Illini Basketball 2024-2025

#1      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
Welcome to the Illini Basketball 2024-2025 & College Basketball news thread :illinois:


Tickets
Season Ticket Info
(Single game ticket info has not yet been released.)


Schedule
Reported unofficial non-conference schedule-
Eastern Illinois (Monday, November 4th)
Oakland (date TBD)
Alabama in Birmingham, AL (Wednesday, November 20th)
Arkansas in Kansas City, MO (Thanksgiving Day - Thursday, November 28th)
Tennessee (Saturday, December 14th)
Missouri in St. Louis, MO (Sunday, December 22nd)
Duke at Madison Square Garden, NYC (Saturday, February 22nd)

Big Ten opponents-
Home Only – Iowa, Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, UCLA, USC,
Away Only – Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Rutgers, Washington
Home & Away – Michigan State, Northwestern, Wisconsin


Roster
IL Returnees
1) Ty Rodgers
2) Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn

IL Signees
1) Morez Johnson (2024 PF) committed on November 4th, 2021.
2) Jason Jakstys (2024 F) committed on July 23rd, 2023.
3) Jake Davis (Mercer guard) committed on April 1st.
4) Tre White (Louisville wing) committed on April 9th.
5) Kylan Boswell (Arizona guard) committed on April 14th.
6) Carey Booth (Notre Dame forward) committed on April 16th.
7) Ben Humrichous (Evansville forward) committed on April 30th.
8) Tomislav Ivisic (Croatian center) committed on May 6th.
9) Kasparas Jakucionis (Lithuanian guard) committed on May 28th.
10) Will Riley (2024 F) committed on June 23rd.
 
#2      

jezzadownunder

J
jezzadownunder
Number One Win GIF by Pudgy Penguins
 
#4      

LadyLoyalty

LadyLoyalty
Indian Wells, CA
LadyLoyalty
Neither Tomislav or Kasparas (both projected first round draft picks) have been ranked as recruits by any of the college sites/media. This team will be underrated even after Will reclassifies. Can’t wait to see Brad & Co shock some folks in the B1G and beyond.

IMG_4809.png
 
#5      

HereSoIDontGetFined

H
HereSoIDontGetFined
LadyLoyalty said:
Neither Tomislav or Kasparas (both projected first round draft picks) have been ranked as recruits by any of the college sites/media. This team will be underrated even after Will reclassifies. Can’t wait to see Brad & Co shock some folks in the B1G and beyond.

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Yep, but until then we have the number 1 class for 2025!

It's criminal that Morez Johnson isn't a five-star.
 
#8      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
LadyLoyalty said:
Neither Tomislav or Kasparas (both projected first round draft picks) have been ranked as recruits by any of the college sites/media. This team will be underrated even after Will reclassifies. Can’t wait to see Brad & Co shock some folks in the B1G and beyond.

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There needs to be some innovation in the recruiting rankings space for the new college basketball.

Something akin to the Team Talent Composite that 247 does on the football side, for starters.
 
#9      

LadyLoyalty

LadyLoyalty
Indian Wells, CA
LadyLoyalty
Rooftop said:
Coach will start Ty to begin the season but Jakucionis will take his spot at some point
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Premature to declare. We have no idea how it will shake out in workouts or team chemistry. We also don’t know how our guys from last year have developed. Has Ty really developed that jump shot?! That would be major. We saw flashes of DGL’s potential last yr, he could blow up this season too. Just too soon to know other than the fact we’ll be really, really good and BU has a lot of pieces to play with based on matchups, not just skill. Potential nightmare for opponents.
 
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Bert2022

B
Bert2022
I got tired of waiting for 247 to switch Riley's status to 2024 recruit, so I picked a comparable player in terms of rating (in this case, Liam McNeeley...actually rated a smidge below Will Riley), to see where we might end up in the 2024 recruiting rankings. If I've done everything right, it looks like we'll come in around #4 in the nation :)...potentially #3, taking over that spot from Rutgers' class whom EVERYONE has been talking about.
 
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#11      

Illini4Christ

Illini4Christ
Illini4Christ
LadyLoyalty said:
Premature to declare. We have no idea how it will shake out in workouts or team chemistry. We also don’t know how our guys from last year have developed. Has Ty really developed that jump shot?! That would be major. We saw flashes of DGL’s potential last yr, he could blow up this season too. Just too soon to know other than the fact we’ll be really, really good and BU has a lot of pieces to play with based on matchups, not just skill. Potential nightmare for opponents.
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It is too early to say but an insider said last week that Tre White in scrimmage is piquing the coaching staff’s enthusiasm.
 
#12      

IlliniFan42

IlliniFan42
IlliniFan42
Where I'm lost is how we aren't on the early top 25 lists. It seems like there are worse bets than a team consistently making the tournament with lots of new talent. Instead the analysts seem to favor teams that keep missing the tournament but have more returning players in the hopes that this is the year they figure it out.
 
