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Illini Basketball 2026-2027
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Well, my point was not what you claim.
I was discussing which team you'd rather face. Duke or UConn. I said an argument could be made that you'd pick UConn because Hurley is superior in post season coaching.
You haven't convinced me that he's not.
Vaaks was not good in his two games against UCONN
Ladies coach brought some absinth mixed with blood of children over from the home country to share amongst the staff.
Time to break through either Duke or UConn or both. Michigan was building some Mojo with May, who was positioning as one of the best coaches in the country before bolting. Now really feel like Duke (because they can basically recruit who they want) and UConn (coaching) are the real litmus tests out there. Duke may be throwing a 7 footer at the 4. UConn has some MF'ers, thick beasts on their roster. PG, new center and freshman SF are brawlers.
Should know where this squad stands after those two.
You forget about matchups - which are important in sports. UConn plays a glacial pace, forces you to defend actions for 30 second and grinds you down on D. Wasn't there some stat that our three lowest offensive outputs over the last three years were to them? Two lowest last year and then that massacre in 2024. Bad matchup, clearly. Michigan was averaging around 95/game in the tourney and UConn locked them down in the 60's.
Great to see that clip. Last clip we saw showed him lacking in physicality and a tad hesitant instead of doing his thing quickly and confidently.
Brown is obviously progressing physically (thanks Adam Fletcher) which he badly needed. In addition, he appears to be confident and doing what he needs to do to contribute. Could become a solid cog in the Illini wheel and/or a starter/rotational player in a couple of years....not just a guy that plays due to experience, but a B1G warrior who hits shots every night, low turnovers, and defends. Can't have enough of those guys.
He will have 4 and maybe 5 classmates ahead of him in playing time, but he has value at that spot that we have not had previously from similarly rated frosh. Hope he is willing to work hard and be patient. He has B1G level skills but not the body....yet. That should come with time and work...along with confidence.
It seems all our freshman are busting with potential. Who will emerge and surprise us when we start playing "real" games? I don't see how it's possible to keep all of them happy; that's the part of the modern game I hate.I hereby, decree that hither and yon: Ethan Brown shall be known as “ Downtown Ethan Brown” for evermore. (I really like this Lincoln-kid too; btw.)
This is all true- but the most satisfying win by a wide margin for me would be UConn, not the most important, that would be Michigan, nor the best win, that would be Duke.
But the most satisfying is UConn, need to get past the Hurley demons if we are going to take the next step and we have the team to do it this year
Somewhat unrelated. I'm always skeptical of coaching "luck".
Their job is to put the right player in the right position to succeed. "Lucky" bounces are a byproduct of someone being in the position to take advantage.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
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My brother and I tossed this question around. We both said Kofi with Plummer’s shooting because that’s a bigger marginal gain and impact.
His comp for Wagler with TSJ’s athleticism is Jaylen Brown, while his comp for Kofi was a poor man’s Joel Embiid.
I agree, generally. Though in this specific scenario, being down 2 with seconds left and also not having possession of the ball wasn't "in the right position to succeed".
You could attribute coaching to breaking down 19 point deficit against the overall one to having all momentum at that point. Sometimes good things happen when you team develops a mentality.
So one team has a 2 point lead with seconds left, and also has the ball (other team has no timeouts).
Momentum? lol mkay
Lot of bending over backwards to give Hurley credit for a 0.01% chance of winning that game. The guy has enough on his resume that we already must consider him a great coach, do we really have to work this hard to make him the divine cause of the completely improbable turnover + desperation heave? I mean what's next? Are we going to argue he actually made that play happen somehow? Wasn't aware there were so many Hurley fanboys on here...
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I mean, yeah there is some luck attached to it but it was a tipped pass (a bad pass) but still defense caused that decision, Hurley coaches his guys to never give up. Lately he has landed two of the best Illini teams in program history a loss in the tourney, his players believe they are always going to win. That is why I didn't want this team to play UCONN and would rather them play DUKE because of coaching.
I can't stand Hurley but let's not pretend luck won him that game, it was a tipped pass, great defense, that led to a shot from a stud shooter.
The offensive player could've just launched the ball in the air and the game is over. He made an error by throwing it where a player could easily reach it.
It was 100% an error by Boozer, that's not really disputable.
There is no way to give Hurley credit for this. Having a player on the other team make a dire mistake and then banking in a 40 foot heave isn't something you draw up on the clipboard.
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The coaching and culture instilled by Hurley gave them a chance to be in it being down big.
The final play itself was a fluke. Even taking out the steal, it still required a 40-foot heave anyway.
A little luck too it just happened to be the freshmen point guard instead of the veteran pg who was hobbled and limited.
Not every single result and play result in college basketball needs to be about in game coaching and adjustments
The final play itself was a fluke. Even taking out the steal, it still required a 40-foot heave anyway.
A little luck too it just happened to be the freshmen point guard instead of the veteran pg who was hobbled and limited.
Not every single result and play result in college basketball needs to be about in game coaching and adjustments
The 40-footer against Duke was pure nylon. They started banking in threes against us. Because of course.The offensive player could've just launched the ball in the air and the game is over. He made an error by throwing it where a player could easily reach it.
It was 100% an error by Boozer, that's not really disputable.
There is no way to give Hurley credit for this. Having a player on the other team make a dire mistake and then banking in a 40 foot heave isn't something you draw up on the clipboard.
The shots in particular that Solo Ball hit against us, in both games!, for a dude who was broke all year long was utter devil magic.
I think I’d go the other way. Kofi didn’t have the best hands and certainly couldn’t handle the ball well enough on the perimeter. How much would the shooting really help if he still couldn’t play on the perimeter?
Wagler+TSJ fast breaks alone would be insane to watch.
Knowing The Wyatt Earp Effect is a thing means never having to admit nice things about Hurley (even if maybe he earned them).
Brown has 3 months.
Think about how much weight/strength Keaton gained. He was getting checked full court by Yaxel and Morez, two lotto picks with far greater physical gifts.
I’m confident we’ll see a B1G-ready Ethan this year at least against the lower half of the conference.
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