Illini Basketball 2024-2025

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#176      
Piotyr
At this point, I'd be surprised if KJ isn't a top 10 pick and Riley isn't a top 20 pick, so I'd expect them both to be gone.

Only chance Riley would be back is if he somehow tanks his draft stock between yesterday's game and the draft prep season.
 
#177      
NarrowJ
LvilleILL1 said:
KJ is 1000% gone, as he should be. Say what you want about him but we will be getting the best European college prospect next year because of his love for the program (along with ties we now have). Sarr has seen how KJ has raised his stock to a top 10 prospect along with Tomi having a great season.
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Yep, everyone saying he lowered his draft stock coming here.... where was he in draft mocks at this same time last year?

(I'm asking as I honestly don't recall, though my hunch is I never recall seeing him top 10 prior to coming here, but could be wrong)
 
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#181      
BalloonsTheElephant
This team was built for the NCAA tournament. Sadly, we never had the time to fix the issues that caused us to fall against top teams. I believe if we didn't have the illness/injury issues, we'd be a 3 seed and probably on our way to the second weekend again. That's why the regular season matters.

I'm not extremely disappointed with the outcome, as we saw all season long what our flaws were and that we struggled to adapt in real time. Good luck to KJ and Will in the NBA. I would have loved to see Will play a few more games.

Give me KB, Tre, Morez, and Tomi and build around that with some pure shooters. I know we are getting Sarr, but we need 2-3 shooters with some height. We can't be this bad from three again. Next, we need to upgrade from Hamer and get TA's replacement.
 
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#182      
ginabackes00
Goillinikobd said:
You can’t compare Tj and the two rookies. In his limited games where he got significant tic, TJ was NBA ready. In two games in the G league, he shredded it like a dry log in a wood shredder.
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While overall, the NBA prefers to draft on potential and TJ was older, we also can't compare his draft # due to his legal circumstances. He may have been drafted to a team that needed an impact player right away. Timberwolves probably would have benefited drafting on potential, but chose the best player available with 27, which was a steal.
 
#184      
CoalCity
skyIdub said:
Of course.

But to suggest he doesn’t improve his game to the point of being an even higher pick than he will this year is also ridiculous.
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Not nearly as ridiculous as this take is. He's projected Top 5, maybe 6 now. How does another year in college move that at all? He's not gonna suddenly start jumping out of the gym and become a Gary Payton lockdown defender.
 
#185      
Emerson Bigguns
Curbelo Fanboy said:
It would seem this approach is higher in risk but I guess the potential upside is greater. If KJ stayed for say 3 years (assuming he cleaned up the sloppiness in his game) he’d enter the league as a high level player day 1. As it is he’ll get drafted high based on potential. There’s a chance he doesn’t fully develop and ends up buried on the bench somewhere before getting shipped to Europe in a few years.
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Massively higher risk, and for minimal gain. If he stays at Illinois, there's a chance, he blows out his Achillies and never gets a first-round contract. The G-League exists for a reason. If a guy needs to develop, he plays there, against grown men who were among the very best players on their team in college. You won't develop faster playing against worse competition. The best way to get used to NBA speed is to play against NBA players. If he can't hack it, he'll end up in Europe anyway.
Take pie, while pie is passing. His pie is hot and ready to eat. Next year is never promised.

The sooner he gets started on his rookie contract, the sooner he gets to sign a veteran contract and potentially make generational wealth. Players have very short windows to play pro sports. 10-15 years, if you are lucky and good. The sooner you get to the table, the more you get to eat.
 
#186      
LvilleILL1
BalloonsTheElephant said:
This team was built for the NCAA tournament. Sadly, we never had the time to fix the issues that caused us to fall against top teams. I believe if we didn't have the illness/injury issues, we'd be a 3 seed and probably on our way to the second weekend again. That's why the regular season matters.

I'm not extremely disappointed with the outcome, as we saw all season long what our flaws were and that we struggled to adapt in real time. Good luck to KJ and Will in the NBA. I would have loved to see Will play a few more games.

Give me KB, Tre, Morez, and Tomi and build around that with some pure shooters. I know we are getting Sarr, but we need 2-3 shooters with some height. We can't be this bad from three again. Next, we need to upgrade from Hamer and get TA's replacement.
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This is my biggest expectation/need for next year. Get a top 4 seed, the path is WAY easier if that's the case.
 
#188      
Illini2010-11
LvilleILL1 said:
This is my biggest expectation/need for next year. Get a top 4 seed, the path is WAY easier if that's the case.
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Completely agree. It is always much easier to get out of the first weekend of the tourney when you are the higher ranked seed. The Illini got about as favorable a draw as possible with the 6 seed (including a site very close to home and a fan advantage). It just never clicked consistently, and that sometimes happens. A lot of what if's for this season, but the future still looks mighty bright (regardless of what some claim in the Coaching Carousel Thread).
 
