Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#501      
Why would Ty be well ahead of a BH? Ty has never played a game with anyone on this roster and he's not a shooter...which we know BU prioritizes outside shooting.

I think anyone who is expecting BH to be last guy off the bench is going to be disappointed. At least, to start the year.
It's human nature(and this boards DNA) to overrate what we have coming in the door by automatically assuming they're better than what we have.

Ben's played in the system, he knows the system well, BU is comfortable with him, he's got experience, he knows the expectations......

At least to start the year, I think SI is right.
 
#503      
Neither can shoot but at least ty can defend and rebound. 😁
Ty brings a lot of positives to the roster. Let’s not forget that he DID start for the Elite 8 team a few years ago. (Guess you have a short memory). Only thing Ben H brings is the 3 point shot which in all honesty he never was great at last season and eventually seen him get removed from starting lineup after BU given him every chance under the sun to remain in it. Then watched his minutes fall off drastically. So yeah I think Ty is more in play ahead of Ben H
 
#505      
I don't understand why Ty would be in the conversation for minutes at the 4-spot when he'll see enough time in spots 1-3.
Because you’re gonna need someone who can defend stretch 4 cuz I honestly don’t see many of our other bigs able to defend anyone out on the perimeter. Plus Stojakovic and Boswell are gonna eat up the majority of the minutes at 2 of the positions at 1-3. I also have to think that Petrovic is going to get a good chunk of minutes at the one position if he can distribute the ball as well as what we are being told.
 
#506      
Every year we think we have insane depth. Every year the actual playable roster shrinks to about 8, maybe 9 by the end of the year.
We did not have depth last year. We had 9 useable pieces with one empty ride, two red shirts and Booth. We haven’t had real depth until this year. Last year we had no room for error and we had illness and injuries. There were games where we only dressed 7. We will not have that problem this season. But i am a play 10 guy. I love wearing teams down by attrition. BU does not believe in that and that’s ok but we need to make sure that all 10 or 11 counting Jaxon is ready to play if called upon.
 
#507      
We did not have depth last year. We had 9 useable pieces with one empty ride, two red shirts and Booth. We haven’t had real depth until this year. Last year we had no room for error and we had illness and injuries. There were games where we only dressed 7. We will not have that problem this season. But i am a play 10 guy. I love wearing teams down by attrition. BU does not believe in that and that’s ok but we need to make sure that all 10 or 11 counting Jaxon is ready to play if called upon.
This just isn't possible. Maybe the guys we're bringing in will be as "ready" as advertised, more "ready," or maybe they'll prove to be not a good fit or not as good as we thought they might be for whatever reason (injury, chemistry with the team/coaches, game doesn't translate to the NCAA, etc.). Throughout Illinois history we've had highly heralded recruits succeed and we've had them fail. Until we put these guys out on the court in a competitive game, we won't be able to determine whether these new players will be like Ayo Dosumnu and Deron Williams or like Jereme Richmond and Mike Shaw or like the many in between these extremes.

I get it that it's fun to think about our incoming guys and their potential, but until the season starts and the rubber hits the road, all we can do is speculate about whether each of them are ready to lead or contribute to a B1G championship contending team or not.
 
#509      
I don't understand why Ty would be in the conversation for minutes at the 4-spot when he'll see enough time in spots 1-3.
Finally!
4 spot is : Big Z ( center rotation too) Mirk and Ben. Ty could be inserted there… but he will get his minutes at the wing and in the back court.
AS can rotate in at guard as well as wing.
I don’t see Ty in the 4 spot unless it is a match up based on who we are playing.
4 and 5 rotation I expect will be the twins, Mirk and Ben. Which btw offers more depth and experience than we had last season! I like it:)
Someone mentioned depth btw? Looks like we have it! Ty, Ben and Jake…. and
maybe Lee! And I think we will see another addition!
 
#510      
Why would Ty be well ahead of a BH? Ty has never played a game with anyone on this roster and he's not a shooter...which we know BU prioritizes outside shooting.

