lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Yes, I meant don’t* have a point guard! My bad ya’ll
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Okay sure, let’s say USC’s 9th guy is better than our 9th guy.
According to the player of the year betting odds:
Our 1st guy is better than their 1st guy.
Our 2nd guy is better than their 2nd guy.
Our 3rd guy is better than their 3rd guy.
Our 4th guy is better than their 4th guy.
In fact, our 3rd guy is projected to be better than their 1st guy.
I wonder which players will have a greater impact on wins. A team’s 4th guy off the bench or their top 4 starters?
Looking forward to this season
You mean between Goodman and Rob? That’s a tough one.
For as long as Goldman’s been doing this. He doesn’t seem to know much. Almost always acts put out and pissed off. If a person looked like the illegitimate offspring of Howdy Doody and Mrs. Potatohead, you’d think he’d try to be a little more jovial.
The fact that he’s buddy-buddy with Ed Cooley tells me all I need to know.
How are you coming up with "realistically play in Big Ten games?" Your use of "very talented" is definitely loose and overstating it IMO.
I'll just speak on MSU, since I've seen their "depth pieces" play a good amount in the U18 Americup, on the same team as one of our guys. After watching them play in 6 games, I would be extremely concerned if we were relying on them to be one of our 7/8/9 depth pieces. If Morillo and 1 or 2 of our depth pieces are 3/4 as good as QC, then I would put them ahead of Taylor or Jervis (especially considering it seems like Morillo did substantially better in the FIBA format, although playing for the Dominican team).
Here is MSU's "very talented" depth piece performances compared to QC, just as a reference:
I will take best over deepest 10 times out of 10
Everyone on Loyalty could benefit by watching MLT explain what BU is doing, and why, with the program. My (minimal) doubts about the coming season were put to rest by the best analyst in college basketball. He could be as good as Hummel as a full time B1G commentator.
I meant to add that supposedly, Hummel is often asked why he even associates with Goodman.
Hummel and Goodman excellent. While most of the rest of the field is a bunch of hacks.
PizzaHutParkingLot
- Vodice, Croatia
I agree. You're going to want your best guys out there as much as possible to maximize your chances of winning as much as possible.
Depth comes into play if you have injuries, which unfortunately happen.
Why compare to QC? He’s a bona fide starter.
Depth pieces get compared to depth pieces. 7th man gets compared to 7th man, 8th to 8th, 9th to 9th, etc.
MSU: 8th man Taylor. 9th man Medlock. 10th man Glenn. (if you’d like to include other guys instead from their rotation, feel free to do so; lots of competition on this team).
Illinois: 8th man Morillo. 9th man Williams. 10th man Brown.
Which you taking? That drop off from 8th to 9th is just way more drastic for Illinois.
Again, the original statement was about Illinois being deeper than Michigan State. It’s just not true when you look at the quality of depth for Michigan State (and USC for that matter).
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Agreed. But the original opinion wasn’t about best team, it was that Michigan State and USC both have less depth than Illinois.
I agree with USC being very deep and talented but I don't see it as much with MSU though like I mentioned I agree that they will be good.
Listed in your starting 5, I don't think any of Scott, Ward, or Bonke are proven starting caliber Big10 players. Or even really proven as quality depth players.
Kaleb Glenn played at FAU, but he missed last year with a torn patellar tendon. Torn patellar tendons are often times basically career enders so I wouldn't want to count on him(similarly like Ty Rodgers but wouldn't count on him).
Then for the freshman, I agree with Jervis being very talented, but Taylor I believe lost the 5 star ranking and is more around top 50. The Medlock likely won't play much of any behind Fears.
Illinois basically goes 8 deep with proven guys in Vaaks, Stojakovic, Mirk, Tomi, and Zvonimir plus a 5 star in coleman and top 50 guy in Morillo. Then Davis averaged nearly 10 pts a game at Mercer as a freshman and is now a senior.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Brad needs a B1G Coach of the Year too (if not national)
Brad needs an outright regular season conference championship
To me, depth is not about 'who are your 9th and 10th players who will play 4 minutes in a lopsided game?' but rather about how well you could withstand player absences.
Big Z is as good of a backup center as there is in the nation, likely is the best.
Jake Davis is as solid of a replacement on the wing as anyone in the country as well.
If a ballhandler goes down, you have the same issue most everyone else has. How good are Michigan St without Fears or USC without Rice? Just for example...
If 3-4 guys go down, again you have the same issue most everyone else has as that's too much to overcome anyhow as you don't have another star or two sitting at the end of the bench.
Deep team, but our 9/10th guys are top 100 while other team's are ranked a bit higher than that, which is really just a big old meh-who-cares-mc-nothing-burger.
Big Z is as good of a backup center as there is in the nation, likely is the best.
Jake Davis is as solid of a replacement on the wing as anyone in the country as well.
If a ballhandler goes down, you have the same issue most everyone else has. How good are Michigan St without Fears or USC without Rice? Just for example...
If 3-4 guys go down, again you have the same issue most everyone else has as that's too much to overcome anyhow as you don't have another star or two sitting at the end of the bench.
Deep team, but our 9/10th guys are top 100 while other team's are ranked a bit higher than that, which is really just a big old meh-who-cares-mc-nothing-burger.
Which MSU bench players could you transfer to a good B1G school and make an argument that they could be a starter? I can name at least 2 for Illinois that could transfer to pretty much any B1G team and have a starting role. At least 1 other who might have a fighting chance. That's how I would define depth. I'm not sure why there is a continued argument that the 10th spot on the bench means quality depth, because again, no team has ever won a championship because they have a really solid closer sitting on the 10th spot of their bench.
Poor depth is 2025 Maryland, who had an awesome starting five and a substantial drop-off, to the point where it was an issue when their starters left the court. Good depth is 2026 Michigan (and every other championship team), who could bring 2-3 guys off the bench who are complementary and add plus minutes when they're on the floor.
The argument for Illinois having better depth is that the roster this year fits the latter much more than MSU's does. If we're arguing about winning championships, the 10th man is mice nuts when it comes to winning championships.
(Edit: deleted a lot of this because it got a little more winded than I wanted)
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Just getting caught up here, but we're sweating the depth of a team that's starting Bonke at the 5?
Temu Big Z in their starting lineup and we think they're deeper than us? Am I getting that right? I mean I swear I searched for "Zvonomir Ivisic" on AliExpress and Bonke popped up for $17.62 (with a free gift ratchet set). Pretty sure that's where Izzo found him.
Temu Big Z in their starting lineup and we think they're deeper than us? Am I getting that right? I mean I swear I searched for "Zvonomir Ivisic" on AliExpress and Bonke popped up for $17.62 (with a free gift ratchet set). Pretty sure that's where Izzo found him.
Years***
They were on that ish all year while Domask was leading us to a top 3 offense
I mean come on man, at least he's backed up by Ethan Taylor! Freshman 4-star backup centers are usually a key piece to a good B1G team, right? Aren't they known for holding their own in the paint and staying out of foul trouble?
What about Carlos Medlock? Doesn't MSU need a scrappy, undersized PG this year?
The Illini are the hunted. What a great feeling.