Basketball

Shauna Green is entering a world of college basketball that now includes the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness money helping any first-year head coach.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

April 7, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Dayton Flyers Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN -- Alex Mikos instantly laughed at the idea that the new Illinois women’s basketball coach was committed to a slow, long and instantly painful rebuild as a first-year head coach.

Mikos has been the play-by-play broadcasting voice of Dayton women’s basketball since Green was an assistant coach of the Flyers program and then was brought back to be the program’s head coach in 2016.

When it was suggested that the Illinois program, which hasn’t made an NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003, that is coming off a five-season stretch under Nancy Fahey where they won just 42 of a 141-game period is on the road of a long-term rebuild that could produce at least a couple more losing seasons, Mikos couldn’t help but interject.

“So, anybody who tells you she's treating this as a slow rebuild, doesn't know Shauna very well,” Mikos said. “She won't accept losing. It'll eat at her if they're not building something pretty good in a quick manner.”

Losing is something Mikos hasn’t seen Green do a lot at Dayton. In her first season at the Flyers' head coach, Green led a program that went from 14 wins to 22 wins where she won the WBCA Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year following a 13-3 Atlantic 10 Conference record and a berth in the NCAA Division I Tournament.

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst

April 6, 2022

The Illini have entered the transfer portal. Not to actually transfer, but instead they are going to wading through the waters of the transfer portal for players that can make them better as they head into year six of the Brad Underwood era. Coming off a Big Ten Championship, the Illini are wanting to become a team that reloads instead of rebuilds and, with the possible exodus of all 5 starters, the transfer portal is the way to do that. Here’s a look at some players to keep an eye on in the coming weeks: 

The biggest player for Illinois, both literally and figuratively, remains Kofi Cockburn. The 7-foot consensus 1st team All-American has until April 24 to announce his intentions to enter the draft or stay at Illinois, and the Illini coaching staff would like him to do it sooner rather than later. His return would immediately raise the floor of the team and allow Illinois to focus on other guys in the portal. But should Cockburn surprise and turn down the large NIL package and go pro, Illinois has been looking at some options. The problem is that, until there is a decision, very few players want to come and compete with Kofi. 

April 5, 2022

A year ago, it wasn't until mid-July before Illinois head coach Brad Underwood had his roster set and even then he was still searching for a third assistant coach as he rebuilt his staff.

It doesn't appear he'll have to wait as long in 2022.

IlliniGuys Insider Brad Sturdy continues to stay ahead of the game when it comes to the inside stuff surrounding the Illini basketball program.  Here are his latest notes posted in the message forums (for premium subscribers) Monday afternoon.

April 3, 2022

It's Final Four weekend!  That means a couple of things:

All the coaches are in New Orleans for the coaches convention.  Hundreds of head coaches, assistant coaches, wanna-be coaches positioning for that next gig.
Because they are all there, they are not on the road recruiting.  It's a dead period in recruiting, which means we don't expect anything to happen in the next few days.

However, IlliniGuys Insider Brad Sturdy offers his latest thoughts AND a prediction on who will be on the Illini roster in the near future.

This is premium content only.  Subscribe to IlliniGuys.com for the very latest Illini insider info and analysis.

(Cover photo courtesy W. Elijah Smith)

Well here we go again!  March Madness is here.  Time for me to not sleep and play with so many numbers and formulas that I make the late John Nash look like an arithmophobic.

Great to get a chance to do this after two years off. I had hoped to do it last year, but the numbers were off with everyone playing unbalanced schedules due to COVID interruptions. It would have been less Dirty Dozen and more Larry's Dozen and trust me - you don't want that!

For those who don't know, the Dirty Dozen is a formula I put together over several years of researching my White Jersey Theory (Part I is on this site already with Part II posting later this week). There was a lot of "stuff" I discovered over time and in 2009 decided to use it to fill out my bracket. I entered those picks in two separate office pools and won them both...the rest is history.

The Dirty Dozen is the 12 teams that will NOT win the NCAA championship. I've done this 11 times and it has never missed...

Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 30, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Duane Barker of midvalleysports.com)

Illinois assistant coach Chester Frazier started his campaign at Illinois on fire, landing two four-star guards in Sencire Harris, a 6-foot-3, 160-pound combo guard from Akron, Ohio, and Jayden Epps, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound point guard originally from Suffolk, Virginia.

