Illini Basketball 2025-2026

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#351      
RollChief
#352      
Fly Illini Fly!
illiniguy24 said:

He’s up to #3 on Bleacher However, if you want to talk about the best players in all of college basketball since the beginning of December. Torvik data suggests it's Wagler at No. 1 and Cameron Boozer at No. 2
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In the article:

“However, if you want to talk about the best players in all of college basketball since the beginning of December. Torvik data suggests it's Wagler at No. 1 and Cameron Boozer at No. 2.”
 
#353      
Fly Illini Fly!
Fly Illini Fly! said:
In the article:

“However, if you want to talk about the best players in all of college basketball since the beginning of December. Torvik data suggests it's Wagler at No. 1 and Cameron Boozer at No. 2.”
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So, basically what this is — Bart Torvik has a metric called PRPG, which basically measures a player’s total offensive value.

He’s number 5 in the nation in PRPG for the entire season:


And number 1 since December 1st:


One other note, Cameron Boozer is having a historic year in terms of the PRPG metric. Here’s the all time top player ratings of the metric, Boozer currently #9 all time:


As noted above, Illinois’ offense is averaging 1.351 points per possession with him on the court starting from that Tennessee game (which was on December 2nd).
 
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#354      
Fly Illini Fly!
Fly Illini Fly! said:
So, basically what this is — Bart Torvik has a metric called PRPG, which basically measures a player’s total offensive value.

He’s number 5 in the nation in PRPG for the entire season:


And number 1 since December 1st:


One other note, Cameron Boozer is having a historic year in terms of the PRPG metric. Here’s the all time top player ratings of the metric, Boozer currently #9 all time:


As noted above, Illinois’ offense is averaging 1.351 points per possession with him on the court starting from that Tennessee game (which was on December 2nd).
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I bring that up because since December 1st, Wagler’s not only beating Boozer out, but beating him out by a full 0.2 (Wagler — 7.7; Boozer — 7.5).

(sry, the time limit to edit my post above expired)
 
#355      
Fan Since '70
Wagler is the first American-born player Brad Underwood can remember who he offered a scholarship without seeing him play live. He says Wagler is “one of the greatest stories in college basketball.” “Keaton isn’t trying to go be famous,” he said. “He’s not trying to date some supermodel. He’s not out there longing for the next nice car, the next nice whatever. That’s not him. His Midwestern, wholesome values we see every single day. It’s be a great teammate, play hard, compete, because it’s what you do in basketball. To me, Keaton’s what the game is about — the kid who is 261 — and just finds his way.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6992977/2026/01/23/keaton-wagler-illinois-college-basketball/

Illinois’ Keaton Wagler was No. 261 in his class. Now he could be an NBA lottery pick.​

 
#357      
AirNeazy
Qwiksilvur said:
www.nytimes.com

Illinois’ Keaton Wagler was No. 261 in his class. Now he could be an NBA lottery pick

Wagler went mostly overlooked as a high school recruit, but is the leading scorer for a Final Four contender as a freshman.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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Remember when people were calling Tyler solely a nepotism hire and calling for his head while we've consitently trotted out one of the best offenses in the country for the last 3 years? Wonder what people will say now that he arguably recruited one of the best freshman in the country and in the history of our program.
 
#360      
Fly Illini Fly!
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#361      
rtbritt
Fly Illini Fly! said:
Kylan, Stoj, Keaton, Mirk, Tomi, Ben, Z, Jake, Petro

Kylan, Stoj, Keaton, Mirk, Tomi, Ben, Z, Jake

Kylan, Stoj, Keaton, Mirk, Tomi, Ben

Kylan, Stoj
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I know Z and Jake don't typically play enough or shoot enough to get to 20, but let's have one of them get to 20 against Purdue and the other against Nebraska, and let's be the team with the random role player exploding to lead us to victory!
 
#362      
21ChampaignSt
A little time to kill before the game so here's a random Torvik tidbit.

Here are the top 5 Illini teams in terms of likelihood to win a Natty according to Torvik

1. 2005: 30.3%
2. 2001: 7.5%
3. 2021: 6.9%
4. 2026: 5.1%
5. 2003: 3.5%


And to make a Final Four

1. 2005: 57%
2. 2001: 30.8%
3. 2021: 27%
4. 2026: 18.7%
5. 2006: 14.3%

Right now, Torvik's model gives us the 5th best odds to win a Natty this year and the 7th best odds to make a Final Four.
 
#364      
Bigtex
A++

Unbelievable team win. 4 straight 3s down the stretch. Tomi, Jake, Mirk and tomi.

Illinois has a star and lots of complimentary parts who would be a star or go to player on another team(s) Each step forward on different times and different nights

@Fighter of the Nightman can you provide the record for underwood / Illinois teams as an underdog? Not looking for record against the spread just record straight up.
 
#365      
SkyysNotFalling
home wins: Texas Tech
road wins: Iowa, Purdue, Ohio State
Neutral wins: Tennessee, Missouri

That’s 6 different wins against tournament teams, ~3-4 against teams with second weekend hopes, 2 wins against national title contenders

That’ll do. And there’s more where that came from!
 
#368      
Illwinsagain
Reviewing the schedule, I don't like the short rest after the huskies, going on the road to Nebby. Then, it happens again the next week, after Kitties going to MSU. Boo schedule makers@
 
#369      
kmunt09
About to be a NEB/ILL/MSU log jam in the AP poll.

I expect to leapfrog MSU, but fall right behind NEB, who might jump as high as 5📈

Purdue mid-teens somewhere. 📉
 
#371      
sacraig
SkyysNotFalling said:
home wins: Texas Tech
road wins: Iowa, Purdue, Ohio State
Neutral wins: Tennessee, Missouri

That’s 6 different wins against tournament teams, ~3-4 against teams with second weekend hopes, 2 wins against national title contenders

That’ll do. And there’s more where that came from!
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You really think Mizzou is a tournament team?
 
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