Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#103      
Todd99
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I was going to post this in the OSU pregame thread, but I didn't want a bunch of people jumping on me for not "taking it one game at a time." :ROFLMAO: With that said, I think we can all agree that the Tennessee game did A LOT to reassure fans about this team and put us back in the conversation for a top 2/3 seed. We were at a fork in the road, and a win got us back on the right side of worrying. However, two wins this week would REALLY establish some momentum for our resume. Playing #44 Ohio State on the road and #23 Nebraska at home are currently both Quad 1 games, and I think if we are able to achieve a RELATIVELY reasonable 2-0 start to Big Ten play this week, I am also pretty confident we would win Braggin' Rights and beat Southern at home.

This early in the season, such a finish to the year would be a truly remarkable reshaping of our resume compared to just a few days ago, and I think we would enter the New Year feeling that this team was red hot and gaining steam. If we are able to finish out CY 2025 with a 4-0 record - something that will certainly not be EASY but that is also totally within the realm of "realistically optimistic" - just look at how different our resume would look on January 1.

Illini Resume Today
Record: 7-2 (0-0)
NET Rank: #13
Road Record: 0-0
Neutral Record: 1-2
Home Record: 6-0
Quad 1 Record: 2-2
Quad 2 Record: 0-0
Quad 3 Record: 2-0
Quad 4 Record: 3-0

Hypothesized Finish to CY 2025
W at #44 Ohio State (Q1)
W vs. #23 Nebraska (Q1)
W vs. #78 Missouri (St. Louis, MO) [Q2]
W vs. #271 Southern (Q4)

Potential Illini Resume on January 1, 2026
Record: 11-2 (2-0)
NET Rank: ??? Almost certainly in the #5-10 range
Road Record: 1-0
Neutral Record: 2-2
Home Record: 8-0
Quad 1 Record: 4-2
Quad 2 Record: 1-0
Quad 3 Record: 2-0
Quad 4 Record: 4-0

Once again, it will not be in any way easy, but this is hardly a stretch of playing Michigan, Purdue and MSU on the road; we CAN go 4-0 to end the year, and if we do ... well, we will be sitting pretty to start 2026, to say the least. It would take nearly ALL of the pressure off of us from a resume standpoint as we start the gauntlet that is Big Ten play. Today, we are back "on track" for fighting for a top seed, and we are no longer behind the 8-ball like we were after the UConn loss. However, if we achieve the results outlined above? We are back AHEAD of the curve for a top 2/3 seed, and our "next goal up" all of a sudden becomes starting to get greedy and wondering if this is the type of squad that can go into Mackey and Breslin Center and sneak out wins...

Let's go do it!!
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I was just thinking the same thing today.

When we get to that stretch against Purdue, MSU, Michigan even the west coast games, we’ll look back on these next few weeks and either be glad we took care of business or have regrets that we didn’t. I don’t want to be in a must win situation at Nebraska or at Maryland in February.
 
#104      
blueguy
I know it’s been posted but what are the Illini sections for the bragging rights game?
 
#105      
Oracle21
With at Ohio State out of the way, IL has a good chance to roll off about 9 wins in a row as the schedule really eases up the first half of Big 10 play. Could very well be 17-2 heading into the game at Purdue. Other than at Iowa, every game during this next 9 games should be a for sure win.
 
#106      
NarrowJ
Oracle21 said:
With at Ohio State out of the way, IL has a good chance to roll off about 9 wins in a row as the schedule really eases up the first half of Big 10 play. Could very well be 17-2 heading into the game at Purdue. Other than at Iowa, every game during this next 9 games should be a for sure win.
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I would caution this a bit

We will be favored in all of these games, but I think the spreads for the games vs Misery and @ Iowa will be small-ish and road games being difficult in this conf regardless of opponent has been a thing
 
#110      
Fly Illini Fly!
Oracle21 said:
With at Ohio State out of the way, IL has a good chance to roll off about 9 wins in a row as the schedule really eases up the first half of Big 10 play. Could very well be 17-2 heading into the game at Purdue. Other than at Iowa, every game during this next 9 games should be a for sure win.
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Nebraska is ranked and may very well (depending on what happens today) be undefeated heading into our game. It is this exact mindset our team must avoid in the meat of conference play.
 
