rmlsr
- El Paso,IL
They must not have anyone who can handle Vaaks. It will be interesting how the freshman workouts go because the summer workouts will help them a ton in getting PT during next season.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
Yup. Smith tried to play PG, with a little more success than Sergio had playing PG.
that was my senior year, before Steve blew out his knee, we were undefeated, we even beat Magic Johnson's Spartans, who went on to beat Indiana State with Larry Brid in the finals of the NCAA tournament. Once Steve was out, we barely played 500 the rest of the year.
I feel Vaaks is going to be a more athletic Kasparas with Wagler’s jump shot? Tell me I’m wrong…
Probably wrong place to put this but the 1989 Iowa game popped up in my youtube today
So many thoughts --
1) Wow, Iowa really had it going back then, really talented and strong and so thankful they took a major step back from that era for about 30 years. Thinking on it now that I didn't before, were they so good back then because of Bruce Pearl? I thought Davis had a connection to Michigan before Bruce to get some of those guys. And of course their best players were from Illinois which we can never let happen again.
2) that was Kendall Gill's first game back from a serious injury he suffered in that Georgia tech win to put Illinois at No. 1 in country on super bowl sunday 49ers over cincy, 89, Assembly Hall absolutely electric, an all-time Illini win, Kenny Battle with the best dunk in Illinois history, will never be topped, the rest can go for second best, and as that season went on and the way it ended in final four vs f'ing Michigan and their "Michigan Man" coach in final four, any Illini newcomers here need to know the history of the pain that school has caused and why there's a segment of us who will hate Michigan and Iowa with everything we have
3) Had some feel good, weird thoughts about the generations of Illini fandom, and I know it goes way back before '89, but now to see where the program is, just so happy for the old timers who suffered through Bruce Pearl, the more recents who suffered through Weber/Groce, .... and just hoping we can all enjoy the Final four last year and even better this coming season, it really is a special fanbase that I'm thankful to be part of, and we have more reasons than ever to be optomisitc big things are coming
I-L-L
So many thoughts --
1) Wow, Iowa really had it going back then, really talented and strong and so thankful they took a major step back from that era for about 30 years. Thinking on it now that I didn't before, were they so good back then because of Bruce Pearl? I thought Davis had a connection to Michigan before Bruce to get some of those guys. And of course their best players were from Illinois which we can never let happen again.
2) that was Kendall Gill's first game back from a serious injury he suffered in that Georgia tech win to put Illinois at No. 1 in country on super bowl sunday 49ers over cincy, 89, Assembly Hall absolutely electric, an all-time Illini win, Kenny Battle with the best dunk in Illinois history, will never be topped, the rest can go for second best, and as that season went on and the way it ended in final four vs f'ing Michigan and their "Michigan Man" coach in final four, any Illini newcomers here need to know the history of the pain that school has caused and why there's a segment of us who will hate Michigan and Iowa with everything we have
3) Had some feel good, weird thoughts about the generations of Illini fandom, and I know it goes way back before '89, but now to see where the program is, just so happy for the old timers who suffered through Bruce Pearl, the more recents who suffered through Weber/Groce, .... and just hoping we can all enjoy the Final four last year and even better this coming season, it really is a special fanbase that I'm thankful to be part of, and we have more reasons than ever to be optomisitc big things are coming
I-L-L
He’ll make lots of threes.
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
Basketball related stuff and other things.Oh yea. What kinda stuff
Not after Lanter was hurt.
#9thMan!
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Is Williams really as athletic as said to be? His dunks don’t look THAT freakish.
Delete
NASchamp
- Atlanta
Glad the Illini don’t have to play on this court with our history of not knowing what line to shoot from
Looks like a dang plate of spaghetti
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
They’d be shooting from the 6 point line all game.Glad the Illini don’t have to play on this court with our history of not knowing what line to shoot from
Looks like a dang plate of spaghetti
I don’t know who JPR is, or even if it is a person, but he or she or whatever also predicted Providence would be a second-round team in last year’s NCAA tournament. In a response to someone who seemed to be happy about getting Vaaks and Jamier Jones (transferred to Missouri) in the same class, he replied:
JPR
@Scouting_Col
Providence will be a second weekend team. There is so much talent on this team.
JPR
@Scouting_Col
Providence will be a second weekend team. There is so much talent on this team.
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I mean, sure, but not really. It’s not hard to look through the box scores and say “man if he went 1-3 instead of 0-3 that game, and 2-3 that game..or whatever. It’s not hard to imagine hitting 5 threes more during the non-conference…
Obviously, you can always say that about any player, so I know it doesn’t mean much.
He'll need to make more than 5 more to get to 30% next season.I mean, sure, but not really. It’s not hard to look through the box scores and say “man if he went 1-3 instead of 0-3 that game, and 2-3 that game..or whatever. It’s not hard to imagine hitting 5 threes more during the non-conference…
Obviously, you can always say that about any player, so I know it doesn’t mean much.
People don't realize... he didn't play much this year. Only 26.3 minutes/game. I'd imagine it's in the 32 range next year.
More minutes = more threes attempted = more made threes to have a good percentage.
I hope we don't up our pace next year.
More possession = less efficient offense. It's been a direct correlation.
More possession = less efficient offense. It's been a direct correlation.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Just depends on personnel. Had the #3 ranked offense in ‘24 with TJ that played with pretty good pace. #66 nationally in tempo (#308 last year).