Fall is upon us and we finally have a chance to take a breather after one of the most eventful offseasons the Illini basketball program has ever experienced.
Brad Underwood’s team is brimming with excitement as he enters his eighth season at the helm after making a breakthrough run to the Elite Eight. Almost all of last year’s team is gone and the Illini have undergone an unprecedented roster shakeup that is extreme even in the new age of player movement in college basketball.
There are 10 new faces, from transfers to highly touted out-of-state talent to the highest-rated high school recruit in Illinois history. And with that comes a lot of questions that won’t be answered until a little over two months from now, or even later, when the regular season begins.
Here are three of the most important questions that need to be answered before fall practice:
Who will be in the starting lineup for the Illini’s season opener?
This question will provide some lively dinner debates over the next two months.
Brad Underwood has plenty of options when selecting his starters. There are as many as ten players who could earn a spot in the starting lineup, and Illini fans will be closely watching the first five players who take the field on November 4 against Eastern Illinois.
There are a few guys who are pretty much guaranteed to earn a spot in the starting lineup. Kylan Boswell is almost certain to play point guard, and it would be pretty surprising if the ever-growing hype surrounding Kasparas Jakucionis didn’t end with a nomination for the Illini’s starting backcourt.
Beyond that, there’s a lot of uncertainty. Who will win the battle between Tomislav Ivisic and Morez Johnson at center? Is Will Riley too talented to bring off the bench? Will Underwood opt to bring in fifth-year senior Ben Humrichous to add some experience to an otherwise young lineup?
My most fascinating fight to watch during fall practice? The small forward position, a potential three-way battle between three strong candidates.
Will Riley will be hard to ignore as a true basket-hunter and Illinois’ highest-rated recruit in the composite era. But Ty Rodgers’ return experience and Tre White’s proven high-major performance will make things interesting.
Ultimately, Underwood’s rotation will figure itself out as the season progresses, but the opening night starting lineup will provide an intriguing story with the full group this year.
Who will score the most points for the Illini?
This was very rarely a legitimate question in the Brad Underwood era.
Over the past five seasons, the Illini’s alpha dog has left little doubt on offense, with Ayo Dosunmu, Kofi Cockburn and Terrence Shannon Jr. on the All-Big Ten and All-American lists. This year, the Illini’s leading scorer could be just about anyone, or maybe even no one.
The most popular answer to that question is probably Jakucionis after a dominant summer in both Illinois’ summer workouts and international games overseas. Jakucionis has all sorts of offensive skills and will often have the ball in his hands and direct the Illini’s offense.
But there are plenty of guys capable of filling out the scoresheet on this list.
Kylan Boswell, one of the Illini’s best minute collectors, could very well make a significant jump in scoring. Will Riley is the most talented shooter Illinois has had in years, and that should translate immediately to college. Perhaps Ben Humrichous will secretly lead the points-per-game list with his size and accurate shooting. Tre White could even be the most proven college scorer of all, having averaged 12.3 points in the ACC last year.
Even though the Illini are more balanced in scoring than they have been in recent years, finding their best scorers will be one of the most important developments of the season. The title of leading scorer could be decided in the home stretch.
How are the Illini doing in the 18-team Big Ten this season?
The answers to this question seem to vary depending on the respondent.
College basketball insider Jon Rothstein ranked the Illini No. 8 in his preseason Big Ten Power Rankings.
Bart Torvik predicts the Illini will finish fourth.
If you scroll through X, you will come across a large number of fans who believe that the Illini have enough potential to be at the top of the conference at the end of the season.
The truth is that any Illinois offseason predictions are largely based on educated guesses not based on data or past performance. That’s because so much is still unknown about much of this year’s group.
Evaluating an Illinois basketball team has never been more difficult than this one. There’s no doubt that the Illini can compete with almost any team in the Big Ten in terms of talent. But integrating 10 new players, many of whom are brand new to college basketball, presents many challenges.
Brad Underwood will be tasked with getting the most out of his deep, talented staff to put the Illini in a position to compete for another Big Ten title in this year’s expanded field, and he’ll have to do that pretty quickly. This is far from new territory for him.
The Illini face many different outcomes in the 2024-25 season.
