Illini Basketball 2026-2027

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#277      
Umit9
NarrowJ said:
You're thinking of Georgetown, I believe, with the Epps/Cooley thing.

I know he was the coach for a long time there at Providence though.
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Ah yes. My mistake. Crossed my memory with Cooley’s transition.

Thank you.

Go Illini
 
#279      
OrangeBlue98
Joel Goodson said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2098147145807286730

pretty good career for a largely unheralded player. great team guy. crying shame how soon he passed. he left a pretty large mark and he'll always be remembered by Illini hoops fans of a certain age
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Man, that one hurt. Same class as him. Talked with him several times in classes and doing some SID work in school. He got the most out of his ability.

I know the death of any former player hits a coach hard, but I bet it was really hard on Lon Kruger. I’m guessing Matt Heldman reminded Lon a lot of himself.
 
#281      
Illinilosch
Joel Goodson said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2098147145807286730

pretty good career for a largely unheralded player. great team guy. crying shame how soon he passed. he left a pretty large mark and he'll always be remembered by Illini hoops fans of a certain age
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Heldman was my favorite player from that 1998 team by far....and one of my all time favs too. Loved his toughness and grit, his stellar ball handling and he was a pretty damn good shooter from deep.

Wasn't anywhere near a top shelf D1 basketball athlete by any means, but pound for pound he was still a very good basketball player. I remember hearing about his passing along with his Dad when it happened, now almost 30 years ago. Still sad.
 
#283      
Combo
OrangeBlue98 said:
Man, that one hurt. Same class as him. Talked with him several times in classes and doing some SID work in school. He got the most out of his ability.

I know the death of any former player hits a coach hard, but I bet it was really hard on Lon Kruger. I’m guessing Matt Heldman reminded Lon a lot of himself.
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That was an incredible coaching job by Kruger. Perfect example of a team being greater than the sum of its parts.
 
#285      
Fly Illini Fly!
RollChief said:

Another good one from last year, Tomi was a beast in this one. Can’t wait for the next Nashville Illini takeover this year
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This was one of, if not the biggest “turning point game” in the Brad era.

Coming off a very poor game against UConn, first game with Keaton as the primary ball handler… really the start of our offense becoming such a juggernaut.
 
#286      
Rusty
RabidDawgClassic said:
Friar+. 😂😂😂😂😂

Includes a lunchbox. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Robin Hood Disney GIF
 
#288      
PepeSilvia
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
They won games AT Michigan, AT Purdue, Michigan State, and Illinois twice. Nobody had a better collection of wins in the country (other than Arizona).

Wasn't their fault against High Point:
Boyd 27/6/5. Blackwell 22/10/2.

They averaged 19 points and 20 points each, and both All BIG.

Unless you have two guys who were All BIG, chances are you have a weak argument (regardless of how adamant it is).
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I'm not disagreeing that they are both good basketball players. Especially offensively(Boyd especially was fantastic imo).

But it also was partially their fault against High Point.

From about halfway through the first half of that game until the finish, the best player on the floor was the 5'8 guard from High Point that neither one of them could guard.

If one of them could have checked Martin then they win that game. It's pretty telling that they were putting Andrew Rohde on Martin down the stretch.

Also, Boyd had two chances to win that game and forced two shots at the rim(one led to the runout that gave High Point the lead).
 
#293      
OrangeBlue98
Combo said:
That was an incredible coaching job by Kruger. Perfect example of a team being greater than the sum of its parts.
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I’ve told more than one person that if you had a coach with Kruger’s tactical acumen and Underwood’s ability to build culture and adapt to the changing landscape of the game, you might have the perfect basketball coach.
 
#296      
Illiniguy13
PepeSilvia said:
I'm not disagreeing that they are both good basketball players. Especially offensively(Boyd especially was fantastic imo).

But it also was partially their fault against High Point.

From about halfway through the first half of that game until the finish, the best player on the floor was the 5'8 guard from High Point that neither one of them could guard.

If one of them could have checked Martin then they win that game. It's pretty telling that they were putting Andrew Rohde on Martin down the stretch.

Also, Boyd had two chances to win that game and forced two shots at the rim(one led to the runout that gave High Point the lead).
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Kenan Thompson Ngapa GIF
 
#299      
wc_illini
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
Pretty sure this is misleading the facts (otherwise you would’ve just named them).

15 times there’s been multiple All BIG players on the same team? Possibly.

15 times that both the PG and SG were? Highly unlikely. If it really is the case, I’d like to know them? Please.

I’ve never actually said it’s inarguable. I have said it’s very much a possibility (which is what you’re so vehemently upset about).
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Here's what I see going back to 2018-19:

2021-22
Illinois: Frazier (2nd), Plummer (3rd)
Rutgers: Harper (2nd), Baker (3rd)
Wisconsin: Davis (1st), Davison (2nd)

2022-23
Illinois: TSJ (1st), Mayer (3rd)
Michigan: Howard (3rd), Bufkin (3rd)
Northwestern: Buie (2nd), Audige (2nd)

2023-24
Iowa: Perkins (2nd), Sandfort (3rd)
Northwestern: Buie (1st), Barnhizer (3rd)
(Domask is listed as a forward, otherwise he and TSJ were both 1st team)

2024-25
Mich St: Akins (3rd), Richardson (3rd)
Rutgers: Bailey (3rd), Harper (3rd)

2025-26
Wisc: Boyd (2nd), Blackwell (3rd)

Going just by this (which I don't think is a great metric anyway), then Boyd/Blackwell are tied with 3 other pairs for 5th (6th if you count TSJ/Domask) over the last 8 seasons. They were very good, but the voters don't seem to think they were anything historic.
 
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