Illinois 112, Penn 70 Postgame

#101      
OrangeBlue98
RollChief said:
Gotta get Ben H in as a special assistant to help these guys get to 4-minute mile times haha
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This brings up a question that’s a little nerdy. I’m really interested in all of this sport science and training data stuff. I officiated soccer for a long time and tracked a lot of this, and my son’s a pre-PT major who wants to get into the field. Does Illinois wear the GPS trackers that go into those sport bra-looking things? I’m wondering if Fletch and the staff look at training loads, accelerations, and other data like that. Maybe the insiders have some insight into that.

I know Iowa State players wear Catapault trackers, so I’m just curious about Illinois given how we want to push the pace so much.
 
#102      
BWA
BrownTown said:
Hitting with both late season “flyers” in Lincoln Williams and Zavier Zens is just unfair….

I’m watching these guys and you can’t “find the freshmen” immediately. They aren’t doing too much…all seem bought in to their role.

This recruiting class is a masterpiece by Brad and Co.

Only one surefire ⭐️ in Coleman and he wasn’t graded that way when he went all in…
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And even on the 5* guys, we keep absolutely crushing it. Coleman is extremely skilled, but he is also a team player and committed to doing the little things. A lot of 5* guys wouldn’t fit into this offense the same way.
 
#103      
SkyysNotFalling
jrichisamazing said:
Best way to describe this team is relentless. I really thought Penn might give them a scare. But we play together and everyone looks bought in.

Sometimes when you are coming off a great season and everyone is hyping you up all off season your head might get a little too big. Not this team. They look hungry and laser focused on the goal.
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That’s where I think the mix of vets & freshmen is useful. The freshmen are gonna give their 10000% effort each night. So if you’re not going hard- we’ve got plenty of options to go to.
 
#104      
champaignchris
Two stand outs for me last night:

1. Considering the health scare last year, it’s awesome seeing Jakstys get as much tick as he did.

2. I think I’m in love with Quentin Coleman, basketball nerd. Doing the Steve Smith hesitation drive and then pointing to him at the announcer’s table. Geeking out when he found out Caitlin Clark was at the game. Dude knows his ball and is fun to watch.
 
#106      
pruman91
I really enjoyed the Vaaks outlet pass to Andre for the dunk ......perfect leading one bounce pass for Andre to not miss a beat and score........

our ceiling as a team is as high as anyone else's and we have an All American chomping at the bit to play after his injury heals.........

I BELIEVE .......I REALLY REALLY DO .......
 
#107      
RollChief
Dan said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2118588671914062024
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I was just looking at this! according to KP, that was our highest Tempo since 04/05:
1793979681980.png
 
#108      
illini0440
OrangeBlue98 said:
This brings up a question that’s a little nerdy. I’m really interested in all of this sport science and training data stuff. I officiated soccer for a long time and tracked a lot of this, and my son’s a pre-PT major who wants to get into the field. Does Illinois wear the GPS trackers that go into those sport bra-looking things? I’m wondering if Fletch and the staff look at training loads, accelerations, and other data like that. Maybe the insiders have some insight into that.

I know Iowa State players wear Catapault trackers, so I’m just curious about Illinois given how we want to push the pace so much.
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They wear stuff like that during practice, football and basketball to track everything. Really helps out with recovery, nutrition, practice plans for the day.
 
#110      
ChiefGritty
Fly Illini Fly! said:
We scored 1.29 points per possession.

112 / 87.
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So much of what we do is predicated on understanding matchup advantages. When you have the advantage, attack, don't think, GO.

I think we're all kind of waiting with baited breath to see what that looks like when we play somebody where our guys aren't just way better man-for-man against any matchup. The chess match all gets a little more complicated at that stage. How do the freshmen handle that?
 
#111      
Illiniguy13
Joel Goodson said:
we're an absolute wagon. and the kicker is that we're not even remotely close to what we're gonna be. this is gonna be a helluva ride
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I'm especially excited to see the team get into better game shape over the next couple of months and really throttle the pace. I'll be heading in the opposite direction after a few holiday meals
 
#112      
aaeismacgychel
Brosky said:
Perfection? 19 turnovers (5 from Vaaks). As a matter of fact, Vaaks had a terrible game--missing free throws and all his 3 ptr. attempts as well. Lincoln Williams, Ethan Brown, QC, and Zens on the other hand....that's 4 true freshmen playing at an elite level. As others have said, we are deep.
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Yes. As close to perfection that you’ll see from a college team through 2 games. Decent teams, good teams, and even great teams don’t just beat a D1 team by 75pts then follow that up absolutely obliterating a team that’s one of the favorites to win the Ivy by 40+ in back to back games. That really doesn’t happen. We’re talking back to back 99th percentile performances. That doesn’t mean every single player played a perfect game or there aren’t things that could be even better but when you’re seeing extremely rare record breaking performances, you gotta just call it what it is and enjoy it.

For the whole this isn’t sustainable we’re far from perfection crowd, you’re right we aren’t going to keep averaging 60pt margin of victories all season and we aren’t going to have every player going for 30+ pts with 0 turnovers each game. But no other team is either. If we’re not happy and lauding a team that’s played like we have through 2 games, what are we even doing other than holding them to standards that have never been seen before?
 
#113      
Fly Illini Fly!
ChiefGritty said:
So much of what we do is predicated on understanding matchup advantages. When you have the advantage, attack, don't think, GO.

