College Basketball 2024-2025

[Splendid Splinter]

39 minutes ago, cwood218 said:

Don't worry, Purdue fans are still undefeated in their sister's bedrooms.

Apparently you never been to or live in Indiana. Alabama has the sisters. We got the 2nd/3rd cousins.

[cwood218]

1 minute ago, Splendid Splinter said:

Apparently you never been to or live in Indiana. Alabama has the sisters. We got the 2nd/3rd cousins.

Born there and lived there for the first 12 years.

I just figured it was best to go with the sister version of the joke otherwise Kentucky fans would have gotten confused.

[Tank]

M-I-Z! 

[gflore34]

Ilini lost a tough one last night at the buzzer to Tennessee.  Despite the loss, can't help but think, after 10 games with a completely new starting lineup and with a couple of exceptions, a new roster.  To play the #1 team, who had in come rolling, so closely and almost win.  That this Illini team has a very high ceiling, higher than Tennessee', perhaps, the highest of any team in the Big Ten.  The question is how soon will it come together?  If Underwood can it get going by February without too many losses, look out.

[mul21]

On 12/15/2024 at 8:37 AM, gflore34 said:

Ilini lost a tough one last night at the buzzer to Tennessee.  Despite the loss, can't help but think, after 10 games with a completely new starting lineup and with a couple of exceptions, a new roster.  To play the #1 team, who had in come rolling, so closely and almost win.  That this Illini team has a very high ceiling, higher than Tennessee', perhaps, the highest of any team in the Big Ten.  The question is how soon will it come together?  If Underwood can it get going by February without too many losses, look out.

Yeah, hanging as tough as they did while shooting under 20% from 3 and being led by a freshman 10 games into his college career is a very encouraging result.  It would have been awesome if they could have pulled it out but, overall, a great result if they're taking an L.

[gflore34]

Well, similar to Thanksgiving Day the Bears lose and the Illini win.  Cracks me up Mizzou trying to play Terrence Shannon' game by initiating contact on offense.  Fortunately, for Illinois, none of those Missouri guys are as good as Shannon,

In Boswell and Jakucionis do the Illini have the best back court in the Big Ten?  They might.  At the very least it's one of the best.

 

Edited December 22, 2024 by gflore34

[mul21]

This is an unexpected beating Illinois is putting on Oregon tonight. 

[gflore34]

9 hours ago, mul21 said:

This is an unexpected beating Illinois is putting on Oregon tonight. 

Yes it was, thought the Illini, having the better back court, had a chance, well, turns out they did.  Funny thing, while watching the beat down and face plant of Oregon in the Rose Bowl I was thinking what if the same happened in basketball?

It was great to see Ben Humrichous finally break out, he's been struggling of late, and Tre White.  He's not mentioned much when people talk of Illinois basketball, he's sneaky good.

Edited January 3, 2025 by gflore34

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Lots of fun nuggets about that beat down:

 

-Largest ever road win by ANY team over an AP top ten opponent

-Illinois shot 55% from downtown…even though they started 0/7

-First opposing team to put up 100 in Matthew Knight Arena (opened in January 2011)

-Most points in regulation vs a Big Ten opponent since 1990

-Illinois jumps from 18 to 9 in KenPom, 11 to 5 in Torvik, 10 to 5 in NET

[bukie]

I have had a feeling that Illinois was quietly really good and underrated and just needed a big win to get attention. If you think about it, if KJ makes both FTs at the end against Tennessee and hits the fadeaway at the end of regulation in NW, Illinois is probably sitting in the top 10 with effectively the same metrics.

109-77 in Eugene should get attention from AP voters, I suppose.

[gflore34]

16 minutes ago, bukie said:

I have had a feeling that Illinois was quietly really good and underrated and just needed a big win to get attention. If you think about it, if KJ makes both FTs at the end against Tennessee and hits the fadeaway at the end of regulation in NW, Illinois is probably sitting in the top 10 with effectively the same metrics.

109-77 in Eugene should get attention from AP voters, I suppose.

