RichardKeenesCousin
Illini Basketball 2025-2026
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When injuries and sickness piled up (late Jan/early Feb) we hardly had an 8 man rotation. A few instances legit did not have a big guy for more than half the game due to Morez's foul issues.
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Everyone looking for something to point the finger to....we simply cannot be having injuries and sickness at the current rate. Really ever since the calendar turned to 2025.
Yeah, the 28 minute cap is pretty silly. Last year 2 players averaged 31 mpg or higher and the year before 3 did (2 of them at 34 mpg). And mpg doesn’t tell the whole story. Boswell averaged 31.0 mpg last year, and that was with 11 games where he played 27 or fewer minutes and averaged 24.6 mpg.
People have mentioned DGL’s freshman season when he averaged 7.1 mpg. But that’s games he actually played in. He didn’t get 7 minutes in each Illini game that year. He averaged 15 mpg in 6 noncon games against lesser teams. These next numbers might be off slightly as I am adding on my phone, but Illini played 31 games that year against ranked noncon teams, Missouri, B1G teams and in NCAAT. In 11 of those games DGL not only didn’t play 7 minutes, but he didn’t play at all. So in the 20 of those games he did play in he averaged 5.25 mpg, but across all 31 of those games he averaged just 3.38 mpg.
More depth would be nice, but the sky isn’t falling. A very good chance BU figures it out and this team is what we hope it will be.
I am all about finishing strong in the regular season and getting a top 3 seed. The ultimate goal is winning a Natty, obviously, but there is no reason why we cannot be a consistent S16 or better year in and year out. Best recruiting tool outside of putting kids in the pros is long runs in the Tourney.
I have never seen a program that has gone through so many weird injuries/illness like we have. From Mono, pink eye, legs, arms, concussions etc. I hope we can have an illness/injury free season.
It will be interesting to see if those fouls get called when he is in a Michigan uniform
I loved watching the guy last year, but let's not act like he wasn't hacking people. I've never seen someone have less of an understanding of verticality... lol dude would just jump straight into people with his arms above his head and look around in bewilderment when he got a foul called
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
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.
bravo! (lameness, aside)
majority of them were fouls, but many were bad, reputation calls that would never be called on anyone else or any other team. mizzou game was awful, even sec announcers were calling out the ludicrousness.I loved watching the guy last year, but let's not act like he wasn't hacking people. I've never seen someone have less of an understanding of verticality... lol dude would just jump straight into people with his arms above his head and look around in bewilderment when he got a foul called
idk man, at least everyone here seemed very defensive of the fouls that went against him. and as he progresses it should only get better.I loved watching the guy last year, but let's not act like he wasn't hacking people. I've never seen someone have less of an understanding of verticality... lol dude would just jump straight into people with his arms above his head and look around in bewilderment when he got a foul called
I've always seen Morez as a pound for pound stronger version of the Reese kid at maryland.
I actually agree with this. One major caveat, staying healthy.Hot Take Alert
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.
Go Illini
RJ Melendez shot 60% from 3 as a freshman. Albeit it was only .7 attempts per game(9/15 on the season). Goode also shot 37%(16/43) that same year.
I thought RJ's jump shot looked sound and while 60% would be absurd I expected him to shoot well and take a huge sophomore jump with his size and athleticism. Both Goode and him had solid college careers as role players but I thought both were going to end up being far better after their freshman years where they really should have played more imo.
Looking at the B1G last year:
The average bench player across the league played 10 minutes per game.
Teams who made the NCAA tournament had, on average, 3 players who played more than 10 minutes per game.
Teams who missed the tournament had, on average, 4 players who played more than 10 minutes per game.
The average bench player for tournament teams played 9 minutes per game.
The average bench player for teams who missed the tournament played 11 minutes per game.
So, successful teams play their bench players less and don't give as many bench players major minutes.
Said another way, "deep" teams are worse than teams who rely more on their starters....at least this was the case last year. But I'm confident it would hold up most other years as well.
The average bench player across the league played 10 minutes per game.
Teams who made the NCAA tournament had, on average, 3 players who played more than 10 minutes per game.
Teams who missed the tournament had, on average, 4 players who played more than 10 minutes per game.
The average bench player for tournament teams played 9 minutes per game.
The average bench player for teams who missed the tournament played 11 minutes per game.
So, successful teams play their bench players less and don't give as many bench players major minutes.
Said another way, "deep" teams are worse than teams who rely more on their starters....at least this was the case last year. But I'm confident it would hold up most other years as well.
Personally, Jamar is still the best shooter I've seen at Illinois. So pure.
Damn shame.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Probably a dumb question and maybe even more so just wishful thinking, but ... is there any way for Ty to come back this season and not play enough to use up his eligibility? Or is the very act of him choosing to play of his own accord a sort of automatic "trigger" that his eligibility is used no matter when he would return? I guess I have only ever seen a situation where a player STARTS the season playing and an injury ends his season early and not the other way around. If he had knee surgery in July, February would be 7 months and not necessarily inconceivable for him to be healed, right?
(I have obviously made peace Ty not playing at all this season or maybe even again for our squad given this unfortunate turn of events, I am mostly just curious.)
It would be the same as Luke coming back at the end of the season a couple of years ago. He would lose a year of eligibility just like Luke did. The injury redshirt is for a "season ending" injury, not missing part of a season and coming back.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Got it, thanks. Well, if I were Ty, I would not come back in February or so and burn that year.
Ty should sit out this season.
The Mizzou game... his 5th foul was questionable, but literally his 1st and 3rd fouls in that game were EXACTLY what I was talking about... he jumps INTO offensive players with his arms above his head. Putting your arms straight up doesn't make it not a foul. Also this idea that he was getting "bad reputation" calls when he was like 10 games into his career is wild... I want to reiterate how much I loved Morez. I just think y'all are crazy acting like he wasn't fouling people all year long or that there was some Big Ten conspiracy against him lol
He is forgotten and underrated. Before things went sideways for him personally, he was on track to be the best jump shooter we have ever had.
IlliniwekKDR
- Colorado Springs, CO
I've been away from the board for awhile. Have they announced what the specific injury was? I can't find it anywhere
not to my knowledge
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