Illini Basketball 2026-2027

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#276      
HoopsterMan
NarrowJ said:
Its because people watch 3 minute hype/practice highlights and tell themselves he's going to slot right into where Cam Boozer left off. The Duke coaching staff, specifically associate head coach Emanual Dildy, has stated there have been a ton of ups and downs for JBB this summer and those level of expectations for him are misguided as he is a full year younger and not as mature.

Duke's frontcourt is Ngongba, a couple of raw but extremely talented freshmen and a guy who averaged 10 & 6 in the Horizon league, which is why it got ranked where you see it in the graphic. JBB will show flashes in practice videos but is a year away from being your Cam Boozer level player.
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No one is suggesting he is Cam Boozer, who was the most efficient player in metrics history and NPOY. If he was, Duke should be in runaway first place as Junior Ngongba is being projected to be the 2nd most efficient player in the country. When you couple Ngongba with who many project the 2028 first pick, a legit 7footer with perimeter skills, along with a 6'11" backup who was the 4th rated 5*, that's pretty good.

I wouldn't underestimate Scharnowski.

They then have a layer behind those two with a Canadien 7 footer named Meyer and a sophomore high 4* named Wilkins. It's a sea of riches.

And you're telling me Krivas and Holmes at AZ are a better frontcourt?
 
#277      
Grandpa
RabidDawgClassic said:
You do see that everywhere, even at Duke and especially in the student sections. But it certainly is a distraction. Just this week I’ve watched a dozen or so videos from different angles of the final Iowa/Michigan play. Those were people who, in my opinion, missed the raw emotion of the moment because they were busy viewing it on a tiny hand held screen.
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Dang kids with their phones! When I was their age a phone at a game would have been as useless as a toaster. They are missing life because they are looking at a 2" screen showing what someone else is doing. The crap on the screen will still be there in a couple of hours. Raise your heads and look around!

Grampa Simpson Grandpa GIF by MOODMAN
 
#278      
cfp32
Did they announce if they are doing the "Orange" and "Blue" game packages this year? If so when do those go on sale, or did I just miss it?
 
#279      
Dan
cfp32 said:
Did they announce if they are doing the "Orange" and "Blue" game packages this year? If so when do those go on sale, or did I just miss it?
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Orange, Blue, & FamILLy Mini Plans go on sale to the public tomorrow (Oct 1)

fightingillini.com

Tickets - Men's Basketball - University of Illinois Athletics

Men's Basketball Tickets Gameday Guide 3D Seating Map Seating Chart Parking Map Student Tickets Request Ticket Information Premium Seating Mobile Tickets Sea...
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Edit, at Thu, Oct 1, 12:00pm CT buy Mini Plans here
 
#280      
wc_illini
RollChief said:
You don't necessarily need a high TO% or Steal% in advanced metrics to have a great defense. Michigan was ranked 272 and 317 in KP respectively in these two stats.

Michigan actually provided the blueprint (albeit very hard to replicate) for how to have an elite defense with a low turnover rate. If you look at our defensive stats side by side with theirs, areas where we were good defensively, they were great. Examples include:
  • Effective FG%: Illinois ranked 26, Michigan ranked 1
  • 3P%: Illinois ranked 37, Michigan ranked 18
  • 2P%: Illinois ranked 39, Michigan ranked 2
  • Block%: Illinois ranked 25, Michigan ranked 3
  • Average 2PA Dist: Illinois ranked 10, Michigan ranked 4
  • ALSO NOTE:
    • Turnover %: Illinois ranked 365, Michigan ranked 272
    • Steal %: Illinois ranked 365, Michigan ranked 317
What Michigan did especially well was use their size to defend the perimeter at a high level while also making the paint essentially a no-fly zone. I’m not saying we can necessarily replicate what they did, but I do think we can apply many of the same principles with huge wings and frontcourt to move from good to great defensively. We don’t necessarily need to be the best but I think there is the opportunity there to move from rank 20 to 10.

View attachment 51871
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One quibble I'd make is that the difference in TO% between Michigan and Illinois was the same as the difference between Michigan and the #70 team. So while I agree we may not have to be above average in TO%, being as low as we were was tough to compensate for elsewhere.

