Click here to celebrate the Illini’s run to the Final Four (posters, books)
Sign up for our daily basketball newsletter here
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:
CBS Sports’ “Eye on College Basketball” podcast has featured a “Summer Shootaround” series each of the last few offseasons. Illinois was included this year for a reason. The title of the podcast — “Illinois’ case as the best team in college basketball” — pretty much explains why.
The 36-minute video featuring Matt Norlander and Tom Fornelli dives into several aspects of Illinois’ offseason and why expectations are high in Champaign ahead of the 2026-27 season. Which led to an interesting segment with the question of if Brad Underwood is already the second-best coach in program history.
Fornelli’s answer? Yes, Underwood is already second behind Lou Henson, with “a very good chance” to be No. 1 when his time in Champaign is finished.
“I think his superpower is he’s so adaptable,” Fornelli added. “He’s been at Illinois for nine seasons, this will be his 10th season, and I feel like he’s gone through 4-5 different iterations of what he wants his basketball team to look like. He changes things up when they’re not working. He follows trends and he’s trying to get things that will work out.
“I also think that this is not a cheap roster. The financial buy-in is there. When it comes to the NIL game, Illinois is more than happy to play. They are more than happy to do what it takes to make sure they’re getting that talent.”
Scott Richey covers college basketball for The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).
Leave a Reply