Sure, but now it's 100x expedited.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
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I think it has to be Z. he'll be the first one off the bench to spell Tomi after the first under 16. and could stay in to spell mirk. he has the ability to impact on defense, an easy lob threat (which needs to be incorporated more in the offense this year) and if he gets his shot back from 3 then that's enough to be very impactful in a way no one else can mimic
Coleman will earn his M-Fer badge quite quickly.
What is this recent trend of pedantic contrarian concern trolling? This seemed to begin right as the season ended and has gotten progressively worse with the same few folks ixnaying any positive developments and is one of the weirdest things I've seen on a team sports forum, probably ever:
- Illinois at #1 in multiple early rankings = rankings are crap because Duke/Florida isn't ahead of us
- Keaton Wagler story = not really a story, everyone always knew he was a star
- Illinois' middle-of-the-pack 3 point shooting = they were a horrid 3 point shooting team
- Positive thing said about Illinois in article = well Duke/Florida/UConn/Louisville/USC have better rosters
- Every fringe 100 recruit that rec's positive summer report = way overhyped, coin it "Keaton Wagler effect"
- Guys at the end of the rotation look really promising = does Lucas Morillo even play basketball? Justin Harmon was better
- Morez Johnson publicly trashes Illinois program/staff = what a great kid he is, and him and Dusty are gonna win 'ships
- Article mentions Mirkovic as NPOY candidate = there's virtually no way he can average more points or rebs this year
- Mirkovic mocked in lottery = too slow and can't jump
- Recruit re-classes = they're not nearly as good as they were yesterday
I probably missed a few, but y'all are exhausting LOL
- Illinois at #1 in multiple early rankings = rankings are crap because Duke/Florida isn't ahead of us
- Keaton Wagler story = not really a story, everyone always knew he was a star
- Illinois' middle-of-the-pack 3 point shooting = they were a horrid 3 point shooting team
- Positive thing said about Illinois in article = well Duke/Florida/UConn/Louisville/USC have better rosters
- Every fringe 100 recruit that rec's positive summer report = way overhyped, coin it "Keaton Wagler effect"
- Guys at the end of the rotation look really promising = does Lucas Morillo even play basketball? Justin Harmon was better
- Morez Johnson publicly trashes Illinois program/staff = what a great kid he is, and him and Dusty are gonna win 'ships
- Article mentions Mirkovic as NPOY candidate = there's virtually no way he can average more points or rebs this year
- Mirkovic mocked in lottery = too slow and can't jump
- Recruit re-classes = they're not nearly as good as they were yesterday
I probably missed a few, but y'all are exhausting LOL
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
An amazing concept. Gotta love it
Wait, did I miss Morez trashing us recently? I thought despite typical banter when we played them, there was still a bit of respect between our staff and him. I mean, I hate that he left and am glad he is off to the pros, but ultimately he’s a kid and just gonna hype himself and team up jut like we did (Jake Davis interview, etc)
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
Thanks for that comment. I wondered why mine said "no NJ players". My VPN is linked to NJ today. Wouldn't have bothered to figure out the why of "no NJ". Because really, who cares? lol
It seems like it's a little bit of a "Real Housewives of the Illinois Loyalty Board" effect for some. I haven't watched the show really but I kind of get the gist. Comparing it to this board, still 4 months away from what is definitely going to be an awesome season:
You're a group of ultra-rich housewives (sports fans with their team ranked preseason in the top 5 out of 365 teams) who, despite having everything they need, are bored because they don't have much of a role in the generation of the wealth (are 4 months out from the season, have limited access to new information, and nothing better to do really) so, instead of having a great time drinking champagne and being happy about how much you have as a collective, most interactions devolve into bickering and throwing glasses at each other (find ways to pick apart positives, new information, and look to make arguments based on very granular semantics and hypotheticals)
I'm still forming this analogy haha but that's my best shot at explaining it...
That was the first thing I noticed, as well
FightinIllini30
Future insider
I would think Jake and Morillo would both be over Z but maybe I’m a hater
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
Funny, who would have thought Ben and defense would be used in the same sentence a year ago. Also, I would pick Andre over Ben.
Sad I can only like this once.
Folks don't seem to remember what summer was like to only have reports that Sherron Collins was really silently committed to being the next Dee Brown or Alex Legion looking like a star in summer practice or how we were a shoo-in for Tim Finke as the next big thing as the future of Illini basketball.
Folks are just... spoiled and SUPER bored.
We should really bring in the coaching staff that helped develop Ben into a + defender and see if they can do the same with our other guys..
Z is going to have to play a lot of minutes. Who else do we have behind Tomi and Mirk?
the new assistant brought in last year (Crocker) did a nice job and with another year i expect even more. especially from the bigs.
One of the main take aways I had from the 49 second video posted yesterday was BU saying something along the lines of "we should be the best shot-blocking teams in the history of college basketball."
It seems like every year BU takes a piece of something from the prior year's championship team and incorporates it into Illinois' strategy. What made Michigan's team so good last year defensively was they were physically imposing, blocked so many shots and made it really really hard to drive into the lane, so your best shot was trying to shoot over them. Their defensive 2P% was 2nd in the country, block rate was 3rd, and Average 2 point-attempt distance was 4th.
I wonder if this is going to be the defensive strategy this year, making it as hard as possible to get to the paint, and if you do come to the paint, punishing you for it by blocking shots.
Definitely agree - you know that watching UConn score 30 points while we could barely hope to just get the ball over Donovan Clingan's arm/head caused a bit of stirring up in that gray matter lol
The only thing missing is a response to this along the lines of “oh, so now you’re saying I’m not allowed to say anything negative?!”
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
can some kind soul please send me a link to the Ubben court spycam?
DICKnaggie
- Champaign
There are pages of discussion on this. Look back a bit.
Boricua Illini
- Puerto Rico
I think that sorta has been the strategy for the last few years with slight tweaks...
Few years ago was allow no 3 pointers or layups..
Last year it was tweaked to allowing some 3 pointers (bad ones) and no layups...
Rebounding and allowing just one shot has always been a constant.
Now there is a difference between strategy and execution of said strategy, so I guess coach is willing his team to improve on the execution and become an *elite* blocking team.
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