#13      

HereSoIDontGetFined

H
HereSoIDontGetFined
IlliniFan42 said:
Where I'm lost is how we aren't on the early top 25 lists. It seems like there are worse bets than a team consistently making the tournament with lots of new talent. Instead the analysts seem to favor teams that keep missing the tournament but have more returning players in the hopes that this is the year they figure it out.
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No TSJ means we suck again.

Admittedly, I think no one has any idea where to put us. Nearly the entire team is new. I think that will change once folks like Rothstein, et. al. will be around for summer workouts.
 
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LadyLoyalty

LadyLoyalty
Indian Wells, CA
LadyLoyalty
IlliniFan42 said:
Where I'm lost is how we aren't on the early top 25 lists. It seems like there are worse bets than a team consistently making the tournament with lots of new talent. Instead the analysts seem to favor teams that keep missing the tournament but have more returning players in the hopes that this is the year they figure it out.
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Our euro recruits are not ranked by anyone. Will has not officially reclassified. They are not factored in any of the media team scores/rankings, so we are vastly under ranked & underestimated.
 
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Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
It was really cool to see that basketball season tickets might sell out ... I remember as a little kid having my expectations tempered about traveling to a game in Champaign because such a high percentage of the tickets in Assembly Hall were season tickets. While that was obviously a bummer, it is great to have fan support back at elite levels! And that got me down this fascinating rabbit hole! Below is our average attendance and how it ranked nationally since 2000! Note that due to the source I used, we are only included if we crack the top 25. I also had to use this, this, this, etc. once I ran out of years in the original PDF.

I also called out seasons with significant success (which I limited to a Big Ten title of some sort, a top 4 seed and a Sweet Sixteen or better) to highlight just how much the support lags the wins ... we are getting the crowds this year that TSJ, Marcus and company truly earned with their play. But for further information, years where we made the NCAA Tournament are orange, and years where we did not are blue.

2000: 14,577 (#15) - #4 seed
2001: 15,469 (#13) - Big Ten champs, #1 seed and Elite Eight
2002: 16,177 (#11) - Big Ten champs, #4 seed and Sweet Sixteen
2003: 15,165 (#13) - BTT champs and #4 seed
2004: 16,072 (#9) - Big Ten champs and Sweet Sixteen
2005: 16,387 (#7) - Big Ten champs, BTT champs, #1 seed and National Championship Game appearance
2006: 16,618 (#9) - #4 seed
2007: 16,618 (#10)
2008: 16,618 (#11)
2009: 15,499 (#13)
2010: 14,870 (#12)
2011: 15,851 (#10)
2012: 14,986 (#14)
2013: 15,013 (#17)
2014: 15,246 (#15)
2015: 14,652 (#15)
--- NOTE: Capacity changes from 16,618+ to 15,544 after this point! ---
2016: N/A (NR)
2017: N/A (NR)
2018: 12,613 (#25)
2019: 12,456 (#25)
2020: 13,041 (#24) (easily would have made the Tournament)
2021: N/A (COVID-19) - BTT champs and #1 seed (also should have won Big Ten...)
2022: 14,690 (#13) - Big Ten champs and #4 seed
2023: 15,091 (#9)
2024: 14,991 (ranking N/A) - BTT champs, #3 seed and Elite Eight

A few interesting notes...
- Interesting dropoff for 2003 once the lovable group from 1999-2002 had almost fully moved on. Of course, after the 2003 season and getting to see Dee and Deron as freshman, things rebounded in 2004.
- It's crazy the goodwill 2005 bought with our fan base. 2007 and a 19-loss 2008 season having the whole season sold out because people were still just that invested?? Awesome.
- It's actually pretty depressing how GRADUAL the erosion of support was from 2008 to 2019. Our fans largely kept showing up, and it took years of bad teams and a depressing outlook to make a true dent in attendance. Our fans are very loyal and deserve even more credit than they rightfully receive.
- It's worth noting that 2020 attendance picked up a LOT once our fans realized we truly had something going. We were selling out our last several Big Ten home games. On that note, optimism clearly spilled over into 2022 and 2023 off the backs of 2021's loud proclamation that we were back. MAN, do I wish we could have had a normal season with fans in 2021. :(
- It's ALSO worth noting that the 2023 disappointment pushed down our initial attendance last year. We sold out 9 of our final 10 home games.
 
#23      

FloridaMan

F
FloridaMan
IlliniFan42 said:
Where I'm lost is how we aren't on the early top 25 lists. It seems like there are worse bets than a team consistently making the tournament with lots of new talent. Instead the analysts seem to favor teams that keep missing the tournament but have more returning players in the hopes that this is the year they figure it out.
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Just the normal lazy journalism we’ve come to expect. The voters are painfully ignorant of most teams they do not cover on a daily basis, or have clear biases fully on display. Ranking teams based solely on returning ppg, etc.
 
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nichi

N
nichi
I know most coaches prefer a fairly short bench, but a few have used a deeper rotation with success. Tom Davis at Iowa and Rick Pitino at UK come to mind. Both liked to use a zone press and a transition offence. Both had the horses, Davis inherited them from George Raveling.

With this kind of depth and talent, Coach In Underwood has the opportunity to play at a faster pace and use a longer bench. It will be interesting to see what happens.