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I’m surprised that Evans didn’t make it. Christie not so much. He’s not ranked nearly high enough to be considered.

Christie is a good recruit but he is nowhere near the top 2023 recruit in Illinois. Jeremy Fears is ranked in the 20s on both Rivals and 247 and is going to Michigan State. Dai Dai Ames is ranked in the 50s and headed to Kansas State. Christie is ranked above 120. Again, good recruit but not...

Illinois? Never seen Illinois in black uniforms.

Getting upset in the tournament is why Underwood has tried to build a different type of roster. Underwood’s sample size is small at Illinois so I’m not sure what conclusions to draw yet. Two tournaments so far. Would have been three except for the cancelled one. Two years ago was a true...

Illinois was in deep foul trouble in the first half. Brandon Lieb had played one Big Ten minute so far until tonight. The deep reserves kept Illinois in the game until halftime. Then the regulars took over.

I like a couple of the Minnesota freshmen. Good building blocks. Should never be down 30 to Michigan at home, though. Illinois often has four freshmen on the court together plus Dainja who is essentially a freshman in experience. Lost the entire starting five from last year and 85% of the...

You have to assume that other teams will also get better during the year, too. So it still comes down to talent.

Your first two sentences describe Illinois, too. 2 returning players, 3 transfers and 4 freshmen in the rotation. Learning to play together and playing against top competition cost them against Virginia. Led with 3 minutes to play but inexperience caught up the last three minutes. Surprised...

Kruger

No academic issues coming to Illinois and Illinois has high Big Ten standards compared to Baylor. If he could get into Illinois, he could get into Minnesota so that’s not why he isn’t at Minnesota. As for his weight, that is true. He got with the UI strength and conditioning coach and has...

I don’t think that Katz wanted to put more than one Illinois player on the list. Matt Mayer is better than a number of players on that list. I guess we will see when it plays out.

Why? Illinois has beaten Minnesota the last two seasons. Why should Minnesota be better? Pretty equal programs.

Iowa had 222 yards. About 30 more.

Have you done an in-depth comparison of the talent on the other Big Ten teams?

Gabe Brown was their leading scorer at 11.6. Christie tied for second at 9.3 with Marcus Bingham.

I was at an Illinois practice this summer. Illinois is loaded. Based on early viewing, their 10th man was the highest ranked recruit in Ohio and the 11th man (although he may not stay there) was the star of the French U-18 national team this summer.

You have Illinois only playing UCLA and Texas. The UCLA game is the first of a four team tourney. Illinois will play either Baylor or Virginia in the second game.

I’ll say it now since it’s not sour grapes. Pierce was really bad last weekend. Several schools dropped off of him after the weekend. Not saying he might not turn out ok, but you did not lose a must-get type.

I think Minnesota will get Pierce.

Many coaches are leaning towards having 12 and leaving one scholarship open. Mid year transfers are a bigger thing now and open scholarships are valuable. Dainja is an example.