Illini Basketball 2026-2027

ChiTown said:

So this cat is playing against us this year.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2074879293306306681

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Texas Tech with JT Toppin is projected be ranked 26 by Torvik. Without Toppin, 61.

grue2 said:

The hockey lines were supposed to increase chemistry. You are always playing with the same players. It also dealt with foul trouble because no one played more than 20 minutes. The downside was needing to create two balanced lines which resulted in both lines being over-matched vs. another really good team. Without the hockey line restriction Kentucky could have matched up.

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That concept only works right up until one of the key cogs gets hurt or there is the inevitable foul trouble within a game. The real right answer to win a title is to figure out how to have a consistent 10 man rotation (with the 9 & 10 man being 5 minute a game guys). I think that is one thing that hurt us at the end last season. Those last couple games our shooters looked tired. We beat Iowa basically on guts & desire plus the fact we were a more skilled team.

I think basically playing 8 guys from January on was showing its effects. Just getting 2 more guys a few minutes a game saves some wear & tear on your key guys at the end of the year. If you can buy 5 more minutes of rest a game for one of your starters, by game 32 you have basically saved 4 games worth of usage on that person.

Probably not a "do or die" thing as we made the final four with that lineup. But this year is about doing everything in November to early March so that you play 6 games in the tournament. It requires a level of attention to every detail to win those last few games.

Please delete, others posted my point already

Guest said:

Agree. Pure speculation because I don’t know much about these FIBA games. But it appears that Vaaks and Estonia (and the other Euro teams) are done for the time being. So, I assume Vaaks is back or will be soon. The FIBA European qualifying games restart at the end of August for about 5 days. So, again, I assume he will return at the end of that and have all of September and October to practice with the team. I have gotten the impression that the September/October practices are the most important, generally. So, it really doesn't sound as if he is missing a whole lot.

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He'll be back in Champaign on 10 July. At this moment, the Estonian national team's head coach said to our media that his return for the games on August 27 and 30 is not certain, but the talks to have him are active with Illinois. His participation means a lot to us, especially because this window's games were the first after his debut before coming to the US, and he visibly put the team on his shoulders at the important moments.

I choose to view our guys playing in these games as a major net positive.

Injury risk and lack of practice time domestically are the two massive negatives. But brand exposure is real and strengthening the euro pipeline can only be beneficial. I’d love for the Illini brand to flourish in Estonia and elsewhere in Europe and having star players play for the Orange and blue is awesome.

thefalcon5 said:

I choose to view our guys playing in these games as a major net positive.

Injury risk and lack of practice time domestically are the two massive negatives. But brand exposure is real and strengthening the euro pipeline can only be beneficial. I’d love for the Illini brand to flourish in Estonia and elsewhere in Europe and having star players play for the Orange and blue is awesome.

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this. and preventing our players from representing their national teams when it's the offseason is really poor form

Ranked non-conference opponents by year of Brad's tenure. For this upcoming season, I am using these.

2026-2027
at #2 Duke
vs. #4 UConn (Chicago, IL)
vs. #21 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
vs. #25 North Carolina (Nashville, TN)

(Surprised Texas Tech isn't on here, though I admit I have not followed them...)

2025-2026
vs. #5 UConn (New York, NY)
vs. #11 Alabama (Chicago, IL)
vs. #11 Texas Tech
vs. #13 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)

2024-2025
vs. #1 Tennessee
vs. #3 Duke (New York, NY)
vs. #8 Alabama (Birmingham, AL)
vs. #19 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO)

2023-2024
vs. #4 Marquette
vs. #11 FAU (New York, NY)
at #17 Tennessee

2022-2023
vs. #2 Texas (New York, NY)
vs. #8 UCLA (Las Vegas, NV)
vs. #16 Virginia (Las Vegas, NV)

2021-2022
vs. #11 Arizona

2020-2021
vs. #2 Baylor (Indianapolis, IN)
at #10 Duke

2019-2020
at #21 Arizona

2018-2019
vs. #3 Gonzaga (Maui, HI)

2017-2018
N/A

I, for one, absolutely LOVE this trend. Not only is it just really fun as a fan to be able to watch matchups like this, but I think it pretty clearly is to our advantage come March Madness, both in terms of our seed and the experience it gives us!

Fighter of the Nightman said:

Ranked non-conference opponents by year of Brad's tenure. For this upcoming season, I am using these.

2026-2027
at #2 Duke
vs. #4 UConn (Chicago, IL)
vs. #21 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
vs. #25 North Carolina (Nashville, TN)

(Surprised Texas Tech isn't on here, though I admit I have not followed them...)

2025-2026
vs. #5 UConn (New York, NY)
vs. #11 Alabama (Chicago, IL)
vs. #11 Texas Tech
vs. #13 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)

2024-2025
vs. #1 Tennessee
vs. #3 Duke (New York, NY)
vs. #8 Alabama (Birmingham, AL)
vs. #19 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO)

2023-2024
vs. #4 Marquette
vs. #11 FAU (New York, NY)
at #17 Tennessee

2022-2023
vs. #2 Texas (New York, NY)
vs. #8 UCLA (Las Vegas, NV)
vs. #16 Virginia (Las Vegas, NV)

2021-2022
vs. #11 Arizona

2020-2021
vs. #2 Baylor (Indianapolis, IN)
at #10 Duke

2019-2020
at #21 Arizona

2018-2019
vs. #3 Gonzaga (Maui, HI)

2017-2018
N/A

I, for one, absolutely LOVE this trend. Not only is it just really fun as a fan to be able to watch matchups like this, but I think it pretty clearly is to our advantage come March Madness, both in terms of our seed and the experience it gives us!

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TTU had a pretty bad offseason (IMO). The talent just isn’t there without Toppin. I’m excited to see what DGL can do there I thought he was close here but he will have plenty of opportunity on that tech roster.

Agreed that the noncon is awesome. It’s reflective of our teams status too (no one wants to play middling P5 schools those games only hurt NET).

I’d love to see more home and home as opposed to neutrals but that take has been echoed far and wide—including from BU.

One last thing: Winthrop beat us in the 16/17 season. What an awful time to be an Illini fan. I personally love keeping that perspective top of mind. We’re in a golden age of Illini basketball.