Maybe, hopefully, they take care of Washington on Sunday, if they do, they might inch into the top 20.

[bukie]

50 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Maybe, hopefully, they take care of Washington on Sunday, if they do, they might inch into the top 20.

Fun fact, Illinois was 6th in BR's rating metric before last night's game. Now they're in the top 10 in KP, BT and NET, which means they're a really really good team whether AP voters think so or not.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

The immense talent on the roster was always apparent. The NW and Tennessee games are matchups I’m confident they’d have won if they were scheduled later in the season. I chalk those up to inexperience and a roster with 11 new players still feeling one another out. That they looked so in sync last night is a huge credit to Underwood. 
 

Man, the sky’s the limit for this team if guys like Humrichous, White, Davis, and DGL can keep playing like that.

[Tryptamine]

Season ends today and Jakucionis is a lock to go to the draft. It was crazy how little respect some of the scouting sites were giving him. Ivisic may end up there too as well as Will Riley, but Riley has to get out of this shooting funk he's been in for a while now.

Edited January 3, 2025 by Tryptamine

[Bobson Dugnutt]

KJ is pretty much gone no matter what. He’s projected by almost every outlet to go in the 4-7 range.

 

I kind of think Will Riley needs another year in college to get stronger, but I can see a team using a first round pick on him based solely on potential. I hope he’s happy enough in Champaign to stay out of the transfer portal if he does wind up playing one more year in college.

 

I’m not seeing Ivisic pop up in many mocks yet. Tankathon has him at 49. That’s all I see at a quick glance. I feel like he’s being slept on. 7-1 255 lbs, shooting 38% from deep on 4.5 attempts per game and can bang inside as well (rebounding and shot blocking numbers compare favorably with Kofi Cockburn’s numbers at Illinois). He should find a role in the nba.

[Tryptamine]

7 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

KJ is pretty much gone no matter what. He’s projected by almost every outlet to go in the 4-7 range.

 

I kind of think Will Riley needs another year in college to get stronger, but I can see a team using a first round pick on him based solely on potential. I hope he’s happy enough in Champaign to stay out of the transfer portal if he does wind up playing one more year in college.

 

I’m not seeing Ivisic pop up in many mocks yet. Tankathon has him at 49. That’s all I see at a quick glance. I feel like he’s being slept on. 7-1 255 lbs, shooting 38% from deep on 4.5 attempts per game and can bang inside as well (rebounding and shot blocking numbers compare favorably with Kofi Cockburn’s numbers at Illinois). He should find a role in the nba.

Yeah, at this point the mocks i see ivisic on it's mid to late 2nd, but his stock should improve by the end of the year.

[gflore34]

Game with Washington was much closer than it should have been, definitely a let down by the young Illini.  Still, they won, a win on road in Big Ten is a good thing.  Hell, two wins on a West Coast swing, I doubt many Midwest/East Big Ten teams could have pulled that off.

[Tryptamine]

Illinois shot 5/26 from 3 and still won, I'll take that everyday

[mul21]

14 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

Illinois shot 5/26 from 3 and still won, I'll take that everyday

Yeah, winning that game with almost nothing from behind the arc is an impressive feat.  The depth on this team is insane and DGL is a hell of a competitor.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

This Illinois team is every bit as good as last year’s. Last year was top heavy with Shannon and Domask carrying the load on offense. This year there’s seven different guys taking turns from game to game. Tonight it’s Morez Johnson and Humrichous’ turn.

[Derwood]

Wow, Penn State is really shitting the bed in this game

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Illinois has forced them into a lot of deep twos but they’ve been leaving everything short.

[Irrelevant Dude]

That was something, and the scary part is that Illinois didn't even shoot well from three.  This team is absolutely a national title contender.

[Rex Buckingham]

KJ is a top 5 pick and without him Illinois won by almost 40 against a PSU team that isn't that bad

[Old Style]

This was one of the most insane basketball games I’ve ever seen. OU shoots 53% from 3 (including a bench player going 9-11) at home against A&M who was without their best player and LOST.