I think anyone who is expecting BH to be last guy off the bench is going to be disappointed. At least, to start the year.
Because you swap Ty and Tomi offense to defense. Let Ty play the more athletic stretch on the defensive side. And get inside and bang on the offensive glass and make cuts to the hoop for passes
 
#511      
We did not have depth last year. We had 9 useable pieces with one empty ride, two red shirts and Booth. We haven’t had real depth until this year. Last year we had no room for error and we had illness and injuries. There were games where we only dressed 7. We will not have that problem this season. But i am a play 10 guy. I love wearing teams down by attrition. BU does not believe in that and that’s ok but we need to make sure that all 10 or 11 counting Jaxon is ready to play if called upon.
We all thought we had depth last year
 
#512      
Why would Ty be well ahead of a BH? Ty has never played a game with anyone on this roster and he's not a shooter...which we know BU prioritizes outside shooting.

I think anyone who is expecting BH to be last guy off the bench is going to be disappointed. At least, to start the year.
We'll see who starts later this year but I don't believe it will be either of these two sooo...
 
#513      
There are only so many minutes to go around so yeah you're going to likely have 8 core guys that gets maybe even cut down to 7 for big games and then maybe a 9th and 10th guy that gets spot minutes here and there.

I do think teams are just deeper now with the instant transfer portal than they were before. Obviously injuries and underperforming guys happen but it's so much easier to plug holes in a roster now.

You used to have to hope that younger guys could develop and fill out your bench while you can now get veteran mid major transfers and push those younger guys down to the 9th/10th spot or so on.

The 05 Illinois team was the best team in the country and basically only had 5 contributors with Smith, Ingram, and McBride providing some spot minutes. That would be pretty much unheard of for a top team now(though I guess Maryland was pretty close last year).
Not at all. UConn won the Championship 13 months ago with their starting 5 playing the vast majority of the minutes.
 
#514      
We did not have depth last year. We had 9 useable pieces with one empty ride, two red shirts and Booth. We haven’t had real depth until this year. Last year we had no room for error and we had illness and injuries. There were games where we only dressed 7. We will not have that problem this season. But i am a play 10 guy. I love wearing teams down by attrition. BU does not believe in that and that’s ok but we need to make sure that all 10 or 11 counting Jaxon is ready to play if called upon.
I agree except we were less deep down low… fine as long we were heathy or not in foul trouble. We now have an extra player in 4-5 spot! Which looks good to my eyes!
 
#515      
Jake looked in questionable shape last year. up and down in weight, at times not athletic at all.
i wonder if the illnesses that went thru the team effected him more than others.
I can't recall him being out of shape or overweight. I don't know how "athletic" he is or not. What I do remember is he helped spread the floor with his three pt. shooting, his passing skills, and his all-around game.
 
#517      
I seemed to remember McBride, Ingram and Nick Smtih all having solid roles as well

Had to go look it up, but all 3 played in 38+ games and averaged between 11 and 15 minutes per gm
 
#518      
After reading the speculation about Ty and what his role will be I was wondering if anyone knows how his red-shirt season went and if he improved his shooting ability over the last year; what was he working on shooting-wise and whether he has shown significant improvement? Although, I realize that it may not be evident until he is actually playing in games this season.
 
#519      
Why would Ty be well ahead of a BH? Ty has never played a game with anyone on this roster and he's not a shooter...which we know BU prioritizes outside shooting.

I think anyone who is expecting BH to be last guy off the bench is going to be disappointed. At least, to start the year.
Because as a basketball player, he is well ahead of "a BH" ?
 
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#520      
Because as a basketball player, he is well ahead of "a BH" ?
In some aspects he is a better player. I have no problem having a lineup of Bam, Petro, AS, Ty and Tomi. I like the idea of BH coming in and being a bench scorer just like Davis. Ty brings toughness and defense to the interior. This team will have many looks which will be hard to defend.
 
