number of field goals and it's VERY difficult to beat us! Our only two losses when shooting over 40% from the field? Alabama way back in November and a 2-point loss at MSU where KJ played 8 frickin' minutes. It's frustrating that until the OSU game, this team had not shown the ability to "grind out" a win when the shots weren't falling, but honestly ... just make open shots at an exceptionally average rate and this team will likely win.

Let's hope we are starting to return to a normal shooting level and can go on a nice run. In games where we actually had our whole team, we are shooting 46.0% vs. power conference teams. If we can do that going forward, we can REALLY stack wins.
 
#47      
Battle89
Nicely done, thank you! I'd further your point by saying the one outlier in your Best Quarters (Oregon Q4) was because they had simply given up by that stage of the game.

You're re-triggering me again with those Northwestern quarters but I appreciate the vindication. ;) We played even worse in Q4 at home than in Evanston.
 
#48      
JLAandLKR
illini011923 said:
I'm on the younger than probably most on this board so I was alive during the 05 team but was too young to remember any of the games. My first real (atleast good) memories was the Tyler Griffey back door winner against Indiana and Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson led team.

Luther (and Dee) as you outlined is a PERFECT choice.
Click to expand...

Curious where people think Brandon Paul or Malcolm Hill would rank in this year's lineup.
 
#49      
jumpingjack
BatteredWifeSchwartz said:
Marcus Domask is the correct answer.

Sneaky answer, Alfonso Plummer. Dude was electric shooting the 3 when he was here. That's exactly what this team needs. He'd plug straight into the 2 and be the "go-to" sharpshooter.

TSJ and Ayo are the clear "best" players and certified bucket getters, but the problem you run into is that you would have 3 or 4 guys on this team who all do the same thing on offense.
Click to expand...
Let's be clear - no one on this roster or any Illinois team in recent history could do what TJ can do on offense. That dude is/was a bull in a china shop in transition.
 
#50      
jumpingjack
the juiceman cometh said:
Let's say trading is a thing in college basketball, and the Illini have their current roster plus TSJ, and Domask is at another team. Would you trade TSJ straight up for Domask? If your answer is no, then Domask, as awesome as he is, is not the correct answer.

The correct answer is TSJ, Ayo, or Kofi, because any of those 3 gives you instant offense when the shooting goes cold, as it tends to do with this team. Ayo and TSJ were great at getting to the rim, and Kofi is amazing at making space down low, just gotta get the ball to him and it's as close to a guaranteed bucket as exists in this sport. I'd honestly lean towards Kofi over the other two because he was essentially a cheat code on offense, which is what this team needs sometimes.
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Kofi plus Cohawk vs Tomi and Morez.
🤔
 
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