By Larry Smith - IlliniGuys Staff Writer April 1, […]

By Kedric Prince – IlliniGuys.com Director of Recruiting

April 6, 2022

With the college basketball season coming to a close, it is time for the rest of the country to get better in hopes of winning a national title. Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman wanted all the other DI schools to know at the Final Four—do not waste your time talking to Illinois head coach Brad Underwood. His recent contract extension makes Underwood the sixth-highest paid in college basketball. And the veteran basketball knows that while freshmen are the future of any program, you have to get older and wiser if you want to win now. Let us take a close look at some of the players in the transfer portal who are Illinois targets.

(From Illinois Sports Information Office) Champaign, ILL.– Illinois junior center Kofi […]

There are a handful of names among Illini Nation that draw instant respect when you say them.  Deon Thomas is near the top of that list.

The all-time leading scorer in Illini history - that may change a year from now - joined us recently on the syndicated IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular radio show.

Larry Smith: Deon, so great to have you join us!  Welcome to the Sports Spectacular.

Deon Thomas: Well, I know it's a pleasure to be here, man. I've been waiting to come on. So you know, I got to make sure I'm knocking out the park on my first try. Make sure you give me a second one, you know haha!

LS: We've got judges on the side to check it out haha!  One thing I wanted to talk with you about, it's a topic that's been discussed quite a bit on IlliniGuys.com - we're surprised that Brad Underwood did not get more Coach of the Year buzz. You take off one of your top two players for two months, you take your best player - a national player of the year candidate and All-American - for five games, and you still win a Big 10 title.  It's really nothing short of just incredible.

DT: I would agree with you 100% on that. And I'll tell you, I was going back and forth with someone on Twitter the other day because I posted a picture during the Michigan State game. And I said 'two of the best in the country to do it'. Someone sent me a message back, saying 'well, I see Tom Izzo, who was the second one you're talking about?' And I took offense to it. And I kind of went back at the person because to me, he does not get the level of respect that he deserves. I mean, over the last three years, he's won more games in the Big 10 than anyone. And that's including Tom Izzo, who's one of my favorite coaches. He should have been the Big 10 regular season as well as tournament champions last year, because we beat the crap out of Michigan on their floor without Ayo Dosunmu. And you fast forward to this year. And he has done nothing but create the same magic.

March 30, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Philadelphia Inquirer)

Player meetings with the coaching staff are going on all this week, so we are on watch for any Illini player choosing entering the transfer portal.  We'll keep you updated here.

IlliniGuys Insider Brad Sturdy and Director of Recruiting Kedric Prince have been busy hitting the phones on potential transfers into the program.  The staff has had conversations and visits with a few prospects before the dead period, which begins tomorrow and coincides with the Final Four (which is also the coaches' convention).

Here is the latest from our dynamic duo:

Temple's Jeremiah Williams could very well be that veteran PG option. Although not known for his shooting, his floor game is very good and he is a 6'5 defensive stopper type that Underwood loves.

Following a season that included a NCAA Tournament berth […]

(From Illinois Sports Information Office) March 29, 2022 (Cover […]

March 29, 2022

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

It wasn't a total shock, but Andre Curbelo made it official Monday afternoon: announcing that he will leave Illinois after two seasons and enter the transfer portal.  This is not the way he, nor anyone else, thought he would be spending his spring.  The preseason All-Big Ten pick had a tough season battling through injury.  We know we IlliniGuys join everyone in Illini Nation in wishing him good health and great success in the years to come.

'Belo's departure is the first of several roster changes expected this offseason.  What could be next for him?  Is Kofi talking to the NBA?  And what potential future Illini teammate has he been wooing?

IlliniGuys Insider Brad Sturdy has the answers to all of that and more in his latest platter of inside Illini stuff, served up exclusively on IlliniGuys.com.

Let's get to it!

Andre Curbelo confirms a widely regarded rumor that he’s entered the transfer portal with the intention of playing elsewhere after two seasons at Illinois. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 28, 2022

CHAMPAIGN -- Andre Curbelo has likely played his final game as a member of the University of Illinois men’s basketball program.