I think he will get minutes as Brad will not make the mistake he made in 22 and barely playing his freshmen. Lee might be a diamond in the rough.
Illini Basketball 2025-2026
- Status
As has been pointed out, how could he not get minutes. Boswell and Petrovic can't play 40 mpg.
I'm pretty sure they go hand in hand because it directly effects seeding.
- Regular Season Titles: Smith's teams won or shared the ACC regular-season title 17 times.
- ACC Tournament Titles: He led UNC to 13 ACC tournament championships.
- Top 3 Finishes: His teams finished in the top three of the ACC regular-season standings for 33 consecutive seasons.
- Overall ACC Record: Smith's overall record in ACC regular-season games was 364-136, a winning percentage of .728.
If you're consistently finishing 3-5 in conference...it's hard to be living in the second weekend because the road travelled is much tougher.
There's only one way to get to that #1 seed. See above.
I think his point is that he shouldn't be their top option coming off the bench and that we have significant depth issues.
This season we play Maryland twice. Keep that in mind when considering projected standings.
I dunno man, here is what I think is plausible with nobody over 28 minutes and Davis/Lee/Wagler combining for 24 minutes. I also think Stoj could play 2 for a spell with Mirk or BH at the 3 (in which case you'd increase minutes for BH and Mirk, decrease minutes for Davis/Lee/Wagler)
1 - Petrovic (28), Kylan (12)
2 - Kylan (16), Davis (12), Lee (8), Wagler (4)
3 - Stoj (28), BH (7), Mirk (5)
4 - Mirk (20), Big Z (12), BH (8)
5 - Tomi (28), Big Z (12)
Hot Take AlertDepth is overrated.
Sure, it's nice to have but it mostly comes down to my best 3-5 players being better than your best 3-5 players.
Depth is overrated.
Sure, it's nice to have but it mostly comes down to my best 3-5 players being better than your best 3-5 players.
Injuries and foul trouble aren't a hot take. They're reality. After last year, we should be fully aware of this.
Depth is overrated.
Sure, it's nice to have but it mostly comes down to my best 3-5 players being better than your best 3-5 players.
BH and Mirko are way too slow of foot to defend the 3. As that depth chart stands, that's 12 minutes of the other team's 3 scoring at will. If our current roster is how we begin our season, Lee needs to take the backup minutes at 3.
Yes and most of the time when you start thinking that a player averaging 7ppg and 8rpg in 18 minutes of playing time is automatically going to double those numbers with double the playing time your setting yourself up for disappointment. It very seldom happens that way.
It’s usually kinda lame to reply to your own posts…BUT, I later thought it wasn’t the best to put up a mildly smart aleck gif; and not give any kind of readon why. Sorry for that…
* Yeah, 65% of the time you’re probably right. It’s all about your 3-5 top dogs. I mean IF they’re truly DUDES, okay. I mean IF they’re just head and shoulders above everybody else, sure. IF they play cohesively as a unit with NOT a lot of dysfunction, But that’s a lot of IFs already; in my mind.
Also, I think you’re underestimating the slog that is the college season:
1.) Injuries…see Ty Rogers
2.) Sickness…see last year…(we COULD be decimated by sickness again. Stranger things have happened.)
3.) Foul Trouble…see B1G referees
4.) Positional Limitations…if you only go three or four or five deep they’d better be Swiss Army knife types. (That’s why Ty’s injury hurts more than some want to admit )In other words, a team will most likely…not be interchangeable that way. Your point guard cannot jump center; and so on.
“Positionless basketball” is great in theory. But it’s usually more rhetoric than reality at the college level. If you had 2 Larry Johnson’s and 3 Stacey Augmons that would be one thing…
Or if you’ve got the ‘89 Illini you MIGHT be alright…but then again probably not, The season is long and there are too many variables.
4.) Slumps…see last year: multiple players
5.) It you’re deeper you can do more things schematically. What if we need a mid season offensive overhaul? Tweaks. Secret Weapons. Subterfuge if you will?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few more capable personnel to throw at opposing coaches who have seen you play 20 times in the league already. Maybe your pick and roll offense is becoming predictable and inefficient. The trouble is, your top 3 dudes are mainly pick and roll oriented and have been since birth…you wanna switch to something else… But you suddenly need solid role players to make it go?I just don’t think you march far in March with 3 dudes…unless they’re all-world.
Last edited:
I agree with the slow foot part but with the Ty injury but I BH is going to play a lot and probably a lot at the 3 because there just isn't much there.
Also, don't understand the 28 minute cap. Underwood rides his guys and I could very easily see all of Petrovic, Boswell, and Stojakovic playing upwards of 32 mins.
Other than Corey Bradford, who had that incredible, one-of-a-kind frosh season, can you name an Illinois freshman who has EVER shot anywhere close to 40% from 3?
There is a whole lot of supposing going on in this forum about how amazing our non-European freshman are going to be right off the bat without considering that freshman lacking European pro-ball experience who are less heralded than Will Riley and Marcus Liberty generally take time to develop.
Last edited:
Jamar Smith
Jalen Coleman Lands (42.2% on 6.1 attempts per game).
Rashard Keene (39.3% on 4.5 attempts per game).
Jamar Smith (a historic 48.2% on 4.3 attempts per game).
Last edited:
Sure would've be nice to have one of those last year.
Last edited:
DJ Richardson shot 39% on 4.9 attempts per game.
Any chance Humrichous hits those marks this season?
Richard Keene was a McDonalds All American, so I'd put him in the Marcus Liberty and Will Riley category, but fair play on both Jalen and Jamar. Completely forgot about them both.
Right. We were "deep" last year (or at least we claimed we were) and then sickness and injuries swept over our team and our "depth" didn't save us. We weren't as good because our best players either weren't playing or weren't playing at 100%.
Covered 1 and 2 in my reply to 1st Loser above.
3) Don't foul. Problem solved.
.... just kidding. OK, fair. This shouldn't be a habitual problem for good teams though. I go back to your big 3 vs my big 3. Whose can stay on the court together the longest?
4) Well I'm not advocating that we play with fewer than 5 players on the court Hoosiers style. Still need to field a basketball team. I'm saying that most of the time the outcome of a game and a season will be decided by a team's 3-5 best players. Are Purdue's top 5 players better than our top 5, for example. Are their big 3 better than our big 3? I don't care about players 6-10 (respectfully).
5) Last year it was nice to be able to bring in WR for BH more later in the year. But is that really depth? If a player is playing so bad that they can't stay on the court, I'd say you're not as "deep" at that position as you thought.
5) Yeah, perhaps. Like Big Z probably allows us to do more high low. I'd categorize that as a nice to have. Not a must have though. I'd rather we have an identity that we stick to and are good at. And I think that's what most good teams do.
I would disagree with your point about March. Teams who go far tend to have a really good starting lineup who they roll with as much as possible. I think Florida fits this bill, for example.
And just to be clear, my point isn't that having a bench is completely pointless. I'm just saying that we overrated the value of having a deep bench. It provides some value. Not as much as we like to think though.
About the "depth" last year - the idea heading into the year was that we were 10 deep with Davis as the 11th guy (obviously you're never playing 11 guys, but that's the depth chart). Booth basically turns out a walk on-equivalent, and Ty decides to redshirt... you're immediately down to 9 from the get-go. Then factor in injuries, a few guys not performing to the level anticipated.... now depth goes from a thought-to-be advantage to a concern.
Last edited:
Sure but how many successful teams actually run a 10-man rotation late into a season? By the time the tournament rolls around, even the "deepest" teams have whittled their rotation down to their best 8 guys.
- Status