Pregame: Illinois vs Jackson State, Monday, November 3rd, 7:30pm CT, BTN
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The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
The season is finally here!
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
She’s an Illini legend.
Does mirk start?
Don't see how he doesn't just based on today's exhibition.
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
bring on the cupcakes!
He should but regardless he’s getting 25 minutes
My versions first then AI version... how can you not be exicited! Full card deck at Brad's disposal, yes Z would have fouled out in exhibition game but he won't play that many minutes normally and if you can get the early minutes from him watch out, Mirk will be our most productive player stats wise this year but his minutes won't be like today but he won't make many mistakes, the Freshmen are what they are but you can see they are way ahead of the game at this point, Ben will thrive this year because the spotlight will be off him but I think he will also be extremely productive in the minutes he gets, KB will just be solid all the time, and we haven;t even talked about 2 starters and a foreign old professional basketball player yet! Jake will just do the right thing all the time! OMG!
Man, Brad’s got a stacked squad this year, no cap! Z was wild in the exhibition, almost fouled out, but chill, he ain’t gonna play that many minutes normally. When he’s out there early, though? Watch out, he’s a problem! Mirk’s gonna be our stat-sheet stuffer, no doubt, even if he’s not out there forever. Dude just doesn’t mess up. The freshmen? Yo, they’re babies but already ballin’ like vets! Ben’s about to eat this season with no spotlight on him—gonna be a sneaky beast with his minutes. KB? Solid as a rock, every single game. Oh, and we didn’t even talk about two starters or that foreign pro dude yet! And Jake? Always making the right play, like, every time. This team’s got me hyped!
Man, Brad’s got a stacked squad this year, no cap! Z was wild in the exhibition, almost fouled out, but chill, he ain’t gonna play that many minutes normally. When he’s out there early, though? Watch out, he’s a problem! Mirk’s gonna be our stat-sheet stuffer, no doubt, even if he’s not out there forever. Dude just doesn’t mess up. The freshmen? Yo, they’re babies but already ballin’ like vets! Ben’s about to eat this season with no spotlight on him—gonna be a sneaky beast with his minutes. KB? Solid as a rock, every single game. Oh, and we didn’t even talk about two starters or that foreign pro dude yet! And Jake? Always making the right play, like, every time. This team’s got me hyped!
Jackson State will play their only exhibition game a week from Monday when they host Southern Miss. No TV/streaming is planned for the game.
Get healthy. Stay hungry.Still two more weeks.
That's an amazing new profile pic, btw
It will be interesting to see Brad’s rotations once we get a full roster. But we saw some interesting combinations with both Lee and Wagler on the floor at the same time and Mirk playing the point forward role. Once everyone is healthy, you will see Tomi, Boz, Mirk, Wagler/Petro, AS with Wagler/Petro, Z, Hummer and Lee rotating in throughout the game while drizzling minutes for Davis. Once Rodgers comes back, it will be interesting whose minutes will get cut.
I was surprised to see his versatility. Based on ONE GAME , he looks to be very hoops savvy. He knows how to run through an offensive set and is a creative passer. He scored plenty and ditto for his rebounding. He looks to be very strong but agile. Perhaps your classic 4.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I have to say, I am really excited for hoops this year for a couple of reasons.
1) With this being the first football season where we have had ACTUAL preseason hype in a long time, I have felt a lot more anxious each week, knowing that each loss does SO much more to limit our postseason dreams. Whereas the football team would have to win out to play in the CFP, it will be nice to have so many more games and opportunities in hoops to improve our resume and get better each month.
2) I feel like I will approach this year's basketball season with the least "pressure" that there has been since we had a resurgence in 2019-20. In 2021, there was a lot of pressure for us to show multi-season momentum. In 2022, there was a lot of pressure to show we could continue to be good without Ayo, and we faced the same pressure in 2023 without Trent and especially Kofi. Right up until the 2024 Elite Eight, there was a TON of pressure for us to shed the image of "flaming out early" in the NCAA Tournament. And finally last year, there was (at least IMO) pressure not to take too much of a backslide after the great positive momentum from the Elite Eight. This year? Last year was what it was, and we have checked plenty of boxes during this nice run of 5+ years, including NCAAT Second Weekend appearance, Big Ten championships, #1 seed, players drafted into the NBA, etc. After all that, we look to have a top 20 team that is capable of doing some real damage. This feels a lot more like entering the 2002 or 2004 season to me, where we have already proved ourselves and established ourselves as a legit program, and it'll just be fun to see if we can have another great year!
I'm really excited to watch the boys!
1) With this being the first football season where we have had ACTUAL preseason hype in a long time, I have felt a lot more anxious each week, knowing that each loss does SO much more to limit our postseason dreams. Whereas the football team would have to win out to play in the CFP, it will be nice to have so many more games and opportunities in hoops to improve our resume and get better each month.
2) I feel like I will approach this year's basketball season with the least "pressure" that there has been since we had a resurgence in 2019-20. In 2021, there was a lot of pressure for us to show multi-season momentum. In 2022, there was a lot of pressure to show we could continue to be good without Ayo, and we faced the same pressure in 2023 without Trent and especially Kofi. Right up until the 2024 Elite Eight, there was a TON of pressure for us to shed the image of "flaming out early" in the NCAA Tournament. And finally last year, there was (at least IMO) pressure not to take too much of a backslide after the great positive momentum from the Elite Eight. This year? Last year was what it was, and we have checked plenty of boxes during this nice run of 5+ years, including NCAAT Second Weekend appearance, Big Ten championships, #1 seed, players drafted into the NBA, etc. After all that, we look to have a top 20 team that is capable of doing some real damage. This feels a lot more like entering the 2002 or 2004 season to me, where we have already proved ourselves and established ourselves as a legit program, and it'll just be fun to see if we can have another great year!
I'm really excited to watch the boys!
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
3) For all that's holy don't ever lose to Northwestern again
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Really hoping Northwestern sucks this year. While there is always a great showing of Illini fans in Evanston, the NU fans show up and keep some of us out decently well when they are actually decent. Last year, I think the overall crowd split was close to 50/50, as Northwestern was actually decent at that point in the year (7-3 after beating us, with all three losses being down to the wire and away from home). We also went in 2022, and I would say the crowd was closer to 60/40 Illini fans, as we were ranked at the time and they had a losing record. Rewind to the game before that we attended in February 2020, and it was AT LEAST 75% Illini fans, as we were finally getting good again and they won 8 games that entire season, lol.
And yes, we NEED to stop losing to them. We've lost far too many games in Evanston lately, and a lot of them have been truly infuriating affairs, starting with the first one I attended there...
2019 - Northwestern 68, Illinois 66
2020 - Illinois 74, Northwestern 66
2021 - #12 Illinois 81, Northwestern 56
2022 - #24 Illinois 59, Northwestern 56
2023 - Northwestern 73, Illinois 60
2024 - Northwestern 96, #10 Illinois 91 in OT
2025 - Northwestern 70, #19 Illinois 66 in OT
No more losses to the Kitty Cats, ever!
Assume you’re sitting Ben for Andrej, which I’m fine with but I don’t think Mirkovic starts over Ben at least to start.
Can already hear Brad when asked about it “you guys are the only ones who care about that stuff”
Though I do see the value of bringing a guy like him off the bench. Will was a great spark when he checked in for us last year
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