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#111      
Illinicpa14
Oracle21 said:
With at Ohio State out of the way, IL has a good chance to roll off about 9 wins in a row as the schedule really eases up the first half of Big 10 play. Could very well be 17-2 heading into the game at Purdue. Other than at Iowa, every game during this next 9 games should be a for sure win.
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I’ll believe it when I see it that we don’t play a clunker up in Evanston in early Jan.
 
#113      
Combo
Oracle21 said:
With at Ohio State out of the way, IL has a good chance to roll off about 9 wins in a row as the schedule really eases up the first half of Big 10 play. Could very well be 17-2 heading into the game at Purdue. Other than at Iowa, every game during this next 9 games should be a for sure win.
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Very unlikely IMO. There's no such thing as a for sure win. Every opponent gives you their best shot and most teams (including us) have off nights.
 
#115      
Heisenbobble
I'll mention as a HUGE Ian Jackson advocate at the time he entered the portal, we probably dodged a bullet there. For one, Wagler is infinitely better already, and Jackson is decidedly mediocre, especially for how much NIL money he's getting from St. John's. Same goes for Josh Dix at Creighton.
 
#118      
HereSoIDontGetFined
I'm still astounded by Keaton. How did this guy go relatively unnoticed despite being 6A POTY in Kansas? His interest list is a who's who of mid-majors and once-every-decade NCAA auto-qualifier teams. And then us and Minny.

What was the knock on him? Too skinny? Not enough aggressiveness? Defensively weak? Not that any of those things are actually true, but did recruiters think he wasn't going to rise to high-major level in college?
 
#119      
HereSoIDontGetFined
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I do not think we’ll be favored at Iowa, regardless of what the computers say today.
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Yeah, if my numbers are correct, we're 2-3 in our last five road contests against Iowa.

Dunno what to make of Iowa this year. They're not great on paper but have managed to get up to 27th in KenPom. Really poor rebounding team but can light it up from 3.
 
#121      
DB11Headband
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I do not think we’ll be favored at Iowa, regardless of what the computers say today.
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The two game stretch of at Iowa and at Northwestern are the only two I can see the beloved hiccuping in the next 9 leading up to Purdue. Iowa because McCollum is an outstanding coach and we historically don't play great there, and Northwestern because it's Northwestern of course. Split those two and I'm pleased.
 
#123      
Fighter of the Nightman
DB11Headband said:
The two game stretch of at Iowa and at Northwestern are the only two I can see the beloved hiccuping in the next 9 leading up to Purdue. Iowa because McCollum is an outstanding coach and we historically don't play great there, and Northwestern because it's Northwestern of course. Split those two and I'm pleased.
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Agreed. TBH, I am really bummed that the Krush used up its (presumably-only-one) road trip on OSU, and I was hoping they would make it to Iowa. Other than Northwestern, Iowa is the opposing arena where we routinely have the most fans, and yet it is a difficult place to play when Iowa is good. Plus, that game is on a weekend, so I was optimistic the Krush would make it there after being denied a couple years ago! OSU might be the single least intimidating arena in the conference, when you adjust for the usual quality of the team.
 
#124      
Battle89
logjam said:
Sorry no splitzies...
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Everyone here can just be prepared to :poop: on my posts, if we lose in Evanston again. I will be in fine form that day, I can assure you.

It's one thing to watch it on TV and quite another to watch it in person.
 
#125      
Fly Illini Fly!
DB11Headband said:
The two game stretch of at Iowa and at Northwestern are the only two I can see the beloved hiccuping in the next 9 leading up to Purdue. Iowa because McCollum is an outstanding coach and we historically don't play great there, and Northwestern because it's Northwestern of course. Split those two and I'm pleased.
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Depends on their next three P4 games how I view Iowa. If they lose all three of ISU, MINN, UCLA... then that's a game you'll need to win or else it's a pretty bad loss.

NW is always frisky, but this is their worst team in 4 years. Last year the team that beat us was good - both Barnhizer and Leach played, starters who ended up being out for the year.
 
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