I think we're all kind of waiting with baited breath to see what that looks like when we play somebody where our guys aren't just way better man-for-man against any matchup. The chess match all gets a little more complicated at that stage. How do the freshmen handle that?
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My ONLY concern would be turnovers. It's probably been my only offensive concern since the summer.

Turnover rate:

The KJ team finished 93rd.
Last year's team was 8th.
I think this team might be outside the top 100.
 
#114      
OrangeBlue98
Fly Illini Fly! said:
We scored 1.29 points per possession.

112 / 87.
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Got it. I saw a tweet that said 1.33, so I ran with it. Doesn’t change the point that scoring at that efficiency with that many turnovers is still crazy.
 
#115      
Chuck Nuggets
Joel Goodson said:
we're an absolute wagon. and the kicker is that we're not even remotely close to what we're gonna be. this is gonna be a helluva ride
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I agree it's going to be a crazy ride no matter what happens. My pessimistic nature can't help but be worried that this style of play will absolute strangle inferior/poorly coached teams, but the big boys are going to be just fine with it and turn it around on us. The defense is obviously something to keep an eye on. I'm just going to have to be patient and see how this next murderer's row of games goes. It should tell us all we need to know.
 
#117      
PapaKvells
skyIdub said:
How ironic and hilarious that our Summer of Ninth Man Drama was prophetic.
We are legit 8-9 deep when fully healthy.
And whether your 9th man is ZZ or Lincoln, maybe the freshmen are gonna have freshman nights….but it ain’t gonna be all of them on the same night. 🧡
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This depth is going to be crazy important on the road where, with Big Ten officiating, fouls tend to get collected like fun sized Twix bars on Halloween.
 
#118      
illini0440
I think the best thing for our defense is our style of play. It’ll show up in the last 10 minutes of each half imo. Even against the better opponents, their legs get tired as we saw last night and we keep rebounding and running and expanding leads
 
#120      
EmeraldCityIllini
illini0440 said:
I think the best thing for our defense is our style of play. It’ll show up in the last 10 minutes of each half imo. Even against the better opponents, their legs get tired as we saw last night and we keep rebounding and running and expanding leads
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I did think this when Penn was "hanging in" the first 10 minutes. Noticed they didn't sub yet.
 
#121      
skyIdub
Brosky said:
19 turnovers is not "a few." Posters are right about his defense, though. Better than expected and for sure encouraging.
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Well, four true freshman getting tons of minutes in an offense like that. 87 possessions?
Yeah…19 isn’t a few….but 7 last week is.

And your post was about Vaaks. 5 turnovers. Dude said flat out last week he’s never seen anything like this offense….and he shot lights out.
Maybe give him a little grace this week?
 
#122      
NarrowJ
19 turnovers across 87 possessions isn't great, but its equivalent to 14-15 in an average game with an average amount of possessions. Above the number you want to see, for sure, but nothing that makes me pause and go: "oh this is going to be an issue all season".

I also think that Penn was allowed to be quite physical, there were many plays we coughed up the ball where I thought fouls should've been called.
 
#123      
Guest
aaeismacgychel said:
All I can say is damn, we’re good. Absolute obliteration in these past 2 games, and Penn very well could win the Ivy this year. They’re a solid team. Insanely impressive through 2 games. This is just about as close to perfection as you can see from a college team. Obscene.
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Late to the party, but yes, Penn has been predicted to win the Ivy League title.
 
#124      
RollChief
Fly Illini Fly! said:
My ONLY concern would be turnovers. It's probably been my only offensive concern since the summer.

Turnover rate:

The KJ team finished 93rd.
Last year's team was 8th.
I think this team might be outside the top 100.
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If this gives you any solace, it seems that at least for the past few years, a low TO% hasn't necessarily correlated with Championship basketball, whereas up-tempo offense (when paired with a defense that can shut the water off) has.

For example:
- Michigan (2026): 71 Tempo (22nd in D-1), 16.3% TO rate (159th in D-1). Per EvanMiya, 0.95 kill-shot margin per game (1.02 given vs. 0.05 conceded, 1st in D-1), which represents 10 or more points scored without your opponent scoring.

- Florida (2025): 70.1 Tempo (57th in D-1), 15.7% TO rate (79th in D-1). 0.63 kill-shot margin per game (0.90 given vs. 0.28 given, 10th in D-1).

Right now, we're running at 73.4 Tempo (36th in D-1) with a 16% TO rate (110th in D-1). We've given 8 kill shots and haven't conceded one. Obviously we haven't played anyone, and there's a lot of basketball left to play.
 
#125      
Fly Illini Fly!
NarrowJ said:
19 turnovers across 87 possessions isn't great, but its equivalent to 14-15 in an average game with an average amount of possessions.
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The raw numbers are irrelevant. What matters is the percentage.

19 across 87 = 21.8%

Last year, only 13.1% of possessions ended with a turnover.
NarrowJ said:
Above the number you want to see, for sure, but nothing that makes me pause and go: "oh this is going to be an issue all season".

I also think that Penn was allowed to be quite physical, there were many plays we coughed up the ball where I thought fouls should've been called.
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From what I recall, some of the turnovers were in garbage time (box score says Fabgemi had 2).

Tomi: 7 ast, 2 tov ✅
Andrej: 4 ast, 2 tov ✅
Brown: 5 ast, 2 tov ✅

QC had 2 ast, 2 tov which isn't exactly terrible.

Vaaks had 2 ast, 5 tov. That's probably the only weird one.
 
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