Illini Basketball 2026-2027

#77      
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?
lstewart53x3 said:
This conversation was started by you saying you’ve never felt worse about our 9th man than you do this year.

It was then pointed out to you that our 9th man every year except one was a freshman that was rated at or below Zavier Zens, so if you were confident in those freshman, it would make sense to be just as confident in this one.

Then you brought up the bar is appearing in X percent of games and it was pointed out to that the majority of minutes played by our previous 9th men were in garbage time blowouts.

So you pointed to 4 games that one of our 9th men appeared in that were not garbage time. And in those 4 games, the player averaged 5.25 minutes and 0.5 points.

So if the question is:

“How confident are you that Zavier Zens can appear in 80% of games and do at or above nearly nothing with the minutes he plays?”

I’m very confident.
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If Zens plays in 80% of games, then that's a pretty big development for the team (barring it being at the expense of a catastrophic season ending injury; something we've been able to avoid outside of Ty Rodgers).

It probably means he averaged about 2.0 points. But most importantly, gives you a valuable spark in enough games that Brad feels comfortable playing him most nights. The ability to withstand injuries for a few games would also be so much improved from last season.
 
#78      
Grandpa
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:
Here's my explanation:

Looking at our seasons stats, our 9th men are serviceable enough to play in 70% of team games, at minimum. (last season was an exception, which speaks more to the Petro misfit rather than it being the norm)

So, I'd like the same for next year as well.

Like I said last thread, my benchmark for Zens (assuming he takes that role) would be around 28 games played and 18 made threes.

28 games would mean 70%; and 18 threes would mean he's a threat shooting the ball. Is that a realistic possibility? That's where my concerns lie.

---

Additional way to think about it would be:

if/when you lose two of your top-eight to injury for a game, do you play 6 guys or can you stretch it out to 7? That itself plays a significant part between a win and a loss.
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This is the crux of the matter. Last year it was in season. This year it could be at tourney time.
 
#79      
Captain 14
If I may digress briefly...what was the Illini team hotel in Chicago for the B1G tournament?
 
#80      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
lstewart53x3 said:
So if the question is:

“How confident are you that Zavier Zens can appear in 80% of games and do at or above nearly nothing with the minutes he plays?”

I’m very confident.
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If it were that easy then why did Petrovic play 51.4% and Brandon Lee play 48.6% ?

It depends whether you're ready to be thrown to the fire.
 
#81      
RabidDawgClassic
This time last year (before Ty’s injury) this was generally expected to be our starting lineup:

Petrovic
Boswell
Stojakovic
Rodgers
T. Ivisic

Our top two bench players were expected to be:

Z. Ivisic
Humrichous

Followed by some form of

Wagler
Mirkovic
Lee

Thst means either Wagler or Mirkovic was slated to be our #9thman, or even #10thman depending where you had Lee.

My point? We know nothing concrete about any of the incoming freshmen this year.
 
#82      
mysterio2525
RabidDawgClassic said:
This time last year (before Ty’s injury) this was generally expected to be our starting lineup:

Petrovic
Boswell
Stojakovic
Rodgers
T. Ivisic

Our top two bench players were expected to be:

Z. Ivisic
Humrichous

Followed by some form of

Wagler
Mirkovic
Lee

Thst means either Wagler or Mirkovic was slated to be our #9thman, or even #10thman depending where you had Lee.

My point? We know nothing concrete about any of the incoming freshmen this year.
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sounds like you are saying zavier zens in the lottery next year! book it! it's a trend!
 
#85      
Fly Illini Fly!
https://twitter.com/x/status/2061809198850101351

"4. Illinois

This spring was all about retention for Illinois, and the final piece of that was 100% finalized when Andrej Stojaković withdrew from the NBA draft and officially returned for a second year in Champaign. The Illini will miss Keaton Wagler immensely, but Stojaković, David Mirkovic and the Ivišić twins all seem poised to take steps forward in 2026–27. And while it’s not fair to expect Wagler-level production from either of Providence transfer Stefan Vaaks or touted freshman Quentin Coleman, both have the type of off-dribble scoring talent to help replace the likely top-five pick."
 
#87      
lstewart53x3
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:
We had two starters out against Wisconsin, and the 9th man played exactly zero minutes. We played a 6-man team and lost.

That's not something you should be rooting for.
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Yes, if only we had a 9th man as good as freshman DGL who shot 25% from the field. That definitely would’ve had us beating Wisconsin.
 
#88      
thefalcon5
RabidDawgClassic said:
This time last year (before Ty’s injury) this was generally expected to be our starting lineup:

Petrovic
Boswell
Stojakovic
Rodgers
T. Ivisic

Our top two bench players were expected to be:

Z. Ivisic
Humrichous

Followed by some form of

Wagler
Mirkovic
Lee

Thst means either Wagler or Mirkovic was slated to be our #9thman, or even #10thman depending where you had Lee.

My point? We know nothing concrete about any of the incoming freshmen this year.
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That roster had way more question marks than this years does.

We have 4 no doubt starters (assuming health holds) in Vaaks, Tomi, Mirk, and Andrej. I would argue last years team had two in Boswell and Tomi, I could be convinced on Rodgers and Andrej but neither of those two had as few question marks as the 4 this year.

Add to that Z and Davis being 6/7th men and a top 15 kid in Coleman I think the top 7 are just so much more concrete than last year. Even Morillo is a stronger recruit than most of the newcomers last year. Lastly, the continuity we have is immensely higher.

I’m not suggesting a 9th player couldn’t climb the rankings in terms of importance or minutes, it’s just that the top 8 this year are way more solidified in their role than the top 8 last year.
 
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