Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#53      
skyIdub
WyattEarp said:
And John Groce apparently said: “ Gimme cupcakes all day long; and I’ll wash it down with 5 cups of coffee and a Mountain Dew”
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Whoa whoa whoa whoa…whoa.
John Groce climbed a ladder to get that coffee and Mountain Dew.
DAMMIT HE SWAM WITH SEALS!! (Not the National Geographic ones!!)


Edit: Also…Andy Katz please show us on this doll where Illinois hurt you?
 
#55      
Epsilon
IlliniFan42 said:
Oregon's the only one I really question in that top 4, I could see us being placed 3rd at best.
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I was thinking the same thing. Swap us and Oregon, call it good. Oregon is always sneaky good but I think 5th is more like it. And I like our chances this year.
 
#56      
skyIdub
Illinois Basketball fans normalizing getting pumped for basketball season in August.

Illinois Football:

hulk-and-thor-punch.gif
 
#57      
Brosky
CoalCity said:
So you would prefer 50 point blowouts against a bunch of irrelevant schools in the 300's that you have to watch on BTN+ that make no difference whatsoever in your season (unless you somehow lose) over exciting games against Top 20 teams in primetime on a national network? That help you if you win and don't really hurt you if you lose?

Gimme the top competition every day. Iron sharpens iron.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. This reply is so predictable. In fact, I'm glad we have tough teams scheduled. But "Cupcake games" can indeed make a "difference whatsoever" in your season. For one thing, our players don't even know one another yet. You need to provide some games which give players the chance for on-court introductions and understanding of tendencies. For this and other reasons, you need to find a way to give projected backups significant minutes. The only game we "should win" on that schedule is LIU. There needs to be more balance. BU hasn't shied away from such games in the past, and for good reason. In the meantime, I'll go by Lou Henson's yardstick, not yours. He probably knew almost as much about college basketball as you do now.
 
#59      
thefalcon5
Bigtex said:
Getting more healthy after Duke had as much to do with winning those 4 games after the blowout loss.
Illinois has been playing Missouri for ever so that is a given regardless if one of both teams are good or bad.
Alabama was a good early test that showed Illinois could score and couldn't stop or slow down a talented team.
Probably more frustrated at how many games are lost at SFC than the specific loss to Tennessee. Waiting for SFC home record to be 16-1 vs 13-4
After losing to Tennessee at home - win all 10 conference home games and 5-5 on the road and you are competing for B1G championship
Playing elite teams needs to result in some wins. How many years of losing to Tennessee makes you a better program? 2? 3? 4?
Playing in the meat grinder of the B1G provides ample chances to build resume.
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Your best argument is you’d rather have more wins against nobodies than bites at the apple to get quality wins.

Maybe 30 years ago it might have been worth it for NCAA seeding purposes, but frankly it’s the opposite now.

This is a hill you should absolutely not die on. When you’re a perennial top 25 team trying to move up seed lines, the benefits of playing other top 25 teams FAR outweighs playing teams ranked outside the top 100. It frankly isn’t a conversation unless your sole concern is win total. And even that could be a more complex answer than just playing easier teams.
 
#60      
NarrowJ
Agreed with previous folks on Oregon

They're going to be pretty thin unless they add a couple more guys late here
 
#63      
Grandpa
Bigtex said:
what good came out of losing to Duke by 40? what good came out of losing to Tennessee at home? There are enough tough games in the B1G that prepare the team for March.
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We lost by 43.

What good came out of it? Well Duke got a lot of confidence. We set a new record for the biggest Illini men's basketball loss ever. We got a lot of publicity.
That's just off the top of my head.
Losing to Tenn at home? Well, the starters got a lot of minutes. Actually letting some of the subs get minutes in front of the Illini crowd, playing along with the starters would be better. Then when your starters sprain their ankle, get mono, break wrists, the guys playing instead are better prepared.
 
#64      
ejam21
Bigtex said:
Getting more healthy after Duke had as much to do with winning those 4 games after the blowout loss.
Illinois has been playing Missouri for ever so that is a given regardless if one of both teams are good or bad.
Alabama was a good early test that showed Illinois could score and couldn't stop or slow down a talented team.
Probably more frustrated at how many games are lost at SFC than the specific loss to Tennessee. Waiting for SFC home record to be 16-1 vs 13-4
After losing to Tennessee at home - win all 10 conference home games and 5-5 on the road and you are competing for B1G championship
Playing elite teams needs to result in some wins. How many years of losing to Tennessee makes you a better program? 2? 3? 4?
Playing in the meat grinder of the B1G provides ample chances to build resume.
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Then why are you crying about the scheduling of duke if you know good and well we were a hobbled team going to play duke and that no one couldve possibly known that was the case months ago when we scheduled it? Or is your position dont schedule a team like duke on the 1 in a century chance 80% of your roster gets sick with injuries on top going into the game?
 
#65      
Brosky
Glad to see Colgate (at SFC) added to the schedule. Will there be other new ones?
 
#66      
SampsonRelpenk
Somehow I believe crossover exists between fans against tough non-con schedules for our historically and currently strong basketball program, and those who still believed in the Ron Guenther scheduling philosophy when we could hardly win a conference game in football.
 
#68      
Brosky
SampsonRelpenk said:
Somehow I believe crossover exists between fans against tough non-con schedules for our historically and currently strong basketball program, and those who still believed in the Ron Guenther scheduling philosophy when we could hardly win a conference game in football.
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I am for balance. Keep the challenging non-con games we have, with approx. the same number of games we "should win." Minutes for backup guys are important, especially foreign transfers and freshmen. Based on last year, we should be smart enough to remember injuries and illness happen.
 
#69      
Guest
No October games? Don’t they usually play one, sometimes two, in October? This means I have to wait until November 11th!?!. Argh!! Hopefully, there will at least be an exhibition game in October, although I don’t think even the Kansas exhibition game was televised, no? Maybe this last game to be scheduled (Southern?) will be before Nov. 11th.
 
#70      
hodgesonfire
There is one big problem playing only top tier teams: less in game reps for non-starters. It came back to bite last years team when injuries forced non-starters to be untested.

Some wisdom might be seen by following Pop’s “load management “ model. However have never really seen it in college except in “cupcake” games.
 
#74      
alaskaillini
Grandpa said:
We lost by 43.

What good came out of it? Well Duke got a lot of confidence. We set a new record for the biggest Illini men's basketball loss ever. We got a lot of publicity.
That's just off the top of my head.
Losing to Tenn at home? Well, the starters got a lot of minutes. Actually letting some of the subs get minutes in front of the Illini crowd, playing along with the starters would be better. Then when your starters sprain their ankle, get mono, break wrists, the guys playing instead are better prepared.
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Grumpy Old Man :)
 
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