Illini Basketball 2026-2027

#326      
HoopsterMan
NarrowJ said:
Likely a bit more nuanced than that.

Even if it's a direct translation of talent to dollars, the lists aren't going to just match up because there are probably other factors being weighed. The market doesn't price positions or archetypes equally. The dollar list likely just stacks cash cumulatively across the whole bench, where a team ranking cares about diminishing returns on the court and how it fits together.

It is still a "what its worth" list and not a "what was actually paid" list, because the actual NIL numbers are a black box. They can be estimated, as he's done, which is valuation rather than an actual financial record, was all I was saying.
Click to expand...
I'm sure there are some factors that play in, such as certain expected discounts for the type of recruited player. The discrepancy between this and an expected ranking (AZ & MSU missing), likely the value that voters offer for continuity/retention.
 
#327      
Fighter of the Nightman
alamocityillini said:
sports.yahoo.com

Illinois Basketball Could Be Set for Home-and-Home Series With Texas

Illinois and Texas could be adding another marquee non-conference matchup to their schedules, with a home-and-home series reportedly close to being finalized.
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
Click to expand...
Wait, for a second I thought this was for THIS season, and I was like HOLY CRAP. :ROFLMAO: I absolutely LOVE the series we have had in the last several years. I mean, we could only have dreamed about this during the early Underwood years (and of course we would have been smoked, lol) ... this speaks not just to our staff's willingness to play in tough games, but it also is a clear sign that WE are a big brand within the sport that these other programs want to schedule for these big time games.

This is even excluding high-profile tournaments (e.g., UCLA / Virginia / Baylor in Vegas in 2022-2023), one-time big events at places like MSG (e.g., Texas in 2022-2023 and FAU in 2023-2024) or our constant commitment to go play Mizzou on a neutral site each year. Great job by the staff and DIA for proactively getting these awesome matchups!

Tennessee - 2023-24 Knoxville, 2024-25 Champaign, 2025-26 Nashville, 2027-28 (?) Chicago
Alabama - 2024-25 Birmingham, 2025-26 Chicago
Texas Tech - 2025-26 Champaign, 2026-27 Lubbock
UConn - 2025-26 New York City, 2026-27 Chicago
Duke - 2026-27 Durham, 2027-28 Champaign
North Carolina - 2026-27 Nashville (no return game to my knowledge?)
Texas - 2027-28 Austin, 2028-29 Champaign

I still would absolutely love for us to work with Kentucky to jointly troll Indiana and play in Indianapolis with a 50/50 split crowd like at Braggin' Rights. Can you imagine how fuming Hoosiers fans would be walking around town on that Saturday and seeing nothing but Illini and Kentucky fans partying it up at every bar? :ROFLMAO:
 
#332      
March2TheArch
Do think we need to temper expectations on what Mirk looks like pre-B1G though. Could be limited minutes if he’s barely doing basketball things 30 days out from tip off.

Will make TTU, Duke, and UConn fairly uphill battles. Duke was already going to be a tough ask at Cameron.
 
Back