Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#176      
Todd99
AnnoyedWithGarza said:
Is there a video of this somewhere? I missed it.
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Here’s some screenshots. The image quality isn’t great but you can find the the full game on YouTube. I’d love to see this from another angle.

The other four guys are going to huddle up and Mirk is going toward the fans
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The camera pans toward mid court as he starts engaging with the fans
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The other four motioning Mirk over
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I have a feeling this kid will go down as one of the all time most popular Illini players by the time he’s done.
 
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#179      
The Fonz
lstewart53x3 said:
After seeing the team play, here’s my new minutes estimate against meaningful competition when the full team is healthy (excluding Ty):

1&2:

(32) Boswell
(28) Wagler
(20) Petro

3&4:

(30) Andrej
(24) Mirk
(18) Ben
(8) Davis

5:

(24) T
(16) Z
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You seem to have omitted AJ Redd's necessary and deserved 25+ min a game
 
#188      
RollChief
Watching some of the other tipoffs tonight reminded me of what impressed me most against TTU- our ability to withstand and respond to runs. The response in the second half was great, but even more encouraging was Kylan’s response after we fell behind 7–0 right out of the gate. Last year, we had several games where an early deficit like that snowballed and we never recovered. Seeing us take a punch early and immediately settle in felt like real growth.
 
#190      
RabidDawgClassic
NarrowJ said:
I don't think so other than you could pull up the full game on youtube and fast forward to the end?

Edit: I actually just watched it again myself and it wasn't as wild as I remember for some reason... he does run straight to the crowd and start giving high fives, but Ben & Kylan just yell at him from center court (unsure why I misremembered them physically going over to get him... bourbon had been consumed lol)
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This is gonna eventually become the new “Rennie dunked on Shaq.” Kylan and Andrej sprinted into the stands to physically restrain Mirk who, in no uncertain terms, was letting a rowdy Texas Tech fan know what’s what!” 😉😂
 
#193      
OrangeKrush1981
Iamgroot said:
www.si.com

Illinois Quickly Rises in Jon Rothstein's Rankings – But Should the Illini be Higher?

Behind Tuesday's huge win over Texas Tech, the Illini found themselves jumping 10 spots in Rothstein's rankings. Are they still too low?
www.si.com www.si.com
Not really sure where to put this but rothstein isn't on the bandwagon yet
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Rothstein has them at 11. That's pretty good. Or actually much better than that.

It looks like this year's squad is gathering the attention it seemingly deserves.

A very, very impressive start to the season when examined closely.
 
#196      
Todd99
Off topic, but the West Wing is one of my favorite shows of all time.
 
#197      
IlliniInBuckeyeState
Fighter of the Nightman said:
@IlliniInBuckeyeState with the football guesses a bit more boring this year, I humbly ask again if you have any guesses for our attendance as of today vs. Alabama at the UC! :cool:

Alabama vs. Illinois | United Center

For reference, here was the ticket map on October 24 when I guess I last screenshotted it, haha.

October 24
View attachment 44807

November 10
View attachment 44808

So a tiny bit of positive movement in some sections, but it is still looking like it will be an underwhelming crowd. :( Hoping if we can go 2-0 this week, we could see a late surge of tickets, and I also wonder how many fans like me are planning on going and just haven't decided what tickets they want to buy.
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Honored to be asked, and I wish I could, but 1) you may have noticed I've been posting a bit less - I've been very busy at work recently and it isn't letting up for a bit. 2) I just took one look at the Ticketmaster site and I have absolutely no idea how to inspect the traffic flow and identify how many available tickets there are. I'm not about to go start counting (blue) dots again...:)

It's a bummer that this game likely won't draw very well. As others have noted, the week night timing of it likely has something to do with it. Hopefully there are some strong sales in the final few days!
 
#198      
jrichisamazing
21ChampaignSt said:
Going into the year, I thought Tomi and maybe Kylan would battle it out for best player on the team.

Then we had Mirk Mania.

Now Andrej.

Four dudes who, at different times, have looked like the best player on the court.

And that doesn't even include Wagler who is averaging a quiet 17 and 7 right now.

I don't expect or even want Andrej scoring 20 a night. But the one thing that had kept me from fully indulging in Natty dreams, is that I didn't see a player on our team who I trusted to just go get us one when we really needed it. Now with Andrej, we have that.

Maybe defense is still a question mark? We did enough to beat a top 10 to 20 offense on Tuesday but I'm still a bit skeptical that our defense will finish in the top 15.

Either way, I think this is the most complete team (or at least most balanced) we've had since 2005. Maybe 2021. But that team was very reliant on the two man game with Trent being the only other player who averaged double figures. 2024 had a super suspect defense.

I look at the field and I don't see a 2024 UConn or even a 2024 Purdue.

I think we have a real chance to do something with this team and I don't even think it's the Kool Aid talking.
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I'm still just amazed at how much skill we have offensively. Think about the end of the Weber years and the Groce tenure. Struggling to get past 55 in so many games. Maybe we can get to 70 if a McCamey, or BP3, or Malcolm Hill gets hot. So many stagnant possessions that end in a contested 3 at the end of the shot clock. And now we somehow have so much talent we don't even know what to do with it.
 
#199      
Mobi
jrichisamazing said:
I'm still just amazed at how much skill we have offensively. Think about the end of the Weber years and the Groce tenure. Struggling to get past 55 in so many games. Maybe we can get to 70 if a McCamey, or BP3, or Malcolm Hill gets hot. So many stagnant possessions that end in a contested 3 at the end of the shot clock. And now we somehow have so much talent we don't even know what to do with it.
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We literally have the talents to start two tourney quality teams.
 
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