Illini Basketball 2026-2027

21ChampaignSt · 2026-07-31T07:17:41-0500

You can be fast and efficient. See Alabama.

We actually started last year playing relatively fast. We were a little more aggressive about looking for fast break opportunities. But the bigger driver behind the fast tempo was taking shots earlier in the half court.

Then Keaton came along and we realized the most efficient thing we could do is just put the ball in his hands and let him work. Given enough time, we knew the defense would make a mistake before Keaton would.

I don't think Vaaks is quite as methodical as Keaton. In fact, he led a pretty fast offense last year. So, that alone will increase our tempo relative to last year.

pweo · 2026-07-31T07:39:35-0500

Juju said:
Y'know what'd be nice? If we could just get ONE stinkin' game against Duke in Champaign. Counting this upcoming game, we'll have obviously gone to Durham 3 times and they've NEVER come to Champaign. We've played them like, 8 or 9 times since the '80s and besides the 3 in Durham, all the other games have been neutral site games. Can we PLEASE get one in Champaign or do they always get home court advantage in games that aren't scheduled on a neutral court simply because they're Duke?

How is December 4th, 2027? https://fightingillini.com/news/202...return-game-the-following-season-in-champaign

WyattEarp · 2026-07-31T08:05:33-0500

21ChampaignSt said:
You can be fast and efficient. See Alabama.

We actually started last year playing relatively fast. We were a little more aggressive about looking for fast break opportunities. But the bigger driver behind the fast tempo was taking shots earlier in the half court.

Then Keaton came along and we realized the most efficient thing we could do is just put the ball in his hands and let him work. Given enough time, we knew the defense would make a mistake before Keaton would.

I don't think Vaaks is quite as methodical as Keaton. In fact, he led a pretty fast offense last year. So, that alone will increase our tempo relative to last year.

Yeah there’s not much more of an “efficient” shot than an easy run-out lay up… (2 on 1, 3 on 2) Our guys can all dribble pass and shoot…and fill lanes. You don’t have to have Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis-level athleticism for that.

Brad wants to play that way; anywho.
And if you look at Vaaks & Coleman and Andrej…and Lincoln and even others…it makes sense. That’s why I said a couple months ago I thought we’d try to be more of an “opportune break” kinda team this year.

I’m not talking spray and pray type stuff.
Brad’s prolly not gonna go full Westhead…and completely change the calculus.

Everybody needs to quit acting like things aren’t gonna change a little from year to year. When has that ever happened? How many mid season overhauls have we seen now? How many times have we assumed guy:B is gonna slot in such and such slot…precisely the way guy:A was the year prior; only to be utilized differently? It’s kinda ridiculous we keep acting like that isn’t going to happen.

When have we ever not changed things? The personnel changes… I would be worried if we weren’t also making changes.

(To his credit…Brad isn’t a “system” type coach.)

Our record is the only #s I care about.

BretMyBeachHouse · 2026-07-31T08:58:57-0500

WyattEarp said:
Yeah there’s not much more of an “efficient” shot than an easy run-out lay up… (2 on 1, 3 on 2) Our guys can all dribble pass and shoot…and fill lanes. You don’t have to have Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis-level athleticism for that.

Brad wants to play that way; anywho.
And if you look at Vaaks & Coleman and Andrej…and Lincoln and even others…it makes sense. That’s why I said a couple months ago I thought we’d try to be more of an “opportune break” kinda team this year.

I’m not talking spray and pray type stuff.
Brad’s prolly not gonna go full Westhead…and completely change the calculus.

Everybody needs to quit acting like things aren’t gonna change a little from year to year. When has that ever happened? How many mid season overhauls have we seen now? How many times have we assumed guy:B is gonna slot in such and such slot…precisely the way guy:A was the year prior; only to be utilized differently? It’s kinda ridiculous we keep acting like that isn’t going to happen.

When have we ever not changed things? The personnel changes… I would be worried if we weren’t also making changes.

(To his credit…Brad isn’t a “system” type coach.)

Our record is the only #s I care about.

Thanks. Well said. I chuckle when I hear people say "Brad wants guys who....." History tells us that he'll work with the talent he gets and adjust accordingly. He's not locked into any type of player and he's won with a variety of guys.

Fly Illini Fly! · 2026-07-31T09:09:23-0500

21ChampaignSt said:
You can be fast and efficient. See Alabama.

We actually started last year playing relatively fast. We were a little more aggressive about looking for fast break opportunities. But the bigger driver behind the fast tempo was taking shots earlier in the half court.

Our Alabama game was over 80 possessions.

Alabama is always looking to run, and we were trying to run with them. The team we were in that game was completely different than the team we became a month later.

WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? · 2026-07-31T09:14:16-0500

Fly Illini Fly! said:
Our Alabama game was over 80 possessions.

Alabama is always looking to run, and we were trying to run with them. The team we were in that game was completely different than the team we became a month later.

Yes, and our points per possession was not very efficient.

