Illini Basketball 2026-2027

#1      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
Welcome to the Illini Basketball thread :illinois:

Tickets Info


Reported Non-Conference Games

DateOpponentLocationInfo
Mon, Nov 2Fairleigh DickinsonState Farm CenterLink
Tue, Nov 10at Texas TechUnited Supermarkets Arena (Lubbock, TX)Link
Tue, Nov 17at DukeCameron Indoor Stadium (Durham, NC)Link
Fri, Dec 4UConnUnited Center (Chicago, IL)Link
MissouriEnterprise Center (St. Louis, MO)
Sat, Jan 30North CarolinaBridgestone Arena (Nashville, TN)Link


IL Big Ten Opponents
Home & Away: Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin
Home only: Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, UCLA, USC
Away only: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Rutgers, Washington


IL Returnees
David Mirkovic
Tomislav Ivisic
Zvonimir Ivisic
Jake Davis
Andrej Stojakovic
Jason Jakstys
Blake Fagbemi

IL Newcomers
Ethan Brown
Landon Davis
Lucas Morillo
Zavier Zens
Quentin Coleman
Stefan Vaaks
Lincoln Williams


Last year
Non-conference schedule was released on August 18th
Big Ten schedule was released on September 18th
Time & TV info was released on October 7th
 
#2      
FrankNitty30
Season 13 No GIF by Ninja Warrior
 
#5      
LvilleILL1
Working on more, but a few things:

1) Quentin Coleman does the "little things." Rebounding has stood out. He will play a major role this season.

2) Mentioned this last week but Stefan Vaaks was the early standout before national team duty. He will be back in a couple of weeks on campus. The size and shooting are extremely real.

3) Tomislav Ivisic is carrying himself in a different way this year. Have heard the work ethic is at a different level so far.

4) David Mirkovic will be the best player on the team. Improvements have been made, have heard he looks like a possible contender for National Player of the year.

5) Andrej is going to be Andrej again. I expect a very similar role to last year but with more consistent play. Will guard the other teams best g/w.

6) They are very excited about this freshman class. Have heard they have impressed at different points. A couple need to put some weight on which is a work in progress.

Some tough decisions are going to have to be made to round out the rotation. Great problem to have though.
 
#6      
IlliniShelt
LvilleILL1 said:
Working on more, but a few things:

1) Quentin Coleman does the "little things." Rebounding has stood out. He will play a major role this season.

2) Mentioned this last week but Stefan Vaaks was the early standout before national team duty. He will be back in a couple of weeks on campus. The size and shooting are extremely real.

3) Tomislav Ivisic is carrying himself in a different way this year. Have heard the work ethic is at a different level so far.

4) David Mirkovic will be the best player on the team. Improvements have been made, have heard he looks like a possible contender for National Player of the year.

5) Andrej is going to be Andrej again. I expect a very similar role to last year but with more consistent play. Will guard the other teams best g/w.

6) They are very excited about this freshman class. Have heard they have impressed at different points. A couple need to put some weight on which is a work in progress.

Some tough decisions are going to have to be made to round out the rotation. Great problem to have though.
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I mean thats great and all, but none of that matters if we don't have our 9th man situation resolved. /S
 
#7      
jamarvelous31
LvilleILL1 said:
Working on more, but a few things:

1) Quentin Coleman does the "little things." Rebounding has stood out. He will play a major role this season.

2) Mentioned this last week but Stefan Vaaks was the early standout before national team duty. He will be back in a couple of weeks on campus. The size and shooting are extremely real.

3) Tomislav Ivisic is carrying himself in a different way this year. Have heard the work ethic is at a different level so far.

4) David Mirkovic will be the best player on the team. Improvements have been made, have heard he looks like a possible contender for National Player of the year.

5) Andrej is going to be Andrej again. I expect a very similar role to last year but with more consistent play. Will guard the other teams best g/w.

6) They are very excited about this freshman class. Have heard they have impressed at different points. A couple need to put some weight on which is a work in progress.

Some tough decisions are going to have to be made to round out the rotation. Great problem to have though.
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ILFaninFL said:
Nugget day?
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golden boy wow GIF by Feliks Tomasz Konczakowski

Animated GIF


GIF by Wendy's
 
#9      
RockfordIllini
LvilleILL1 said:
Working on more, but a few things:

1) Quentin Coleman does the "little things." Rebounding has stood out. He will play a major role this season.

2) Mentioned this last week but Stefan Vaaks was the early standout before national team duty. He will be back in a couple of weeks on campus. The size and shooting are extremely real.

3) Tomislav Ivisic is carrying himself in a different way this year. Have heard the work ethic is at a different level so far.

