Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#1,001      
Texas Tech could be a loss. Hopefully it won't be dependent on that.
Oh, I in NO way think we are cruising past Texas Tech ... even at home, we will be playing a top 10 team while we are a top 20 team. I was merely saying that in the event that we did beat them, I would be interested to see if ticket sales saw a bump.
 
#1,009      

These lists are always fun.

TKR seems a bit high at #7? Great college player, but fringe 1st team AA? Tugler at 17, he's a top 3ish defender but very little game on offense- he's a bit too high if I was making the list as well. A lot of the freshmen are rated higher than I'd have them. Stojakovic 60 versus Sarr at 84 is interesting. I watched Cluff the other night and he did not like a top 100 player to me.

Purdue, Florida and UConn with 4 players:

Purdue (Smith 1, TKR 7, Loyer 59, Cluff 87)
Florida (Haugh 14, Fland 21, Condon 32, Lee 88)
UConn (Ball 18, Karaban 26, Reed Jr 49, Demary Jr 68)


12 other teams with 3 players:

Duke (Boozer 4, Evans 53, Sarr 84)
Texas Tech (Toppin 3, C.Anderson 42, Watts 91)
BYU (Dybansta 5, Saunders 29, Wright 46)
UCLA (Dent 6, Bilodeau 58, Dailey 75)
Kentucky (Oweh 9, Lowe 35, Quaintance 52)
Houston (Uzan 10, Tugler 17, Sharp 25)
St Johns (Ejiofor 12, Hopkins 41, I.Jackson 57)
Gonzaga (Ike 20, Grant-Foster 70, Huff 78)
Iowa St (Lipsey 27, Jefferson 39, Momcilovic 82)
Illinois (T.Ivisic 31, Stojakovic 60, Boswell 72)
Arizona (Bradley 43, Peat 66, Burries 93)
Arkansas (Acuff Jr 45, Knox 62, Wagner 83)
 
#1,012      
These lists are always fun.

TKR seems a bit high at #7? Great college player, but fringe 1st team AA? Tugler at 17, he's a top 3ish defender but very little game on offense- he's a bit too high if I was making the list as well. A lot of the freshmen are rated higher than I'd have them. Stojakovic 60 versus Sarr at 84 is interesting. I watched Cluff the other night and he did not like a top 100 player to me.

Purdue, Florida and UConn with 4 players:

Purdue (Smith 1, TKR 7, Loyer 59, Cluff 87)
Florida (Haugh 14, Fland 21, Condon 32, Lee 88)
UConn (Ball 18, Karaban 26, Reed Jr 49, Demary Jr 68)


12 other teams with 3 players:

Duke (Boozer 4, Evans 53, Sarr 84)
Texas Tech (Toppin 3, C.Anderson 42, Watts 91)
BYU (Dybansta 5, Saunders 29, Wright 46)
UCLA (Dent 6, Bilodeau 58, Dailey 75)
Kentucky (Oweh 9, Lowe 35, Quaintance 52)
Houston (Uzan 10, Tugler 17, Sharp 25)
St Johns (Ejiofor 12, Hopkins 41, I.Jackson 57)
Gonzaga (Ike 20, Grant-Foster 70, Huff 78)
Iowa St (Lipsey 27, Jefferson 39, Momcilovic 82)
Illinois (T.Ivisic 31, Stojakovic 60, Boswell 72)
Arizona (Bradley 43, Peat 66, Burries 93)
Arkansas (Acuff Jr 45, Knox 62, Wagner 83)
I'll never understand the Loyer love. Hes an efficient role player surrounded by great players his whole career. There are lots of game changing players at their schools sitting behind him at 59.
 
#1,013      
Andrej is fine, they have just been careful with him.
Dumb question- for how long do they have to be careful with him? I don’t recall what his injury was, but is it expected to be one of those things that just nags at him and affects his performance till he is 100%? Or are they being careful so he comes back at 100%?
 
#1,015      
Dumb question- for how long do they have to be careful with him? I don’t recall what his injury was, but is it expected to be one of those things that just nags at him and affects his performance till he is 100%? Or are they being careful so he comes back at 100%?
Taking caution to be sure he is 100% plus! No need to risk anything in games that don't matter. Injury was a knee sprain. Nagging injury… could be if you don’t allow proper time to be on the full mend! Getting full reps in practice is a start… a few games of limited minutes…. with increase each game. That is pretty typical! He is ready when he is ready! Looks to be soon!
 
#1,017      
LOVING all the expert conjecture!
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#1,019      
These lists are always fun.

TKR seems a bit high at #7? Great college player, but fringe 1st team AA? Tugler at 17, he's a top 3ish defender but very little game on offense- he's a bit too high if I was making the list as well. A lot of the freshmen are rated higher than I'd have them. Stojakovic 60 versus Sarr at 84 is interesting. I watched Cluff the other night and he did not like a top 100 player to me.

Purdue, Florida and UConn with 4 players:

Purdue (Smith 1, TKR 7, Loyer 59, Cluff 87)
Florida (Haugh 14, Fland 21, Condon 32, Lee 88)
UConn (Ball 18, Karaban 26, Reed Jr 49, Demary Jr 68)


12 other teams with 3 players:

Duke (Boozer 4, Evans 53, Sarr 84)
Texas Tech (Toppin 3, C.Anderson 42, Watts 91)
BYU (Dybansta 5, Saunders 29, Wright 46)
UCLA (Dent 6, Bilodeau 58, Dailey 75)
Kentucky (Oweh 9, Lowe 35, Quaintance 52)
Houston (Uzan 10, Tugler 17, Sharp 25)
St Johns (Ejiofor 12, Hopkins 41, I.Jackson 57)
Gonzaga (Ike 20, Grant-Foster 70, Huff 78)
Iowa St (Lipsey 27, Jefferson 39, Momcilovic 82)
Illinois (T.Ivisic 31, Stojakovic 60, Boswell 72)
Arizona (Bradley 43, Peat 66, Burries 93)
Arkansas (Acuff Jr 45, Knox 62, Wagner 83)
Probably not too far from the truth for us, although my orange tinted glasses make me feel like Tomi in particular will be more valuable than that. Hard to assess Mirkovic, Petrovic, and Wagler till they see more time on the hardwood but all signs are pointing to a higher floor at the least for this team. Also, there are five players on a court and 7-8 will play meaningful time - I’d stack our starting 5 and our rotation as a whole against most of these teams. Excited to see what happens this year regardless.
 
#1,023      
Alright this is a work in progress but I wanted to upgrade my excel chart to a website. The mobile version isn't as good as the desktop version, but I will continue working on it. Always welcome input as I go.

This looks really good, thank you for putting this together. If you keep it updated throughout the season then it’s definitely getting bookmarked for me
 
#1,025      
Kenpom defensive rankings under BU:
2018 - 129th
2019 - 110th
2020 - 35th
2021 - 7th
2022 - 29th
2023 - 26th
2024 - 80th
2025 - 40th

So, we haven’t been a top 25 ish defensive team for 2 years………On July 3, 2023, Hamer was elevated to a defensive coordinator equivalent…….direct correlation!!!

Now we have a proven defensive coordinator. I predict a return to previous years under Bradislav back into the 2022 and 2023 ranges. Praise the Lord!!!
 
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