Basketball

Omar Payne, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound power forward from Kissimmee, Florida, started his career as a Florida Gator. But things did not go as planned for Payne.

Coming out of high school, Payne was considered as one of the country's top centers in the class of 2019. One recruiting service ranked Payne ahead of the current Illinois All-American center Kofi Cockburn.

There are recruits, and then there are big-time recruits. The Fighting Illini have put themselves in a great position with one of the nation's top 20 basketball players in the class of 2023.

Kylan Boswell, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound point guard from Chandler, Arizona, Prep School, is originally from Champaign. The family moved to California when Kylan entered his freshman year of high school.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Brad Underwood made it clear why his program chose the option of starting the 2021-22 season with two exhibition games against sub-Division I competition. 

The Illinois fifth-year head coach knows there will be a 594-day gap between the last time this program played a home game in front of fans. Only four players on this current Illinois roster (Trent Frazier, Da’Monte Williams, Kofi Cockburn and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk) has experience of playing at State Farm Center with thousands of fans in the stands. 

“Just the idea of getting 15,000 (fans) back in here excites me and I’m looking forward to seeing how our guys react to that,” said Underwood said Thursday morning.

IlliniGuys.com Insider Brad Sturdy and Director of Recruiting Kedric Prince have been hard at work getting the inside scoop on the Illini's top targets.  Here are their notes posted earlier today on the IlliniGuys members-only message forums:

Ty Rodgers will take his final visit to Alabama this weekend and should be deciding within 7 to 10 days after that. Obviously, Illinois...

Former Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu finished the Chicago Bulls’ […]

It’s extremely early for the class of 2023, so right now the list of prospects is very long. The Ilini have had numerous players on campus this fall with more on the way. Here’s a look at many of the 2023 options we have a read on at this point.

Davius Loury is a 6-foot-7, 205-pound power forward from Chicago who Illinois fans will get to know a lot more about in the coming weeks. 

Loury was injured, according to sources, so he is not considered nationally ranked by the recruiting gurus, but several of those sites have missed the boat with Loury. A number of DI coaches could care less about a ranking system. They know talent when they see it; that is why he has a big-time list of DI offers in recent months: LSU, Purdue, Oklahoma and Nebraska to go along with the offer from his home state university. 

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider October 14, 2021 […]

Taylor is a throwback from Kevin Garnett, Magic Johnson, and former Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu. The tall multi-talented wing can do it all: he can put it on the floor like a guard, he is able to abuse opponents on the block, and he is amazing in the open court. When you see a player his size, naturally, one would think of sticking him in the post. My honest assessment: Taylor might be better at a guard spot. 

Rumor was the plan for Taylor to never to see a college floor, but he put that to rest last Saturday morning.

For the better part of two decades, IlliniGuys.com Insider Brad Sturdy has been the very best in the business!  Delivering insider info and bringing you analysis that you simply won't find anywhere else.

As we embark on a new Illini basketball season,  Brad leads our IlliniGuys.com team of writers and analysts as we chronicle the Orange and Blue from next Saturday's first exhibition play to March and the tournament season and beyond.

Here is his first take after watching the team during its first public workout:

Several interesting items came to the forefront as Illini performed in front of live home fans for the first time in over a year. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

October 8, 2021

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For the first time in 580 days, the Illinois men’s basketball program performed in State Farm Center in front of home fans. 

The Illinois coaches for Men’s and Women’s basketball as […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

Oct. 4, 2021

The 2021-22 Fighting Illini men's basketball team just might be better than last year's team. Those close to the program know how good the team is as a whole and the individual talent.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

Oct. 4, 2021

With a loaded roster of talent this year, the Illinois men's coaching staff is now starting to flex its muscles with the 2023 and the class of 2024.

Brad Underwood and the Illinois players met with the […]