#189      
DeeIL89
Roller coaster of a season that ended in disappointment the same way as the Matthew Mayer team which was a second round exit. I am in the camp that think KJ and Will gave us solid season. They played good for the most part being freshman. Yes, they played like freshman as expected from a 18 years old and a player in Will that was 17 years old when the season started. I have no issue with Brad chasing one and done freshman but this kind of experiment with the roster construction should be a lesson learned. Can't build a team around one and done and have everybody else also be first timer for your program. Retention or some sort of carry over is key. Everybody minus DGL played for the team for the first time and as a result they were learning right alongside KJ and Will which I think got in the way of finding leadership from the veteran transfers right out of the gate. Pump for next season.
 
#190      
CoalCity
Emerson Bigguns said:
Massively higher risk, and for minimal gain. If he stays at Illinois, there's a chance, he blows out his Achillies and never gets a first-round contract. The G-League exists for a reason. If a guy needs to develop, he plays there, against grown men who were among the very best players on their team in college. You won't develop faster playing against worse competition. The best way to get used to NBA speed is to play against NBA players. If he can't hack it, he'll end up in Europe anyway.
Take pie, while pie is passing. His pie is hot and ready to eat. Next year is never promised.

The sooner he gets started on his rookie contract, the sooner he gets to sign a veteran contract and potentially make generational wealth. Players have very short windows to play pro sports. 10-15 years, if you are lucky and good. The sooner you get to the table, the more you get to eat.
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It's a shame people just refuse to understand this.
 
#191      
ugottabjoshinme
DeeIL89 said:
Roller coaster of a season that ended in disappointment the same way as the Matthew Mayer team which was a second round exit. I am in the camp that think KJ and Will gave us solid season. They played good for the most part being freshman. Yes, they played like freshman as expected from a 18 years old and a player in Will that was 17 years old when the season started. I have no issue with Brad chasing one and done freshman but this kind of experiment with the roster construction should be a lesson learned. Can't build a team around one and done and have everybody else also be first timer for your program. Retention or some sort of carry over is key. Everybody minus DGL played for the team for the first time and as a result they were learning right alongside KJ and Will which I think got in the way of finding leadership from the veteran transfers right out of the gate. Pump for next season.
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Matt Mayer team lost in the first round.

Will was 18, is 19 now.
 
#192      
Bigtex
not sure where to put this...

Illinois 1-9 against the Net top 15 with split with Wisconsin
Last year 1-6 against the net top 15 with win over Iowa St.
It is good to prepare for and play good teams but need to beat some of these top teams. Getting SFC back as a home court advantage would help.

Also this year Illinois was favored in 9 games and LOST the game. Obviously lost against the spread but Vegas doesn't usually get that many wrong
 
#193      
IlliniFan42
westcoastillini said:
The saddest part for me for this loss to Kentucky game is that Uk was not significantly better than us. If we cleaned up our TOs this could have a a 1 posession type game
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I'm just throwing this out there but Kentucky did beat Duke by five points. Kentucky did have some weird losses in their schedule but they showed a far higher high than we ever accomplished this season.
 
#194      
OB positive
Well as disappointing as our season ended on a very winnable game. With the talent and potential we had we just couldn't put it all together for any sort of consistent run. At least we weren't the preseason #1 ranked team with one of the best coaches in all college and didn't make the sweet sixteen. Now that would be hard to swallow.
 
#195      
Iloveorangekoolaid
IlliniFan42 said:
I'm just throwing this out there but Kentucky did beat Duke by five points. Kentucky did have some weird losses in their schedule but they showed a far higher high than we ever accomplished this season.
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Third game of the season. Kentucky had 2 more players healthy for that game than they did playing last night. Flagg turned it over twice late and Duke had 2 guys get hurt that game and not return. We got a very beatable version of Kentucky and just didn’t get the job done unfortunately.
 
#196      
Rap47
lstewart53x3 said:
Yeah, TJ was an incredible player for us last year, and he’s one of my favorite players of all time.

But—comparing freshman year stats:

TJ: 9.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists
KJ: 15.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists
Riley: 12.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists

Imagine how good KJ and Will would be as 5th year seniors like TJ was last year.
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Neither one will ever be as good as TSJ was in his last year.
 
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#197      
Goillinikobd
ginabackes00 said:
While overall, the NBA prefers to draft on potential and TJ was older, we also can't compare his draft # due to his legal circumstances. He may have been drafted to a team that needed an impact player right away. Timberwolves probably would have benefited drafting on potential, but chose the best player available with 27, which was a steal.
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Good point
 
#199      
ejam21
Rap47 said:
Neither one will ever be as good as TSJ was in his last year.
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What would you have said about freshman year TJ without this hindsight?

Theres no way to know how good a 23-24 year old KJ or WR would look in college, and there never will be bc neither would be 23 going on 24 even if they stayed all 4 years

Hell, there were people on this very site who didnt buy him as a first option type player when he originally transferred here. He was coming of his 3rd year at the time
 
#200      
NarrowJ
ejam21 said:
What would you have said about freshman year TJ without this hindsight?

Theres no way to know how good a 23-24 year old KJ or WR would look in college, and there never will be bc neither would be 23 going on 24 even if they stayed all 4 years

Hell, there were people on this very site who didnt buy him as a first option type player when he originally transferred here. He was coming of his 3rd year at the time
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Very true. Barely averaged double figures before he came to Illinois.
 
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