College Basketball 2023-2024

[Tryptamine]

1 hour ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

Illini just landed 2025 5-star Canadian wing Will Riley, who will reclassify to 2024 and be on campus in a few weeks. Fun collection of talent Brad & co. Have reeled in. It’ll be interesting to see how the team gels with only two returning players.

This '24 class is loaded. Illinois already had #24 Morez Johnson coming, they recently added 1st round draft talent Kasparas Jakucionis and now they're adding Riley who was the #11 in the '25 class but is reclassifying to '24. I can't recall the last time Illinois added this much premier talent. 

 

They've also already got a '25 commitment from #33 Jeremiah Fears.

Edited June 23, 2024 by Tryptamine

[stitchface]

1 hour ago, Tryptamine said:

This '24 class is loaded. Illinois already had #24 Morez Johnson coming, they recently added 1st round draft talent Kasparas Jakucionis and now they're adding Riley who was the #11 in the '25 class but is reclassifying to '24. I can't recall the last time Illinois added this much premier talent. 

 

They've also already got a '25 commitment from #33 Jeremiah Fears.

new team every year.

[gflore34]

2024-2025 Illini playing some pickup ball - in addition to Boswell, believe that's Jakucionis dicing and dishing

Edited June 30, 2024 by gflore34

[Irrelevant Dude]

I have no idea where to rate Illinois going into the season.  The talent is there, but there are a lot of questions about how an almost entirely brand new roster will mesh together.  They could be anywhere from a Top 15ish team that competes for the Big 10 Title to a bubble team that misses the NCAA tournament.

[Tryptamine]

I've seen at least 1 article that had 3 Illini going in the draft next year.  Riley, Boswell and Jakucionis

[mul21]

11 hours ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I have no idea where to rate Illinois going into the season.  The talent is there, but there are a lot of questions about how an almost entirely brand new roster will mesh together.  They could be anywhere from a Top 15ish team that competes for the Big 10 Title to a bubble team that misses the NCAA tournament.

Underwood seems like he's pretty adept at getting guys to mesh quickly.  They had what, 2 guys come back last year that had played major minutes previously in Hawkins and Shannon?  

[Bobson Dugnutt]

1 hour ago, mul21 said:

Underwood seems like he's pretty adept at getting guys to mesh quickly.  They had what, 2 guys come back last year that had played major minutes previously in Hawkins and Shannon?  

Dainja, Rodgers, and Goode to varying degrees as well. Agreed in general, but it’s quite a bit more extreme this year, especially when you consider DGL, one of the two returnees, averaged just 7 mpg last year.

[Derwood]

The Boozer twins both committed to Duke

[Irrelevant Dude]

The Virginia Tony Bennett retirement is a big story, and a case of a coach finally saying out loud what everyone already knows... The system is horribly broken.

I don't feel bad for the guy.  He has made tens of millions of dollars and has many options open to him should he decide to continue working.  But I don't envy the job of a college coach in the current landscape of college athletics.  It is a nearly impossible job, trying to win games while also managing a bunch of teenagers and attempting to keep them all happy enough so they won't leave the program, while also having to coordinate with NIL and re-recruit the entire team every offseason.  I can see how someone would say "This just isn't fun anymore."

Major changes need to be made, but how quickly will it happen?  Will this be the start of a serious conversation to completely revamp the model for college athletics, or will it drag on for years before seeing any meaningful improvements? 

[raw]

#17 IU beat #12 Tennessee in an exhibition game in Knoxville this weekend. It was apparently in front of fans as well. They went 0-11 in 3s in the first half, then 4-8 in the second half. They were also missing 3 players that are likely in their regular season rotation.