Illini Basketball 2026-2027
Vaaks / Mirk / Andrej are the engines to our offense.
Tomi and QC are a slight step below, but will be very productive.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Cracking the top 7 won’t be easy.
Vaaks
Coleman
Andrej
Mirk
Tomi
Z
Jake
^^^ That’s an incredibly established top 7. Even Jake, who could be described as the weakest of those 7, was a starter on a Final Four team last year.
8, 9, and 10 are completely up for grabs. With Morillo being the highest ranked recruit of the remaining freshman, you’d think 8 would belong to him. But it sounds like there’s gonna be a battle for that spot.
Really hoping for one of Morillo or Williams to pop. Both offer different upsides in the immediate if either one do.
Williams on one hand gives you an element of speed and athleticism defensively and in transition we really only have from Andrej currently. While Morillo with his height and versatility and onball skills seems like a perfect match offensively for what this group does.
With news of Kitt putting together a monster summer i think the talent evaluation of this staff is just operating at an insanely high level right now. Brad gets a ton of credit for adjusting to his personnel, as he should. But I'm thrilled he's settled into a bit of a style and type here - doubling down on strenghts.
Williams on one hand gives you an element of speed and athleticism defensively and in transition we really only have from Andrej currently. While Morillo with his height and versatility and onball skills seems like a perfect match offensively for what this group does.
With news of Kitt putting together a monster summer i think the talent evaluation of this staff is just operating at an insanely high level right now. Brad gets a ton of credit for adjusting to his personnel, as he should. But I'm thrilled he's settled into a bit of a style and type here - doubling down on strenghts.
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
Somebody needs to sell me on Michigan State because I don't see it. They have 1 really good player.
#1 donkey kicker in the land
Somebody needs to sell me on Michigan State because I don't see it. They have 1 really good player.
Sadly, I think i do. I'm a big Scott fan, and Glenn is a really nice player. Their backcourt and depth along with it is good.
Gotta replace a strong frontcourt though, so for sure flagging that.
I'd take them second at present moment over Michigan though.
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
these are the type of problems we want
Can you name names?
Ned isakoff
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Approximately 320 Division 1 men’s basketball coaches would give a body part to have this problem…….
Gotta be some super competitive practices. Love to hear it.
Can't help myself. Going to do a minutes projection.
1. Vaaks (33 mpg) QC (5 mpg) Morillo (2 mpg)
2. QC (20 mpg) Jake (10 mpg) Morillo (8 mpg)
3. Andrej (30 mpg) Jake (10 mpg)
4. Mirk (33 mpg) Z (4 mpg)
5. Tomi (28 mpg) Z (12 mpg)
Here's how I got there:
- Vaaks will play 30+ minutes. We've had a newcomer average more than 30 every year since Ayo left. Keaton, KJ, Marcus, TJ, Plummer.
- Jake will play the same amount of minutes but will play more at the 2 this year. He and Andrej only played together for an average of about 6 minutes per game last year but when they did play together, it was one of the most efficient 5 man lineups in college basketball. So, I'm looking for that number to increase.
- Sophomore leap will lead to Mirk's minutes increasing
- Tomi, now fully healthy and confident in his role will surpass the 27 mpg he played his first season here.
- And Z will be about the same as last year but he and Tomi will get to play together a little more this year.
So based on that I was projecting:
7 mpg available at the 1
30 mpg available at the 2
3 mpg available at the 4
You gotta think that QC gets 25 mpg conservatively.
With most of the opportunity available at the 1 or 2, I talked myself into Morillo being our 8th man at about 10 mpg. Which leaves about 5 mpg for another freshman based on need for a given game.
Interestingly and probably not coincidentally, this harkens back to 2024 a little bit when we returned a good portion of a veteran squad entrenched in their roles. Dain rounded out an 8 man rotation that year averaging 11 mpg with DGL averaging 7 mpg but registering DNPs in 10 games.
1. Vaaks (33 mpg) QC (5 mpg) Morillo (2 mpg)
2. QC (20 mpg) Jake (10 mpg) Morillo (8 mpg)
3. Andrej (30 mpg) Jake (10 mpg)
4. Mirk (33 mpg) Z (4 mpg)
5. Tomi (28 mpg) Z (12 mpg)
Here's how I got there:
- Vaaks will play 30+ minutes. We've had a newcomer average more than 30 every year since Ayo left. Keaton, KJ, Marcus, TJ, Plummer.
- Jake will play the same amount of minutes but will play more at the 2 this year. He and Andrej only played together for an average of about 6 minutes per game last year but when they did play together, it was one of the most efficient 5 man lineups in college basketball. So, I'm looking for that number to increase.
- Sophomore leap will lead to Mirk's minutes increasing
- Tomi, now fully healthy and confident in his role will surpass the 27 mpg he played his first season here.
- And Z will be about the same as last year but he and Tomi will get to play together a little more this year.
So based on that I was projecting:
7 mpg available at the 1
30 mpg available at the 2
3 mpg available at the 4
You gotta think that QC gets 25 mpg conservatively.
With most of the opportunity available at the 1 or 2, I talked myself into Morillo being our 8th man at about 10 mpg. Which leaves about 5 mpg for another freshman based on need for a given game.
Interestingly and probably not coincidentally, this harkens back to 2024 a little bit when we returned a good portion of a veteran squad entrenched in their roles. Dain rounded out an 8 man rotation that year averaging 11 mpg with DGL averaging 7 mpg but registering DNPs in 10 games.