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By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 7, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – With “Portal Kombat” becoming a major storyline for Division I basketball players, some high school recruits are paying attention to schools to see if they’re being recruited over, but not running from competition.

Illinois four-star recruit Keaton Wagler is one of them, but he's not scared. The 6-foot-4, 175-pound shooting guard from Shawnee, Kansas, is known as a scorer. That’s part of the reason Illinois associate head coach Orlando Antigua convinced head coach Brad Underwood that Wagler is a steal.

Illinois tumbles to 10th in NCAA Columbus Regional but […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 6, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Dennis Scheidt)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois women’s basketball program has plenty to be excited about in its 2025 recruiting class. ESPN ranks the class eighth nationally and No. 1 in the Big Ten, with UCLA close behind. World Exposure Report has the Illini at No. 11.

Replacing scoring will be a priority next season. Illinois Nation was thrilled when Villanova transfer guard Maddie Webber committed to the Illini, bringing a scoring punch to the wing. Still, fans continue to ask if another piece will be added, particularly in the post. According to sources, there is a good chance, but the more important question may be whether Illinois truly needs more.

One reason that answer may be “no” is freshman Manuela Alves-Fernandez, a 6-foot-3 wing/post player from IMG Academy.

After the first round of play at the 2025 […]

The House vs. NCAA settlement ruling by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken has forced the Illini head coach to maintain three different roster plans heading into preseason camp in a few months.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 5, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois head coach Bret Bielema is no longer fully committed to an outline plan of a 105-player roster when preseason camp opens in August.

The recent directive handed down by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in the House vs. NCAA settlement talks has forced Bielema and to have a primary plan but also backup plans for his roster size for the upcoming 2025 season.

The federal judge told the lawyers for the NCAA and its member schools last month that she would not approve the multibillion-dollar antitrust settlement that is expected to reshape the economics of college sports unless the language of the proposed policy for limiting roster sizes was change.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 4, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois women’s basketball program has extended a scholarship offer to Quincy, Illinois, freshman Khloe Nicholson, already regarded as one of the top players in the country.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

May 4, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Depending on who you ask, the 2025-26 Illinois men's basketball roster might be finalized. Still, others feel it’s only early May, and the Illini have a history of adding star players late in the offseason.

But for now, let’s dive into the current roster and evaluate where Illinois stands compared to the rest of the Big Ten Conference.

Illinois veteran defensive back Tyler Strain will be returning to the 2025 roster after investigating transfer options.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 2, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Tyler Strain will not be playing his final year of eligibility elsewhere.

Within the back-and-forth movement of the Illinois roster in this post-spring transfer portal window, the veteran defensive back has elected to return to Bret Bielema’s Illini roster for the 2025 season after initially entering the transfer portal to gauge interest in his services outside of Champaign-Urbana.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

May 2, 2025

Not that the Illinois recruiting budget is suffering with a surge of fan support, not to mention the influx of CFP money, but hat's off to Bret Bielema for saving recruiting money by adding yet another brother of an Illinois player under Bielema (that makes 7!).  Nathan Knapik, who played only 23 snaps for Idaho in his redshirt freshman campaign last year, is joining his brother Ayden in transferring to the Illini from Idaho.  Ayden was an all-conference player in his last year at Idaho, but Nathan is largely an unknown so when Coach Bielema offered him a spot it was largely... based on Ayden.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst May 1, […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

April 30, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Once again, Illinois men’s head basketball coach Brad Underwood has caught the attention of local and national college basketball analysts, gurus and sports commentators this week.

One of those analysts, The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman, referenced recent commit Andrej Stojakovic during a podcast, saying, “Stojakovic is a guy who gives Illinois a scorer on the perimeter that they desperately needed. It's fascinating to see the experiment that Brad Underwood has put together in Champaign. You would have thought he would have been the last coach on the planet who would have gone this route. He's gone all in with international guys. We know Illinois will be fun to watch, we know they're going to score, but can they guard?”

(From Illinois Sports Information Office) CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting […]

Pat Bryant’s “traits” all led to the former Illini wide receiver being the perfect player to grab in the third round of the 2025 National Football League draft this weekend.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

April 29, 2025

Several reasons can be cited for how Pat Bryant became the perfect candidate to be drafted earlier than most, if not all, draft analysts had the former Illinois wide receiver hearing his name called in the draft this past weekend.

Pretty much all of those reasons center around the idea that the two highest ranking football people inside the Denver Broncos facility (general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton) are in philosophically in sync on an old-school gut check way of scouting and evaluating prospects.

Ben Humrichous will be fifth active player and sixth […]

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst & Co-Host, IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

April 28, 2025

The Illini added their top target in the portal Andrej Stojakovic on Monday when he chose Illinois over North Carolina for his junior season. With the roster now essentially set, here’s a look at what they have and where there may be some holes still.

There is no question that this team is older than a year ago, and they are more physically imposing in the frontcourt. Depth up front is greater than it has been in a long time and they have 3 bonafide playmakers on the perimeter. Here’s a look at each position.