College Basketball 2026-2027

[bukie]

After a month of hyped up exhibitions, the real games start Sunday.

There's a new (to them!) conference called the Pac-12 that is mostly the MWC with Gonzaga.

Here's how power conference teams project to play out based on EvanMiya (who insists on only posting to Twitter but I refuse to give bandwidth to them so here is the chart, and go directly to EvanMiya.com for more info):

[bukie]

Oh, and here's the new batch of mid majors that should account for all the rest of the at large bid contenders, even in an expanded tournament field:

[mul21]

I'm fully expecting a very slow start for Illinois with all the injuries (again).  They should be rolling by mid January when it really starts to count though.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, mul21 said:

I'm fully expecting a very slow start for Illinois with all the injuries (again).  They should be rolling by mid January when it really starts to count though.

I also feel Underwood likes to mix and match guys to figure out what, exactly, he has. He isn’t worried about a few early season losses if it allows him to give some guys playing time and experience. 

[bukie]

Two years ago, Illinois finished in the top 20 of tempo and had the 3rd most efficient offense in basketball.

Last year, Illinois finished in the bottom 20 of tempo and had the most efficient offense in basketball.

I'm sure Underwood will retool the offense again to fit his players, and they'll have one of the most efficient offenses in basketball again, regardless of who plays. Based on their preseason games, they'll play faster again.

As for Mirkovic, he's a top 5 player (and will be back sooner than later), but Illinois is also a very deep and old team, returning 6 guys from last year's team and adding 5 freshmen, at least 4 of which are better than expected from the jump, so that should allow them to weather the early storm of the schedule while Mirk gets back to 100%.

[mul21]

This insanity with NIL has to change somehow.  Old friend Trey Kauffman-Renn is playing at Kansas after being drafted and playing in summer league games for the TWolves.  

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/49892351/ex-purdue-star-trey-kaufman-renn-enters-portal-sources-say

[gflore34]

Mirkovic with an emergency appendectomy last night.  Hope every thing is okay with him.

[bukie]

14 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Mirkovic with an emergency appendectomy last night.  Hope every thing is okay with him.

Hey, that should get him to stay off that leg for a bit and let it heal.

[gflore34]

5 minutes ago, bukie said:

Hey, that should get him to stay off that leg for a bit and let it heal.

In this light could be a net positive.

[Irrelevant Dude]

19-2 Illinois after 5 minutes.  I think I can focus on the Bears tonight.