Illini basketball off-season is already an absolute roller coaster and I’m here for all of it

Welcome to my Illini basketball blog. I’m not going to put a lot of fluff here. I just have a lot of thoughts about Illinois basketball that I keep bottled up inside because the character count on Twitter isn’t enough. Here ya go:

What we know as of April 6:

Now this roster isn’t going to scare the bejesus out of anybody as it stands right now; if they don’t add anymore impact players this is a middle of the pack BIG team currently constructed at best.

But with 2 versatile 7 footers and a veteran battle tested bulldog point guard, what they do have is a core starting point for what could potentially be another National Contender if Brad is able to add some impact players around these guys which we should fully anticipate because he has done it for the last 5+ years regardless of the staff.

What we hope:

Will Riley comes back. I don’t believe it’s a foregone conclusion he’s going to the NBA. At Illinois next season he has as many shots as he wants with the opportunity to get stronger and increase his draft stock to lottery level while making 2mil in the process. He has to at least be thinking about it. 

My gut on this says (and this might be the Illini fan pessimist nut punch coming out in me) that he declares and enters the transfer portal but before you lose your mind he would be foolish not to enter the portal for at the very least to use it as leverage to drive up his Illini price tag. Maybe he won’t but I wouldn’t hold it against him.

Number 1 on my personal wish list:

Dame Sarr. Cmon this is a realistic possibility still right? Right? (I’m telling myself this is why Tre White left) Based off of the approximately 5 minutes of highlights that I have watched of Dame Sarr; he is the type of 6’6” wing that I have been yearning for at Illinois since what seems like forever and I’m not just going to let this name fizzle out around here.   Dame is the perfect big guard fluid athlete that can score from everywhere and break his defender down off the dribble. We haven’t had that at Illinois since maybe Ayo, but Dame is taller, stronger, more athletic and before you come at me with Terrance, sure TSJ was as big and strong but he was one dribble get downhill with the left or one dribble pull up with the right. Dame seems to have a bigger dribbling bag and  just seems more fluid. These type of guards are how you win in March. Guys that can take over a game scoring in the second half. Just give them the fucking ball and go score type guys so you don’t have to rely on one million ball screens just to settle for a contested bail out jumper from 15+ feet. Basically I’m obsessed with the Illini adding Dame Sarr I don’t care that he’s streaky from 3 just get him on campus and plug him for 30+ minutes a night.

And while we’re on the subject, I don’t understand why Will Riley would be a deal-breaker for Dame Sarr. I get they’re both scoring wings but completely different players. I think they could mesh well together. A couple good wing-scorers shouldn’t be a bad thing. A little drive & dish, playing off of eachother goes a long way for my basketball senses. That’s what you need in March. Maybe it’s the money. I don’t know anything about the money situation. Maybe it’s that. Probably is that the more that I think about it but who really knows. All I’m saying is that they’re in my dream scenario line-up day 1 vs Lewis & Clark and I’m guessing on Lewis & Clark but they were a staple exhibition game forever so I’m assuming Brad t’d them up for a quick scrimmage before the real thing starts.

Quick Hitter:

The latest name on the crystal ball lock to Illinois recruiting trail (we have all seen them -> 🔮) by some guy on Twitter named Sleeve Nash (who I will fully put my 100% faith in without knowing a thing about him) is a 6’9” Euro F David Mirkovic – (23/15/5 are great numbers I don’t care what league it’s in). European players come in exactly 2 styles – Rough, rugged, and trying to fight everybody OR soft, flashy, and finesse-y. First glance this guy seems to be more in that first category. Nothing fancy about him. Got a little bulldog in him. Got some “shit to him” as they say. That’s good in my book. Illinois needs more of these guys. Put him in a line-up with Ty Rodgers and we’re going to be throwing some weight around. As a freshman we won’t see his peak, but he looks like a 8 minute a game bull in a china shop guy that’s going to make some great plays where you see the potential and then a minute later he’s going to crash into 3 guys kamikaze for an offensive rebound and Brad is gonna yank and possibly yell at him and half of Illini Twitter is going to be crying on the internet about it. Man I can’t wait for the ‘25/‘26 season to start.

Dream line-up

Dream line-up would go like this (and I get that it’s probably not feasible but that’s why it’s called a dream line-up pal):

Listen, I just want to fucking score. I need some bucket getters when the play breaks down that can go 1v1 and there are 3 wing bucket getters in this line-up. Now – they would be a little light/soft in the frontcourt but they WOULD be able to protect the rim. Solid athletic backcourt with Boz and Sarr. Streaky shooting on the perimeter but the Ivisic brothers would make up for it. They can stroke it with the best bigs in the country. And to keep it simple, we all know Riley would be a 3-level scoring machine All-American 17ppg guy. I don’t want to spend too much time on the obvious here.

And there SHOULD BE 1 or 2 more big-time transfers on the way. I don’t want to speculate who they will be and I’m not gonna list out all the names. Go to Illinoisloyalty or 247 for that bullshit. My wishlist would be a strong athletic frontcourt guy and another big time scoring wing player.

The Freshman and Ty Rodgers are absolute wildcards here. No idea what to expect from any of them but I’m open for business here guys, I’ll let it play out. Ty is the ultimate glue guy and last year’s team was missing that so I missed Ty. I didn’t think I would but I did in the end. Can never have too many glue guys. Actually you can, should keep it to about 2.

I will hype this team. I will believe we are going to win the national championship all spring and summer. I will inevitably say at one point in November or December that this is the best team since ‘04/‘05 and I will believe it 1000%. Can’t wait.

Also note: the situation is fluid guys so just bare with me. It’s April 6th