To be fair, I don’t think anyone (here) is acting upset about this.
The discussion started regarding the Mike LaTulip interview with the Field of 68 guy.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
The discussion started regarding the Mike LaTulip interview with the Field of 68 guy.
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
watchin' the corn grow here on the south 40
A good write up. And true.
Another add. Even if assist rates were lower, there’s further context around how we play.
We pass to get immediate buckets, yes, ofcourse. But we really pass to hunt advantages. We win getting the ball to the right spot, and letting our skill and height takeover from there.
It’s slower to develop and may not lead to counting assists all the time.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
same as it ever was
It was an issue early on. But it was solved by like December. (I remember Domask had a 30+ point game against FAU, and we basically marked that as his "breakout")
Problem is, the "no point guard" narrative didn't stop there. It continued for the rest of the season, and concluded when our season concluded on March 30th.
I remember folks claiming we'll lose to Iowa State, with the unanimous logic being our offense will plateau with 20+ turnovers, and we won't even be able to get shots up. Because, well, “they don't have a point guard.”
…..
Except….
1) Our Turnovers Per 100 Possessions that season was SIGNIFICANTLY lower than previous seasons:
2021 – 18.1
2022 – 18.2
2023 – 18.3
2024 – 14.9
(FWIW, 2025 was 16.0 and 2026 was 13.1
2025 wasn't great, but it felt that much worse because we played so fast, resulting in more raw turnovers. In 2026, Keaton was just outstanding)
2) for the past FIVE WEEKS of basketball leading up to ISU – which included a sample of 10 games and WINNING the Big Ten Tournament – the most turnovers Illinois hit in any game was 12. We only hit double figures in 3 of those 10 games as well.
For a team that played as fast as we did – over 70 poss per 40 – that’s good enough to win a lot of games.
Penn State was bad (18 turnovers), but for a whole month after that we were very good.
…..
And surely, Iowa State game rolls around... and we only concede 12 turnovers (which is very good when you're playing Otzelberger’s Iowa State).
This is way too long of a post, but it just shows how “no point guard” was like the 350th problem on the list of all problems. I didn't even mention how we had the #3 offense.
Talking heads just created a narrative, and ran with it.
And their uninformed audience believed it because, well, there just wasn't a 6 foot 1 guy on Illinois's roster. Yeah Domask is good... he's just 6”6. (which is so stupid)
Man would I love to watch Frank Williams play again. Not sure I truly appreciated his talent to the extent I should have when he played.
When it comes to sportswriters, "You're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything. " sure does cover quite a few people.
PizzaHutParkingLot
- Vodice, Croatia
The Illini will shoot so hot they'll have State Farm Center burning down the house.
That's an interesting trend with the turnovers, and I wonder the scheme behind it.
Seattle U is kind of an interesting one. A decent kenpom team last year, who really should have beat Gonzaga in Spokane.
No idea what they got in line this year, but that's a Colgate-esque program.
Here's the full assist to turnover numbers, per 100 possessions:
2021: 22.7 ast / 18.1 tov (1.25 ratio)
2022: 22.3 ast / 18.2 tov (1.23 ratio)
2023: 17.6 ast / 18.3 tov (0.96 ratio)
2024: 18.8 ast / 14.9 tov (1.26 ratio)
2025: 20.4 ast / 16.0 tov (1.28 ratio)
2026: 21.3 ast / 13.1 tov (1.63 ratio)
Not sure what we were doing in 2023. It's the lowest assist rate AND highest turnover rate of all the seasons.
2025 is better than it LOOKED (at least in terms of the turnovers). Our pace was just so high, the box score TOs would be inflated.
2026 is far and away the most efficient. And yes, this was a big reason why:
Seattle U has had a decent squad the last few years- I don’t know anything about their current retention or roster but may end up quad 3.