Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#328      
Fighter of the Nightman
Combo said:
I agree. He might technically "come back" by late February. By I doubt he's anywhere near 100% this season. He's a guard, he handles the ball a lot and the broken hand is his strong hand. It sucks for him and for us.
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I could imagine a scenario where Kylan’s defensive contribution to this team gets closer to 100% again a lot sooner than his ball handling, shooting, finishing at the rim, etc. It might be optimistic, but that would still be a lucky outcome for us.

Not to diminish Kylan’s role on offense, as he’s our second leading scorer and our best ball handler. However, I think where we’ll really miss him the most is on defense … if we can get “Defense Kylan” back before March, it’s a massive win.
 
#329      
Fighter of the Nightman
BalloonsTheElephant said:
I'd get him locked in for next year as soon as we can. He's an obvious leader who can provide points off the bench and plays with high IQ and intensity.
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I’d be curious to hear if - for whatever reason or dynamic - this contribution of his is entirely new to this year. It would make sense given last season was his first year here, but this year’s team has a toughness and mental focus that capped last season’s ceiling at “meh,” IMO. If Jake is responsible for even some of that change, he’s worth his weight in gold!
 
#330      
blackdog
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I’d be curious to hear if - for whatever reason or dynamic - this contribution of his is entirely new to this year. It would make sense given last season was his first year here, but this year’s team has a toughness and mental focus that capped last season’s ceiling at “meh,” IMO. If Jake is responsible for even some of that change, he’s worth his weight in gold!
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There's a lot to be said for year 2 in the system both for on the court performance but also leadership/ownership of the program. Also the magical transformation of being an upperclassmen now.
 
#331      
BWA
blackdog said:
There's a lot to be said for year 2 in the system both for on the court performance but also leadership/ownership of the program. Also the magical transformation of being an upperclassmen now.
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Returning a decent percentage of minutes (and ty) helps in that respect. Last year, we had a completely new team.
 
#334      
Combo
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I could imagine a scenario where Kylan’s defensive contribution to this team gets closer to 100% again a lot sooner than his ball handling, shooting, finishing at the rim, etc. It might be optimistic, but that would still be a lucky outcome for us.

Not to diminish Kylan’s role on offense, as he’s our second leading scorer and our best ball handler. However, I think where we’ll really miss him the most is on defense … if we can get “Defense Kylan” back before March, it’s a massive win.
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We really need more than "defense Kylan" back. Even if he's at 100% on defense, the problem is you can't sub him out when we're on offense. So you'd be playing 4 vs 5 on the offense. And he's almost for sure going to be seriously impaired ball handling, shooting, and driving to the rim.

Absent a miracle, we're sort of screwed as far as he goes.
 
#336      
jrichisamazing
blackdog said:
There's a lot to be said for year 2 in the system both for on the court performance but also leadership/ownership of the program. Also the magical transformation of being an upperclassmen now.
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Makes me pretty excited to see what jumps Stoj, Mirk, and Big Z can make next year.
 
#339      
NarrowJ
#341      
ChiefGritty
#342      
illiniguy24
Sounds like a simple metacarpal fracture. I’m guessing if he wasn’t in the middle of a D1 bball season they would probably just pin it but putting a plate on it should allow compression and faster healing
 
#343      
illiniguy24
#349      
PizzaHutParkingLot
Illini Without Boswell:

Maryland (1/21) - W
Purdue (1/24) - L
Washington (1/29) - W
@ Nebraska (2/1) - W
Northwestern (2/4) - W
@ MSU (2/7) - L
Indiana (2/15) - W

5-2 Overall, Capt. Boswell returns vs. USC (2/18)
——————-
Let’s see how this looks in a month
 
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