ChiTown · 2026-07-31T09:17:10-0500

RabidDawgClassic said:
Nico Moretti and Zacharie Perrrin crawled so that Tomislav Ivisic and David Mirkovic could run. They were the origins of our international recruiting.

Georgi says hold my beer…..

Combo · 2026-07-31T09:18:30-0500

WyattEarp said:
Yeah there’s not much more of an “efficient” shot than an easy run-out lay up… (2 on 1, 3 on 2) Our guys can all dribble pass and shoot…and fill lanes. You don’t have to have Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis-level athleticism for that.

Brad wants to play that way; anywho.
And if you look at Vaaks & Coleman and Andrej…and Lincoln and even others…it makes sense. That’s why I said a couple months ago I thought we’d try to be more of an “opportune break” kinda team this year.

I’m not talking spray and pray type stuff.
Brad’s prolly not gonna go full Westhead…and completely change the calculus.

Everybody needs to quit acting like things aren’t gonna change a little from year to year. When has that ever happened? How many mid season overhauls have we seen now? How many times have we assumed guy:B is gonna slot in such and such slot…precisely the way guy:A was the year prior; only to be utilized differently? It’s kinda ridiculous we keep acting like that isn’t going to happen.

When have we ever not changed things? The personnel changes… I would be worried if we weren’t also making changes.

(To his credit…Brad isn’t a “system” type coach.)

Our record is the only #s I care about.

Brad doesn't just tinker with his approach - he overhuals it almost yearly depending on the strenghths/weaknesses of his players. That's a pretty rare quality in the coaching world. I'm guessing many would argue that it's better to be more stubborn and stick with one style.

Illiniguy13 · 2026-07-31T09:25:48-0500

ChiTown said:
Georgi says hold my beer…..

He's European but was a domestic recruit out of New Jersey

Fr8trn16 · 2026-07-31T09:31:43-0500

March2TheArch said:
Brown has 3 months.

Think about how much weight/strength Keaton gained. He was getting checked full court by Yaxel and Morez, two lotto picks with far greater physical gifts.

I’m confident we’ll see a B1G-ready Ethan this year at least against the lower half of the conference.

If he can produced against our final 4 roster returnees from last season, I'm sure he'll be fine against the rest of the big ten, and ncaa for that matter.

I-L-L

Fr8trn16 · 2026-07-31T09:42:17-0500

hangdog said:
I'm looking at it like good coaching isn't all about drawing up sequences. Illini fans should appreciate that.

I look at it like UCONN was down by 10 with under 7min again the #1 ranked team. Somehow they found the fortitude to get within 2 with time on the clock, when anything can happen. Looks like great coaching to me.

I'd rather have played Duke.

I believe if you're the best team you don't care who you play! We'll beat whoever they put in front of us!

I-L-L

Homecoming 2019 · 2026-07-31T10:53:59-0500

ChiTown said:
Georgi says hold my beer…..

Its been almost 10 years and we still can't get it right!

Username · 2026-07-31T11:10:02-0500

RabidDawgClassic said:
Nico Moretti and Zacharie Perrrin crawled so that Tomislav Ivisic and David Mirkovic could run. They were the origins of our international recruiting.

The origin of BU's international recruiting was a Vesel that sailed across the Atlantic from Slovenia.

PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
Nico moretti also wore No. 11

Moretti wore #11 but was not a top 35 recruit.

lstewart53x3 · 2026-07-31T12:08:28-0500

WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:
I think it was a strength. BECAUSE we were slow and unathletic, it led to the staff playing a slow offense with lots of ball screen / matchup hunting. That meant a more efficient offense.

If we weren't slow and unathletic, then the staff would play fast. If we played fast, we wouldn't have been that efficient.

More possessions = less efficient offense. Less possessions = mors efficient offense. Most of the time it's an inverse correlation.

If our pace is noticeably faster next year, it's unlikely we'll maintain our efficiency from last season.

If our pace is similar, then it's likely we'll maintain the same efficiency.

Since you said this exact same thing in June:

Here was my favorite response:

Here was my response showing that we've had efficient offenses while playing decently fast:

And once it was pointed out to me that offenses have changed since then and that the #3 offense in ‘24 would’ve been merely the #10 offense last year (as if a top 10 offense is no longer good), I pointed out that other teams played fast last year and still had very efficient offenses:

Therefore, there is not an “inverse correlation” between speed and efficiency. It just depends on the personnel you have.

HensonHall71 · 2026-07-31T12:19:30-0500

Obviously you have to have the personnel to play fast - we didn't last year, but if Vaaks and Coleman can play fast and limit turnovers we have the folks to do it this year - it also leads to more open threes which would be good for this team.

Guest · 2026-07-31T12:24:22-0500

And here with the irrelevant stake in the heart of this argument is the grammar police piling on, it’s “fewer possessions” not “less”.

DeonThomas · 2026-07-31T12:26:34-0500

Q. Coleman -- based upon our early "peeks" I think he's going to be quicker, faster and more athletic than Wagler. He will be in the starting lineup no later than game #5. Also predicting he will not reach Keaton's prolific 3-point shooting efficiency, even though he's going to be equally adept at creating his own shot via the step-back, or getting into the paint at will.