1790783594088.png
 
#281      
NarrowJ
HoopsterMan said:
No one is suggesting he is Cam Boozer, who was the most efficient player in metrics history and NPOY. If he was, Duke should be in runaway first place as Junior Ngongba is being projected to be the 2nd most efficient player in the country. When you couple Ngongba with who many project the 2028 first pick, a legit 7footer with perimeter skills, along with a 6'11" backup who was the 4th rated 5*, that's pretty good.

I wouldn't underestimate Scharnowski.

They then have a layer behind those two with a Canadien 7 footer named Meyer and a sophomore high 4* named Wilkins. It's a sea of riches.

And you're telling me Krivas and Holmes at AZ are a better frontcourt?
Click to expand...

Nobody is underestimating Scharnowski here, I stated he's a guy who averaged 10 & 6 in the Horizon league. That isn't even an opinion, but merely a citation of his production and at what level.

Arizona's frontcourt is not better if you think it's just Krivas and Holmes. They have Kharchenkov and Godfrey as well. That's 2 players returning from a F4 team and another player coming from a 24-11 tournament team in which he was their best player and leading scorer. That is a wealth of tested depth in comparison to Duke.
 
#282      
Fly Illini Fly!
HensonHall71 said:
Kylan was a good chunk of the mid range so I would expect that stat to only improve this year. Andrej is the only one that really takes them on a consistent basis on this team and he's good at them, so not a concern at all
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He was not. Kylan took 17.8% of his shots from mid range, which was only 4th amongst our eight rotation players.

Andrej took the most mid range, followed by Mirk, followed by Keaton, and then Boswell.
 
#286      
mysterio2525
NarrowJ said:
Its because people watch 3 minute hype/practice highlights and tell themselves he's going to slot right into where Cam Boozer left off. The Duke coaching staff, specifically associate head coach Emanual Dildy, has stated there have been a ton of ups and downs for JBB this summer and those level of expectations for him are misguided as he is a full year younger and not as mature.

Duke's frontcourt is Ngongba, a couple of raw but extremely talented freshmen and a guy who averaged 10 & 6 in the Horizon league, which is why it got ranked where you see it in the graphic. JBB will show flashes in practice videos but is a year away from being your Cam Boozer level player.
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this is what is confusing. to me ngongba will start at 5 and sarr at 3. is Cam Williams their 3.

jokes aside I do think Duke having to mix and match with such a deep team but not really having a replacement for the boozer could cause some issues. I personally think ngongba and sarr are great defensively but not good on offense. and if cayden starts then that's really 3 not great offensive players. I personally think Duke will be clearly the best defensive team but only ok on offense.. maybe jbb is just that good and fixes it out rippey is just a playmaking machine.
 
#287      
IllGuardU
#288      
Det_Illini_fan
MikeTisdale said:
Yea I think they don't let the student section buy beer, which is absurd. They should not only be allowed to buy beer (of age), those beers should be $1
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Separate NIL fund just for covering a round of beer for (those of age in) the student section. Make it a live donation too, so as viewers on TV see the students mellowing out, they can inject funding into making the place hostile.

(Fully sarcastic)
 
#294      
Lakes333
Brosky said:
I remember that well. I think it was Richard Keene who came up big. Or maybe I'm confused.
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No we did not. It was at Duke. We had Keene, Garris, Notre, Gee, etc. We beat them there. Gee had an offer from Duke but chose Illinois. We never beat them at home.
 
#296      
the juiceman cometh
Lakes333 said:
No we did not. It was at Duke. We had Keene, Garris, Notre, Gee, etc. We beat them there. Gee had an offer from Duke but chose Illinois. We never beat them at home.
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Think he means we beat Duke when they were the home team. You can tell if you follow the chain of responses.

We have in fact never played Duke at home (for us). 9 total matchups, 2 games at their place, and 7 neutral site games.

fightingillini.com

University of Illinois Athletics Men's Basketball History vs Duke University

The official University of Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball History vs Duke University
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#297      
Lakes333
the juiceman cometh said:
Think he means we beat Duke when they were the home team. You can tell if you follow the chain of responses.

We have in fact never played Duke at home (for us). 9 total matchups, 2 games at their place, and 7 neutral site games.

fightingillini.com

University of Illinois Athletics Men's Basketball History vs Duke University

The official University of Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball History vs Duke University
fightingillini.com fightingillini.com
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You are absolutely correct. My apologies. I did not read the previous threads. But I think it is ridiculous that in all these match ups with Duke we cannot get a true home game.
 
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