4) David Mirkovic will be the best player on the team. Improvements have been made, have heard he looks like a possible contender for National Player of the year.

5) Andrej is going to be Andrej again. I expect a very similar role to last year but with more consistent play. Will guard the other teams best g/w.

6) They are very excited about this freshman class. Have heard they have impressed at different points. A couple need to put some weight on which is a work in progress.

Some tough decisions are going to have to be made to round out the rotation. Great problem to have though.
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Thanks so much for the nuggets. For #5, I hope Andrej realizes excelling in the last sentence to that update, along with more consistent 3 pt shot, is his ticket to the league rather than scoring a bunch of points on low efficiency.

Probably just off season over optimism, in that we did lose a consensus AA and Kylan and Ben were also key contributors, but I think we have a chance to be even better next year.

And I’m not sure I see a super team like we’ve had the last few years with UConns , Michigans, Dukes etc. maybe one emerges but next year should be about as wide open as it’s been the last 4-5 years.
 
#11      
lstewart53x3
LvilleILL1 said:
Working on more, but a few things:

1) Quentin Coleman does the "little things." Rebounding has stood out. He will play a major role this season.

2) Mentioned this last week but Stefan Vaaks was the early standout before national team duty. He will be back in a couple of weeks on campus. The size and shooting are extremely real.

3) Tomislav Ivisic is carrying himself in a different way this year. Have heard the work ethic is at a different level so far.

4) David Mirkovic will be the best player on the team. Improvements have been made, have heard he looks like a possible contender for National Player of the year.

5) Andrej is going to be Andrej again. I expect a very similar role to last year but with more consistent play. Will guard the other teams best g/w.

6) They are very excited about this freshman class. Have heard they have impressed at different points. A couple need to put some weight on which is a work in progress.

Some tough decisions are going to have to be made to round out the rotation. Great problem to have though.
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If you were to rank next year’s players, what would that look like? Reading the tea leaves maybe something like:

Mirk
Vaaks
Andrej
Tomi
Coleman
Z
Jake
Morillo
Other Freshman
 
#13      
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?
LvilleILL1 said:
Working on more, but a few things:

1) Quentin Coleman does the "little things." Rebounding has stood out. He will play a major role this season.

2) Mentioned this last week but Stefan Vaaks was the early standout before national team duty. He will be back in a couple of weeks on campus. The size and shooting are extremely real.

3) Tomislav Ivisic is carrying himself in a different way this year. Have heard the work ethic is at a different level so far.

4) David Mirkovic will be the best player on the team. Improvements have been made, have heard he looks like a possible contender for National Player of the year.

5) Andrej is going to be Andrej again. I expect a very similar role to last year but with more consistent play. Will guard the other teams best g/w.

6) They are very excited about this freshman class. Have heard they have impressed at different points. A couple need to put some weight on which is a work in progress.

Some tough decisions are going to have to be made to round out the rotation. Great problem to have though.
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I’ve always thought David would be 3rd best behind Andrej and Vaaks.
 
#15      
Nohops 73
For #3 above, I hope Toni’s energized work ethic rubs off on Z. Seems like there is still so much untapped potential in his game.
Think what 20 pounds more muscle and a couple post moves could add to his game.
 
#19      
Fly Illini Fly!
I wouldn’t bet Mirk would be the leading scorer.

Obviously that doesn’t mean he can’t be the best player. (since he could easily average a double double)
 
#23      
IllGuardU
LvilleILL1 said:
Working on more, but a few things:

1) Quentin Coleman does the "little things." Rebounding has stood out. He will play a major role this season.

2) Mentioned this last week but Stefan Vaaks was the early standout before national team duty. He will be back in a couple of weeks on campus. The size and shooting are extremely real.

3) Tomislav Ivisic is carrying himself in a different way this year. Have heard the work ethic is at a different level so far.

4) David Mirkovic will be the best player on the team. Improvements have been made, have heard he looks like a possible contender for National Player of the year.

5) Andrej is going to be Andrej again. I expect a very similar role to last year but with more consistent play. Will guard the other teams best g/w.

6) They are very excited about this freshman class. Have heard they have impressed at different points. A couple need to put some weight on which is a work in progress.

Some tough decisions are going to have to be made to round out the rotation. Great problem to have though.
Click to expand...
Thanks from us info starved fans👏
 
#24      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
LvilleILL1 said:
Less of an indictment on Jake and more on what I think Lucas will be. I think there will be games that Jake is huge for Illinois and he plays 20+ minutes in a lot of big games.
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Well, the issue is obviously 3 point shooting.

Morillo could very well be a negative in that department; while Jake will likely have the highest 3pt percentage on the team. Very big difference in terms of floor spacing.
 
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