Illini Basketball 2025-2026
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In this day an age that means every team will be having the same challenge. I doubt that many teams have more than 3 starters returning.
Yep. Coaching cream will rise to the top.
But even with that we should expect lots of head scratching losses in the first couple months.
Curious here . . .
What's the evidence for this?
Highlight tapes of most players seem to focus on scoring.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
My first thought when I watched him at the Nike Hoops Summit was, “Wow, he does NOT look like an incoming freshman.” I think he was one of the guys Hummel referenced when he said, “In my day, we worked out. These guys TRAIN!!” or something very similar to that.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Not to be that guy, but I believe both he and Mirkovic are yet to be officially cleared by the NCAA.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Joel, your memory is short sighted. Need I remind you of this…
Kid just absolutely attacks the rim
Mirk is an absolutely beast hoping he takes the 4 spot.......but when are we gonna discuss the shirt/shoes fashion combo here.....
rmlsr
- El Paso,IL
Evidence is they focus on recruiting offensive players and usually the players who we are focused on recruiting are not strong defenders and is usually mentioned in their strengths and weaknesses. Dame Sarr was one player who we went after who had strong defense traits but we stopped recruiting him after awhile.
He will not be a bust! He would be a hell of a tight end tho!If Mirkovic is a Bust, I want him on Football team. He's a beast.
Funny how you are not seeing the picture! BU likes volume scoring ( defense needs to be adequate but not elite) we score 88 they score 80.. we win!
We are pretty good defensively…. not elite. The game is changing… high output offense wins. We don't have to be an elite D team… we do to be offensively efficient! It is pretty clear that is our path. Score in the upper 80’s snd be reasonably good D! Embrace it or be frustrated!
Enough ashtrays on the bench
It's not really changing that much. Offensive scheme and pace has adjusted but the best teams and national champions tend to be very good on both ends of the court.
Florida, Houston, Duke, and Auburn were all in the top 10 defensively this year per kenpom(Florida, Houston, and Duke were in the top 6).
UConn runs a great offense but I think the dominant defense was the driving factor for their dominant runs.
The worst Kenpom defense to win it in the last 15 years was Baylor at 22. Kansas(17) and the Kemba UConn team(15) were the only other national champions that had a defensive efficiency lower than 11th.
So to be a legitimate national championship contender you basically need to pair a top 10 offensive with a top defense so neglecting one side of the floor doesn't seem to be a winning strategy. Even if you have the best offense in the country you probably need to be at least a top 25 defensive team.
Illinois hasn't finished higher than 26th defensively in the last 4 years(Ayo and Kofi team was 7th). Imo, the biggest black mark on the coaching staff is that the elite 8 team two years ago was somehow the Kenpom #80 defense despite having the personnel, size, and athleticism to be very good(the Matthew Mayer and TJ team was 26th). They did step it up in March(until UConn) but there is no reason that a team that was playing a lineup of TSJ, Ty, Domask, Guerrier, and Coleman for most of the game to be that bad defensively.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Actually, if I didn’t detest George Raveling at Iowa so much, I’d say the coaches should fully embrace our Balkan focus and wear full tracksuits for the first game.
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
after awhile: think there might be a reason for that? maybe because his camp jacked up their ask by more than double?
knowing when to cut bait is a good trait
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Brad hinted that might be in the works for one game. Didn’t say which one, but definitely embraced the idea.Actually, if I didn’t detest George Raveling at Iowa so much, I’d say the coaches should fully embrace our Balkan focus and wear full tracksuits for the first game.
EuroLeague MVP? What a weird thing to just make up (and repeat multiple times in the linked article). Petrovic"s team didn't even play in the Euroleague, whose MVP this season was Kendrick Nunn. This is Rees Woodcock-level nonsense.
Yeah, all you really need to do is look at Iowa. Top 25 offense every year since 2018 - usually more like top 10 offense. And they have exactly one BTT championship to show for it.
Now, if I had to choose whether I wanted my team to be built around offense or built around defense, I'm choosing offense. Almost every team that wins it all has a higher rated offense than defense.
It's having a stretch 4 (6'7 dude) playing the 5 against legitimate centers. Absolutely no rim protection.
Big WHAT IF:
Kofi would have been a Covid Super Senior.
4-time All-American
TSJ All American
Domask All Big
Coleman Hawkins
Marcus Guerrier/Ty Rodgers
Would be the best Illinois team ever assembled.
Maybe one of the best top 3 teams of any NCAA season with UConn/Purdue/Illinois.
What an absolute travesty at the hands of bad handlers and ultimately Kofi's decision.
According to Werner, in his Illini Inquirer article about MP’s arrival (Serbian guard Mihailo Petrovic arrives in Champaign, joins Illini), he states:
"There is no word yet on whether Petrovic or Mirkovic needs added clearance from the NCAA or how many years of eligibility Petrovic will have, though the Illini are hopeful for multiple years of eligibility for the veteran guard. Ivisic was given three years of eligibility after arriving as a 21-year-old last summer."
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