Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#501      
NarrowJ
Illiniforlife said:
No one is making him a scapegoat. The question is more: if he isn’t contributing in a meaningful way to help the team, why keep him instead of bringing in someone who does? Just because he’s Tyler’s friend doesn’t mean he should automatically stay. If you’re running a business and your son’s good friend works for you but doesn’t really add value, would you keep him on staff?
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Well I can understand why you are upset, if you actually believe a legitimate D1 P4 program would keep a guy on who contributes absolutely nothing, but because he's 'a cool dude', we throw him $200k.

Illiniforlife said:
I don’t disagree, but everyone will be frustrated in March when we get knocked out in the first or second round and wonder why we can’t get over the hump. @Indy Illini Fan and I are just trying to give a heads-up before it happens, so that when it does—and people are upset about underachieving or not winning big games—you can look back at this conversation for some perspective.
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Are you honestly saying you can see the future? This is certainly the greatest claim ever made in the history of Loyalty. I should just log off and do something more fruitful since the 2025-26 Illini have zero chance at a tournament win this coming March.
 
#502      
bigcityillini
BWBW said:
Tyler is good enough. He owes it to himself to leave the nest and learn from others.

If he builds his resume at another stop or two, he may receive consideration when Daddy Brad retires. More likely, he will find another place with his name written all over it.

Just my humble opinion.
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If you are talented enough you don't need to get hired by your dad. Others would take notice. If he truly is that good of a coach as some here, say and is only making 120K (as some posters claim) then what the hell is he doing? Wouldn't he be selling himself short? He leads this elite offense and yet gets no national press... why?
 
#503      
Emerson Bigguns
BWBW said:
Tyler is good enough. He owes it to himself to leave the nest and learn from others.

If he builds his resume at another stop or two, he may receive consideration when Daddy Brad retires. More likely, he will find another place with his name written all over it.

Just my humble opinion.
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I will counter with this:

Tyler is 28
Brad is 62

In 10 years Tyler will still be a fairly young coach. Brad will likely be done.
Tyler has plenty of time to build his resume outside of his Dad's shadow.

Who knows how many more years he will have to opportunity to do something as awesome as coach a high major basketball program with his Dad?

Whether he sticks around for one more year or five more, I don't think when he looks back on his career in 35 years, he will regret any of the years he spent sitting next to his Dad.
 
#504      
RowdyFromRow22
I think lost in the middle of all this, for football and basketball, we have coaches that WANT to be at Illinois and perform fairly successful.

We can create wishlists and chase big fish, but at the end of the day, do we want to be a stepping stone for others? Do we want another coach leaving us high and dry?

This doesn’t mean get complacent. Which Brad and crew have adapted as needed. Hell yeah we have work to do.
At the end of the season, all but one team has things to work on.

Just need to keep finding ways to win ball games when the ball doesn’t go in.

Until next time, I bleed orange and blue, take my Prozac, and ride the coaster of Illini sports.
 
#505      
Dawgss4life
As THE insider who works inside, our defense is the word around here. It sucks. I won’t discuss pictures feelings on our roster and the players we’ve lost over the years but you can do your own research. We will loose a lot at the end of the year and not just in the court. I just don’t see this team making the second weekend
 
#506      
Fly Illini Fly!
Illiniforlife said:
I don’t disagree, but everyone will be frustrated in March when we get knocked out in the first or second round and wonder why we can’t get over the hump. @Indy Illini Fan and I are just trying to give a heads-up before it happens, so that when it does—and people are upset about underachieving or not winning big games—you can look back at this conversation for some perspective.
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LOL. Now what if we don't? Can I still "look back at this conversation for some perspective?"
 
#508      
lstewart53x3
Illiniforlife said:
I don’t disagree, but everyone will be frustrated in March when we get knocked out in the first or second round and wonder why we can’t get over the hump. @Indy Illini Fan and I are just trying to give a heads-up before it happens, so that when it does—and people are upset about underachieving or not winning big games—you can look back at this conversation for some perspective.
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Even if this team doesn’t improve as the year goes along (and I assume it will), it’s still the #12 team in KenPom with wins over the #15 (road/neutral), #27 (home), and #39 (road) ranked teams.

Certainly that’s a team capable of making the S16, yeah?

We’re currently on pace for a ~3 seed. 3 seeds make the S16 every now and then, don’t they?

The TJ team was good. Made the E8. Had a KenPom rating of +24.53. This team has a KenPom rating of +26.63. So this team is arguably better. Why are people pretending like this isn’t a good team?
 
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#509      
jamarvelous31
BryceHopkins said:
Im Out GIF
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I have been avoiding this place like the plague...both b/c of my personal sadness about Nebby and b/c a week without a game is too much for us psychos.
 
#510      
jamarvelous31
Indy Illini Fan said:
I gotcha … Comparing in salary … I never said Tyler wasn’t good at his job … UConn’s offense will be humming by the end of the year, they’ve dealt with a lot of injuries … UConn also has played way tougher competition than we have …

The one main reason UConn is better than us … They go get DAWGS … I said on this board in portal season … We need a guy like Malachi Smith … Go get him … Instead we bring in Petro which cost us even more money …

Hurley has figured it out … Mix the retention, elite HS kids, 1 or 2 of the right international kids, and absolute DAWGs who come from winning programs in the portal … That’s what works … I’d like to see us get more towards that model …

Comparing in salary, do you think we are getting Luke Murray type value from O ? Not saying we are or we aren’t … Just a genuine question …
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I do watch a limited amount of non Illini basketball, but Kenpom seems to think that our SoS's have been similar...

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#511      
Todd99
On the coaching subject; what I’ve wondered about is what brought Kruger here? He was an assistant for several years and had like four years at UNLV as head coach and is still a relatively young guy. Could he not compete for head coaching jobs?
 
#512      
moonpies88
Todd99 said:
On the coaching subject; what I’ve wondered about is what brought Kruger here? He was an assistant for several years and had like four years at UNLV as head coach and is still a relatively young guy. Could he not compete for head coaching jobs?
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Take a couple years off, learn a bit then jump back into coaching is my guess
 
#519      
Illiniforlife
You mean the team that gave up a 30–0 run to UConn after another team clearly had an answer to “booty ball,” and our coach went on national television and said, “We’re going to keep going at [Donovan Clingan]," Underwood told NCAA correspondent Andy Katz. "If he blocks a hundred, he blocks a hundred. We’re not backing down. We’re going to do what we do.”

If reaching the Sweet 16 every now and then is the expectation, that feels disappointing given how much has been invested in this program—from players and coaches to staff and facilities. With the resources we have, I would expect us to be competing for the Sweet 16 on a yearly basis and making Final Four runs every three to four years, if not more frequently. We have the means to be that competitive consistently.
 
#520      
fuggles
illini0440 said:
Guy has nothing to do with the defense anymore and we’re still yelling at him! Lol
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The reason I said that was an insider mentioned that Crocker was not given full control and others were still influencing the defence.
 
#521      
illinifan1987
Are you not a Bears fan? Winning the division is a very rare thing for us. Do I want them to win it all? Absolutely! But...we actually have to make the playoffs for that to happen. Can you believe it's been almost 5 years since our last playoff game (7 since the double doink)? 🥺
*I completely agree with everything else*
 
#525      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
Fly Illini Fly! said:
If you watch this, that last play was really not on Keaton. Matter of fact, he does a very nice job of showing and then with that length recovering out to Lawrence. He's there on the catch and makes it an off the bounce shot. Just a very, very difficult (somewhat lucky) shot by Lawrence.
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Probay the most excusable of all those clips....
 
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