As a team, our overall guard play just might exceed what was on the floor this past season from an OFFENSIVE perspective (primarily Vaaks + Coleman). Not sure we're going to match Boswell's defensive contributions, however.

RollChief · 2026-07-31T12:36:11-0500

lstewart53x3 said:
Since you said this exact same thing in June:

View attachment 51033

Here was my favorite response:

View attachment 51034

Here was my response showing that we've had efficient offenses while playing decently fast:

View attachment 51035

And once it was pointed out to me that offenses have changed since then and that the #3 offense in ‘24 would’ve been merely the #10 offense last year (as if a top 10 offense is no longer good), I pointed out that other teams played fast last year and still had very efficient offenses:

View attachment 51036

Therefore, there is not an “inverse correlation” between speed and efficiency. It just depends on the personnel you have.

See: Alabama. Year after year, top 5 or 10 in tempo. Year after year, top 5 offense

RollChief · 2026-07-31T12:38:15-0500

DeonThomas said:
Q. Coleman -- based upon our early "peeks" I think he's going to be quicker, faster and more athletic than Wagler. He will be in the starting lineup no later than game #5. Also predicting he will not reach Keaton's prolific 3-point shooting efficiency, even though he's going to be equally adept at creating his own shot via the step-back, or getting into the paint at will.

As a team, our overall guard play just might exceed what was on the floor this past season from an OFFENSIVE perspective (primarily Vaaks + Coleman). Not sure we're going to match Boswell's defensive contributions, however.

Based on early peaks + his FIBA performance, I would be shocked if he didn’t start every game this year.

RabidDawgClassic · 2026-07-31T12:41:07-0500

Username said:
The origin of BU's international recruiting was a Vesel that sailed across the Atlantic from Slovenia.

Moretti wore #11 but was not a top 35 recruit.

That's right. So Vesel crawled, Moretti and Perrin walked and Tomi and Mirk ran.

ugottabjoshinme · 2026-07-31T12:51:10-0500

DeonThomas said:
Q. Coleman -- based upon our early "peeks" I think he's going to be quicker, faster and more athletic than Wagler. He will be in the starting lineup no later than game #1. Also predicting he will not reach Keaton's prolific 3-point shooting efficiency, even though he's going to be equally adept at creating his own shot via the step-back, or getting into the paint at will.

As a team, our overall guard play just might exceed what was on the floor this past season from an OFFENSIVE perspective (primarily Vaaks + Coleman). Not sure we're going to match Boswell's defensive contributions, however.

Fixed

Det_Illini_fan · 2026-07-31T12:52:15-0500

DeonThomas said:
Q. Coleman -- based upon our early "peeks" I think he's going to be quicker, faster and more athletic than Wagler. He will be in the starting lineup no later than game #5. Also predicting he will not reach Keaton's prolific 3-point shooting efficiency, even though he's going to be equally adept at creating his own shot via the step-back, or getting into the paint at will.

As a team, our overall guard play just might exceed what was on the floor this past season from an OFFENSIVE perspective (primarily Vaaks + Coleman). Not sure we're going to match Boswell's defensive contributions, however.

Gotta be honest, I think QC will give us some athleticism and “chip on your shoulder” grit on defense as well. Vaaks will have an improved system, along with a Crocker Defensive Scheme the others are far more acclimated to. Add to the mix Williams off the bench, a speedier tempo, and continued rim protection from the Ivisii, we could see a noticeable improvement in defense over last year.

Maybe not #1, but I don’t see why we can’t be top 10 there. And really, that feels about what we just need given the offense. Metrics don’t like our style of play though going after rebounds more than steals and slowing opposing offenses, so it might skew things, but more balance could help.

I will say though, this is the side of the ball I’ve been most nervous about in the off season. Offense I feel strong with the playmakers and shot creators we have. Defensively, if we can create more literal stops this year we are a definitive natty contender.

mysterio2525 · 2026-07-31T13:58:23-0500

ChiTown said:
Georgi says hold my beer…..

jens kujawa says hold my Hefeweizen

Illwinsagain · 2026-07-31T14:05:33-0500

mysterio2525 said:
jens kujawa says hold my Hefeweizen

And Arch? Or Olaf?

Bucktown · 2026-07-31T14:08:19-0500

DeonThomas said:
Q. Coleman -- based upon our early "peeks" I think he's going to be quicker, faster and more athletic than Wagler. He will be in the starting lineup no later than game #5. Also predicting he will not reach Keaton's prolific 3-point shooting efficiency, even though he's going to be equally adept at creating his own shot via the step-back, or getting into the paint at will.

As a team, our overall guard play just might exceed what was on the floor this past season from an OFFENSIVE perspective (primarily Vaaks + Coleman). Not sure we're going to match Boswell's defensive contributions, however.

I see it that QC is a Boswell replacement. Vaaks replaces Wagler.