2022 Illinois Fighting Illini' Season Preview

[BabaYaga]

Champaign, IL – After another solid football season, the Fighting Illini' faithful turn their attention to the court. Unfortunately for Illinois head coach @nemolee.exe, the success on the field does not look to translate to the court. Below, we will take a quick look at the season ahead for the Illinois men's basketball team.

 

Projected Starters

G - Jian Lin - SR - A overall

G - Eric Noble - SR - C overall

F - Michael Cummings - SO - B overall

F - Scott Vanisko - SO - C overall

C - Christopher Toscano - JR - B overall

 

Key Bench Contributors

F - Nicholas Frericks - SR - B overall

G - Max Lee - SO - C overall

F - Xiang Bigler - JR - C overall

C - Ernest Foster - FR - D overall

 

With only one A overall player and three B overall players on the roster, Illinois is going to struggle this season. They will need to lean on Lin quite a bit this season and will struggle behind the arc as they only have three players that can really shoot the ball. This team does not have much depth, either, and that will really hurt them as we get into the meat of conference play.

 

Non-Conference Schedule

Week 1A: East Carolina

Week 1B: @ Ole Miss

Week 2A: @ Marquette (Gavitt Tip-Off Games)

Week 2B: Colorado

Week 3A: Georgia Tech (ACC-B1G Challenge)

Week 3B: @ Alabama

Week 4A: La Salle

Week 4B: @ TCU

 

Illinois has a pretty challenging non-conference schedule this season. East Carolina, Ole Miss, Alabama, and TCU will be very tough games for them, and three of those games are on the road. Illinois is looking at a tough start to the year prior to having an easier non-conference stretch in the middle of their slate. Non-conference projection: Low 1-7, High 3-5.

 

Overall Thoughts

Illinois will need to lean on its starters for success this year. They may be the beneficiary of a weaker conference in the Big Ten but overall, this roster doesn't look that great. Jin will have a really solid season and will need to have a good year for Illinois for them to be successful. I can see their starters getting them to a respectable conference record but this is a middle-of-the-road Big Ten team. Prediction: 13-15 (11-9 B1G)

[nemolee.exe]

Hi there!

 

Yeah, this season, we don't have the best players. Our bright stop is Jin, but we are looking to see our players affect our team in a good way. And also, I will make this team better.

 

How dare you call us so weak that we win little non-conference games. Thank you so much; we'll see you when we see you <3

Edited November 14, 2022 by nemolee.exe