Illini Basketball 2026-2027

WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? · Aug 9, 2026

Fly Illini Fly! said:
Kansas was 13th.
Purdue was 186th.
Kentucky was 236th
Duke was 111th.

I will say -- Houston was 32nd (4th in Power 5) and Alabama was 35th (5th in Power 5). IIRC, those were our two worst FT shooting games last season.

It might have to do with how players act on the free throw line.

I've seen some guys have their arms up while the opponent is shooting, and maybe that distracts the shooter.

hoopsfan47 · Aug 9, 2026

Grandpa said:
Moron who made that doesn't remember 1915. Illinois was the national champion.

You can decide if our beloved Illini earned that title. There was no national championship tournament in 1915...but the Fighting Illini basketball team earned 16 victories without a loss.

But some organization named the Helms Athletic Foundation was founded 21 years after that season. Some part of that Foundation retroactively awarded the national title to the Illini.

So there you have it.

jamarvelous31 · Aug 9, 2026

illini0440 said:
Just saying…I’d much rather have to figure out how to try and stop people from scoring than try to figure out how to score….

Finally confirmed 0440 is not Bruce Weber.

21ChampaignSt · Aug 9, 2026

IlliniHardwood said:
Sounds good to me. Hang the banner.

BWA · Aug 9, 2026

Fly Illini Fly! said:
Which is why I like to look at it amongst power 5 teams (problem is you'll kinda need to count all the way down).

Of the top 50 nationally, there were only 7 teams who were from the P5. Though #1 was Cal and #2 was Boston College (both from the ACC).

.....

Here's the free throw percentage defenses of every BIG TEN team, ranked. Illinois was 8th:

View attachment 51131

We really need to work on this if we want to win the conference this year. 8th is not acceptable.

ChiTown · Aug 9, 2026

https://twitter.com/x/status/2086630296925966605

March2TheArch · Aug 9, 2026

ChiTown said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2086630296925966605

Dope! I didn’t know the rules of HS players spending time on campus prior to official enrollment. Hope we can get Cole Kelly on campus soon too.

Brosky · Aug 10, 2026

March2TheArch said:
Dope! I didn’t know the rules of HS players spending time on campus prior to official enrollment. Hope we can get Cole Kelly on campus soon too.

How about Pettigrew?

JKR · Aug 10, 2026

hoopsfan47 said:
You can decide if our beloved Illini earned that title. There was no national championship tournament in 1915...but the Fighting Illini basketball team earned 16 victories without a loss.

But some organization named the Helms Athletic Foundation was founded 21 years after that season. Some part of that Foundation retroactively awarded the national title to the Illini.

So there you have it.

Beat powerhouse programs like Millikin, I'll. Wesleyan and Peoria Tigers.