#521      
Ok, now let’s think about this a minute. I was like Indy, why is BH starting last year, but we have no idea what he has been doing in the offseason. For one, it’s way too early to think about this.
Well let’s stop and think about this Ty Rodgers has been working on developing his game since the start of last season so you have no idea what improvements he’s made to his game. I don’t think he’s ever going to be a 3 point shooter but if he adds a scoring aspect to the rest of his game then he’s going to be difficult to deal with. Ben H is a type of player that hasn’t proven to be tough minded imo and if lives by the 3 and dies by the 3 then sorry I am not a fan.
 
#522      
This just isn't possible. Maybe the guys we're bringing in will be as "ready" as advertised, more "ready," or maybe they'll prove to be not a good fit or not as good as we thought they might be for whatever reason (injury, chemistry with the team/coaches, game doesn't translate to the NCAA, etc.). Throughout Illinois history we've had highly heralded recruits succeed and we've had them fail. Until we put these guys out on the court in a competitive game, we won't be able to determine whether these new players will be like Ayo Dosumnu and Deron Williams or like Jereme Richmond and Mike Shaw or like the many in between these extremes.

I get it that it's fun to think about our incoming guys and their potential, but until the season starts and the rubber hits the road, all we can do is speculate about whether each of them are ready to lead or contribute to a B1G championship contending team or not.
This. This. This.

The assumption by many is that the new equipment you bought is better than what you had. That's universal, especially with many on this board. With a couple of our Eastern European newbies, two of them, 95% of the board didn't even know existed in this world, but ran to YouTube once there was a commitment and came to the conclusion that they're an upgrade. How many of our European transfers succeeded over the last 10 years and how many weren't even on the roster after year one. We have a recency bias because of KJ and Tomi, which is understandable. As we sit here today, the chance that Petrovic is more in line with a guy like Morreti than he is a Big Ten caliber contributor. That's not to say that he won't be all conference. Could happen. Same with Mirkovic(sp ??), but Bosman - Verdonk is also a possibility.

Ben, while some won't be happy with the initial rotation, is a MUCH more proven commodity at this level and after a year in the system and being a year older and a true vet.....the likelihood of him producing at a higher level is extremely possible.

We shall see.
 
#523      
This. This. This.

The assumption by many is that the new equipment you bought is better than what you had. That's universal, especially with many on this board. With a couple of our Eastern European newbies, two of them, 95% of the board didn't even know existed in this world, but ran to YouTube once there was a commitment and came to the conclusion that they're an upgrade. How many of our European transfers succeeded over the last 10 years and how many weren't even on the roster after year one. We have a recency bias because of KJ and Tomi, which is understandable. As we sit here today, the chance that Petrovic is more in line with a guy like Morreti than he is a Big Ten caliber contributor. That's not to say that he won't be all conference. Could happen. Same with Mirkovic(sp ??), but Bosman - Verdonk is also a possibility.

Ben, while some won't be happy with the initial rotation, is a MUCH more proven commodity at this level and after a year in the system and being a year older and a true vet.....the likelihood of him producing at a higher level is extremely possible.

We shall see.
I think it’s also very telling that Ben NIL money for this year is less than what the other guys he’s competing against for playing time if what I have heard is correct. Time will tell who gets the PT
 
#525      
This. This. This.

The assumption by many is that the new equipment you bought is better than what you had. That's universal, especially with many on this board. With a couple of our Eastern European newbies, two of them, 95% of the board didn't even know existed in this world, but ran to YouTube once there was a commitment and came to the conclusion that they're an upgrade. How many of our European transfers succeeded over the last 10 years and how many weren't even on the roster after year one. We have a recency bias because of KJ and Tomi, which is understandable. As we sit here today, the chance that Petrovic is more in line with a guy like Morreti than he is a Big Ten caliber contributor. That's not to say that he won't be all conference. Could happen. Same with Mirkovic(sp ??), but Bosman - Verdonk is also a possibility.

Ben, while some won't be happy with the initial rotation, is a MUCH more proven commodity at this level and after a year in the system and being a year older and a true vet.....the likelihood of him producing at a higher level is extremely possible.

We shall see.
Your comps are absolutely absurd
 
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