Great Season, Shots Just Didn't Fall

[FrankTheTank]

Amazing season, and a whole lot of fun. I think this is the 3rd? final-4 I have seen, and every one of them provided great, but tough, memories. This one will be no different. No disrespect to UCONN, but I don't think I have ever seen one team make everything, every weird/bad bounce went their way, and the other team had the worst luck I have ever seen. I felt like an imaginary Hakeem was knocking our shots out of the rim. Live by the 3, die by the 3...and we died.

Who to cheer for in the final? I like to cheer for the team that knocks off my team, and I just don't know if I can cheer for Michigan, but I do have a lot of friends who are Michigan fans. So...whatever. ha ha

It will be interesting to see who stays, who goes, who comes in, and what the lineup looks like opening game this fall. Tough day, but overall a fun season and ride.

[12xu]

It was a tough loss, but not really unexpected after the extremely slow start to the game. In truth I never expected the Illini to get the final four after the way the regular season ended and the early exit in the Big Ten tourney. The team had some really great games during the year and what a unique bunch of players they were! I only wish we could see Wagler and Stojakovic back but I don't think they will return. Boswell and Humrichous are definitely done, but maybe Ty Rodgers will be back, and Mirkovic, Davis, and the Ivisic twins may also return. Some very good signees coming in, like Quentin Coleman, and I am confident there will be some transfers from the portal.

Looking forward to a great season in 2026-27!!

[Rickster]

I know what you mean by the seeming luck. I mean, that one Stoya shot at the rim just sat on the plate...and I know yelled "are you kidding me? ..that junky shot went in?" on close to a half dozen Uconn shots.

I never thought this team could string together 4 or 5 wins in the tourney either, so poo poo on me and bully for them. I know I said a month ago that this team could put up 80 on anyone but they couldn't play defense well enough to win in the tourney, and just the opposite happened.

We had more FTs, more rebounds, more points in the paint and held Uconn to 35% shooting overall. That's a W most nights. But they made 12 treys and we only made 6.

About half way through the second half my buddy texted "neither one of these teams can beat Michigan anyway" ...I tend to agree. Mich will beat Uconn tonight 80-60.

[ChiefSTL]

Man, what hurts the most is knowing that we really didn't play well, and still were in striking distance at the end. I really felt like we lost it when we took the lead 22-21 in the first half, but wasted a bunch of possession and couldn't stretch the lead while UConn wasn't scoring. That was the time to take control and get some momentum. Didn't move the ball as well as we normally do. We had a handful of wide open 3's that we couldn't get down, and the misses around the rim were really bad. Great group of kids that were fun to root for, now go do it again next year.

Now the attention turns to retention. In this current landscape, I'll be shocked if we can keep all of the key guys, but that's the hope. Stojakovich and Mirkovich will get big money offers. If you can keep the key pieces, we really only need to add 1-2 transfers and we can be a top 10 preseason team. Getting a transfer lead guard will be priority #1. Getting a stretch 4 that can have a role like Humrichous is probably the other thing they'll look at. Toni Billic, the euro that transferred mid-season, could step into that role if he's ready. Getting a commitment from Quincy Coleman out of Principia this weekend is massive. I expect he's your starting 2G next year. He's got one of the purest strokes I've seen. Another incoming freshman, Lucas Morillo, could be a guy that gets minutes too.

If we can keep everybody, here's the rotation as I see it:

PG - Transfer
SG - Quincy Coleman, Brandon Lee
SF - Stojakovich, Davis
PF - Mirkovich, Transfer
C - Ivisic, Ivisic

[Rickster]

Now the attention turns to retention. In this current landscape, I'll be shocked if we can keep all of the key guys, but that's the hope. Stojakovich and Mirkovich will get big money offers. If you can keep the key pieces, we really only need to add 1-2 transfers and we can be a top 10 preseason team. Getting a transfer lead guard will be priority #1. Getting a stretch 4 that can have a role like Humrichous is probably the other thing they'll look at. Toni Billic, the euro that transferred mid-season, could step into that role if he's ready. Getting a commitment from Quincy Coleman out of Principia this weekend is massive. I expect he's your starting 2G next year. He's got one of the purest strokes I've seen. Another incoming freshman, Lucas Morillo, could be a guy that gets minutes too.

If we can keep everybody, here's the rotation as I see it:

PG - Transfer
SG - Quincy Coleman, Brandon Lee
SF - Stojakovich, Davis
PF - Mirkovich, Transfer
C - Ivisic, Ivisic

I hope both Ivisic (especially Z) and Stoya work on their outside shooting. Z needs to be in that 35% range or he's just not effective enough to get more than 10-12 mins.

I noticed you don't have Ty Rogers listed ...I assume if he gets back on the floor, then Davis gets an offer to go somewhere else to knock down 40% and provide some rebounds. Assuming Petro goes somewhere else?

I read somewhere they're targeting the 6'2" soph from Villanova for the point, but a lot of teams are targeting him.

[ChiefSTL]

Now the attention turns to retention. In this current landscape, I'll be shocked if we can keep all of the key guys, but that's the hope. Stojakovich and Mirkovich will get big money offers. If you can keep the key pieces, we really only need to add 1-2 transfers and we can be a top 10 preseason team. Getting a transfer lead guard will be priority #1. Getting a stretch 4 that can have a role like Humrichous is probably the other thing they'll look at. Toni Billic, the euro that transferred mid-season, could step into that role if he's ready. Getting a commitment from Quincy Coleman out of Principia this weekend is massive. I expect he's your starting 2G next year. He's got one of the purest strokes I've seen. Another incoming freshman, Lucas Morillo, could be a guy that gets minutes too.

If we can keep everybody, here's the rotation as I see it:

PG - Transfer
SG - Quincy Coleman, Brandon Lee
SF - Stojakovich, Davis
PF - Mirkovich, Transfer
C - Ivisic, Ivisic

I hope both Ivisic (especially Z) and Stoya work on their outside shooting. Z needs to be in that 35% range or he's just not effective enough to get more than 10-12 mins.

I noticed you don't have Ty Rogers listed ...I assume if he gets back on the floor, then Davis gets an offer to go somewhere else to knock down 40% and provide some rebounds. Assuming Petro goes somewhere else?

I read somewhere they're targeting the 6'2" soph from Villanova for the point, but a lot of teams are targeting him.

Yeah you're right about Rodgers, oversight on my part. We need to be more athletic on defense, and he could help provide that. Biggest question with him is how he shoots it. If Z could put on 20 pounds he could play a little more like Mara did for Michigan too. He just gets posted up too easy, but his shot blocking is a heck of a weapon. Yeah Stoj has to get that outside shot going to play at the next level. If he can do that, he's a leading scorer type of guy.

Big news yesterday was that John Blackwell from Wisconsin hit the portal. His Dad played for IL. He said he wants an opportunity to win and play more with the ball in his hands. Those are two big things we can provide. He'd be a heck of a get, and apparently IL has known this was coming and will very much be in play with him. Will likely all come down to $$$. If he just wants top dollar, he'll probably get that from Kentucky or Duke as they're both in on him.

Yeah I think Petro is gone. Unless he just really wants to stay here, but I don't know what we paid him this year but you can't offer him anything more than some minimum amount. Better use of that money elsewhere. Depending on who they bring in, could see Brandon Lee move on if he doesn't have a path to any playing time.