Illinois basketball got supercharged this offseason due to the fact that we lost so much talent in the NCAA tournament last year.
In recent years, the illini They have once again become a relevant program. It had been since the 2005-06 season that I felt Orange and Blue were an elite team. That feeling finally returned after the program qualified for three straight NCAA tournaments.
But the team is only as successful as the players. When players see success, they have the opportunity to move on to bigger and better things. Most Illinois fans aren’t used to players leaving the NBA early.
In the 2000s, this happened quite often. Frank Williams left a year earlier. Deron Williams left a year earlier. I think Dee Brown would have left a year sooner if it wasn’t for an injury he sustained in NBA draft practice.
Illinois is dealing with early exits again, and that’s a sign of a superior program. Ayo Dosunmu was the first player to come early to the NBA since, I think, Meyers Leonard. Kofi Cockburn did the same and departed a year later. These departures, as well as those of graduates and transfers, have meant brad underwood an interesting hand.
Illinois basketball has been reloaded for the 2022-23 season.
With so many players leaving the program for one reason or another, Underwood had to react fast. He couldn’t just sit back and wait for players to commit or transfer. He had to get going over the past year to make sure Illinois remains a superior team.
Underwood had to do all this work because the rotation that Illinois had as a program was the most I’ve ever seen, perhaps of any team in college basketball history. The Illini lost all but four of their players from the team we saw just four months ago.
The four returning players are Coleman Hawkins, RJ Melendez, Luke Goode and Brandon Lieb. Hawkins was by far the largest contributor of the four, giving Illinois 627 minutes on the year. But it’s amazing how low production the illini are coming back for the 2022-23 campaign.
“This group from Illinois is absolutely loaded.” – @247Sports#Illini | #everydayboys pic.twitter.com/f5JLFp5nb2
— Illinois Basketball (@IlliniMBB) July 22, 2022
When you break it down, the four returning players played a combined 1,087 minutes of the 6,650 minutes Illinois played last season. That means just 16.3% of the minutes played during the 2021-22 season are back for another year. Think about that for a second. 83.7% of the minutes played are gone.
That’s not even the lowest percentage either. Illinois is only returning 14.6% of its points from last season. To round out the returning numbers, the Illini are returning 19.5% of their rebounds, 17% of their assists, 26.9% of their blocks and 20.6% of their steals.
There is something good about these numbers. The return of 26.9% of blocks from the previous year is solid. That comes on the heels of losing Kofi in the NBA. Hawkins is pretty good at blocking the ball, as he had 17 of 93 blocks for Illinois last season. He was also a stealing machine with 26 of the Illini’s 160 steals, which is why 20.6% of the steals are coming back.
Another number that is good is the turnovers that are coming back. Illinois is only recovering 17.2% of turnovers from last season. If that number was going to be above 20%, I would have been worried. But having it below 20% is a great thing for the show.
Obviously, the percentages of what’s coming back to the Illinois basketball program have been complemented by the fact that Underwood has brought a top 10 recruiting class since 2022, and has achieved some of the largest transfers on the portal.
Some of the additions include Terrence Shannon Jr., Ty Rodgers, Matthew Mayer, and Skyy Clark, to name a few. All of these players, and the other additions, will be crucial to the success of Illinois basketball in 2022-23.
There’s a strong possibility that four of the five Illini starters this season will be newcomers to the program. But that doesn’t mean Illinois will drop in the results. The list we have now is one of the best of the last decade. I have every confidence that this team can not only get back to the NCAA tournament, but I think they can at least make it to the Sweet 16 this time.