Illini Basketball 2025-2026
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It’s the M.O of Underwood teams to have wild highs & lows. Seen it every year going back to the Sky Clark days. This year feels the same. World-beaters one game & woeful the next.This team could gel and be elite or clunk and brick their way to a 7 seed 
Yeah my understanding is that any games aired by NBCSN will also be available on Peacock. The point of relaunching NBCSN was to regain those lost cable viewers who refuse to stream, not to discourage those who have made the jump to streaming.
I don't see what could make this team elite. Our bigs are slow and not good on D and we're not a good outside shooting team. We do have a couple guys (Kylan and Andre) that are good at getting to the rim, but beyond that I don't see it.It’s the M.O of Underwood teams to have wild highs & lows. Seen it every year going back to the Sky Clark days. This year feels the same. World-beaters one game & woeful the next.This team could gel and be elite or clunk and brick their way to a 7 seed
The good things I’ve seen consistently in games that can be reasonably expected moving forward are Kylan playing steady, Humrichous playing his role fairly well & Z providing rim protection. That ain’t enough to win. We desperately need someone to step up alongside Kylan. Andrej, Tomi, Mirk and Wagler need to make that happen. Those guys just can’t frickin disappear in games. We would have had a tight ball game today against #5 had just one of those guys played well…but they withered. Those 5 have gotta be ready night in & night out to battle alongside Kylan and it can’t just be a team-wide heave from the 3-point line. Tomi…that dude needs to wake up. This team & this offense come alive when Tomi comes to play.
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But....but....Izzo plays a tough nonconference schedule. Soooo tired of the "we have to do whatever Izzo does". Brad quickly using up the gravitas earned from the Elite 8 trip.
I am wondering why...in his third season playing high level competition...neither BU of JC seemed to try to develop Z with an over the shoulder jump hook or an 8 foot fader? Both are easy to make and very effective as we have seen from Derrick Queen and Jalen Pickett. His only offense seems to come from 3 pt. attempts or dunks, and he loses the ball about half the time in attempting to dunk. I can promise that if I were coaching him, he would have become proficient at both a long time ago. It really surprises me that Z, Mirk, and Ben do not score at a 60% + rate with those shots all the time. Sure seems like the Illini opponents do.
2 & 2 in the first half ain’t gonna cut it. We are rarely the team that punches the other in the mouth to start big games. Feels like it’s always us trying to summon focus & energy 5 minutes after tip
Feels like a lot of false rallies. Do enough to cut the lead down to 9 or 10 but never get in real danger of winning.
Reminded me of Alabama game last year.
They just don't play like they expect to win. Toughness is absent, 50/50 balls become 70/30, always undisciplined shot taking that destroys the momentum of the run.
(Looking at you, Jake Davis) Though in his defense, he's just not good enough to be playing in those situations to begin with.
When we made our runs, we were doing it with defense and driving the ball. I think the game was lost with we had 4 straight possessions in the 2nd half down 10 and they didn’t score on their 4 and we did not take advantage. The back breaker was the bad three Davis took down 7. They tuned that around d with that crazy 4 point play which finished us off.
I agree, he is treating Davis like Williams and it’s not good. He is not a high level D1 player. , We need to recruit athletes.
I liked the pressure defense they debuted late. As bad as our half court defense has been you might as well try something that can get you fast break points.
Man, that hit hard because it’s true and hard to accept.
Brad Sturdy made some interesting comments after the game. He pointed out that late in the game, Americans were being prioritized because of their toughness. Down the stretch in the 2H, Jake and Ben were playing a lot (and together) because they hustle and play hard. They helped get some critical stops, though we couldn’t capitalize on the offensive side.
One thing I know, Petro didn’t like getting knocked on his a$$ but he and the other Europeans need to embrace that physicality if they’re going to be successful in American basketball…and Illinois being successful. We need to Americanize the mentality of the entire team while utilizing the Euro skill to elevate our team.
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Seems like this is always the risk with Euro players. And I had the thought yesterday that the entire team doesn't seem to love winning more than they dislike losing. Not sure how you turn that around, but that is the challenge BU seems to have on his hands.
I think part of the problem coming into the year was everyone thought Tomi was going to star. If he’s playing his game, he’s a great complimentary piece. May sneak up on teams and have a big game here or there. He does not have the athleticism to overwhelm people night in and night out.
chiefini
- Rockford, Illinois
Agree @NashvILLe05. In addition to not being tough, the Euros, both last year and this, don’t know how to play good defense. Hopefully, they’ll listen to their coaches and learn quickly. Go Illini!
Unfortunately the Euro players won't suddenly learn to play defense. That is just part of the package you get with them. Offense efficiency can improve though. There will be a lot of games in the 80s and 90s this year.
I mean the NBA All-Defensive teams over the past idk how many years have featured many Europeans...
The particular ones we have though are subpar defenders (I differ in opinion in that I think they CAN learn / improve there)
The Europeans first have to learn(how does the old saying go) how to play for the name on the front of the uniform and not the name on the back. I was so disappointed to the pic of the Europeans huddled with their agent in NYC.
Ryllini
- Lombard
I’d say those boys are very unselfish and do play team ball. You are entitled to your opinion and feelings, but them taking picture for something very unique to the CBK shouldn’t be something to cause alarm or disappointment.
The biggest issue from the Euros is learning American style defense. It’s a different game in Europe. A lot more finesse and less power. But my issue is more with the offense as we are not utilizing their skill level. If we ran a motion offense, the Euros would feast at the rim.
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