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

December 24, 2024

The Illini are Braggin’ again, which means the turkey will taste much better on Christmas Day. As we look back at this game, and the other 10, certain things begin to stand out and we can see this team growing.

Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular and Big Sports Radio […]

The addition of Tomiwa Durojaiye continues the philosophy of finding developmental talent who have yet to reach their potential out of the transfer portal.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

December 23, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Ben Spicer/Warchant)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Illinois football program continue to show the philosophy of being a developmental power conference program can and should also exist with transfer portal additions.

Illinois added to this ideology of slow, multi-year program building Monday with the reported addition of defensive lineman Tomiwa Durojaiye.

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

December 23, 2024

I hope you're all enjoying the first part of portal season as Northern Illinois' Ethan Hampton switched his commitment from Wake Forest to Illinois to provide Illinois with some veteran depth at quarterback for at least the 2025 season.  Hampton started at NIU for a memorable 2024 season that featured the only victory over Notre Dame this year.  Most Illini fans will look at fellow senior MAC transfer John Paddock from the 2023 season and like Hampton's switch to that situation.  However, the truth is Hampton is a bigger addition than Paddock.  Much bigger.

What does he bring to the Orange and Blue?

Kylan Boswell grew up watching the Braggin’ Rights game as an Illini fan but his 36 efficient minutes led Illinois to a second straight win over Missouri.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

December 22, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When asked to describe his backcourt mate on this Illinois team, Kasparas Jakucionis needed just one word to accurately depict Kylan Boswell’s value. 

By IlliniGuys Staff December 22, 2024 (Cover photo courtesy […]

Brad Sturdy, IlliniGuys Illini Insider and C0-Host IlliniGuys Sports […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

December 21, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois head football coach Bret Bielema, who gained national recognition during his tenure leading the Wisconsin Badgers to several successful seasons, has continued tapping into his former program’s talent pool this week as defensive lineman Curtis Neal committed to the Illini on Saturday.

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema speaking about his recruiting frustrations involving financial inefficiencies in the sport of college football and institutional hurdles at his current employer.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — As the highest paid state employee in Illinois, Bret Bielema elected to use part of his local media session Tuesday to point out what he would consider institutional inefficiencies affecting his ability to recruit talent.

When asked Tuesday inside the Smith Family Football Complex if he felt he had the proper resources from the university’s athletics department to acquire top-level talent in the transfer portal, the Illinois fourth-year head coach didn’t hold back on his frustration with specific institution issues to restrict his program’s ability to recruit out of the transfer portal.

“One of the biggest battles we fight here at the University of Illinois is being able to get kids (out of the transfer portal) enrolled in school,” Bielema said on Tuesday.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

December 21, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois secured an important commitment from Ball State transfer Justin Bowick.

By Larry Smith - Co-Host & Executive Producer, IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

December 21, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch)

It was December 10, 2007. I joined dozens of other journalists on a brisk morning outside the federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia awaiting the sentencing of Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowl quarterback Michael Vick on dogfighting charges.  Sports writer Dan Wetzel and I had enjoyed friendly sports debates over the years and, as we struck up a conversation, we realized that we had independently put together very similar ideas for a 16-team college football playoff, not just the one-game affair that was decided partially on the field and (still) partially by a committee.

Dan and I agreed that the money would be staggering and we both couldn't understand how people smarter than us hadn't figured that out. Basketball is fun, but football is king. A month-long, 16-team tournament with games on Fridays and Saturdays in December? Nothing would get done in millions of households across the country as the affair would be a money-printing machine for colleges and TV networks alike.

I have shared my version many times over the years including in this space, asking 'what might have been?' if we had a March Madness-like postseason national college football tournament.

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

December 20, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

Every time a team loses, and many times when they win, fans and spectators want to know why this guy is playing and this guy is not. It’s human nature. ‘If player X had played, we would have won.’ They could be right. They may be wrong, and the reality is that we will never know what the outcome of the hypothetical would have been, so you can’t be ‘wrong’.

The Illini basketball team has found themselves on the losing end of a couple of key games late and much has been made of the substitution patterns. With that in mind, let’s look at the most productive groups for the Illini on the season. The numbers are what they are, so let’s dive a little deeper.

There are two ends to the floor, and to be successful teams must be good on both ends. So, when looking at the performance it is important to compare how they fare on both offense and defense.

Illinois get 20 points from sophomore guard Jasmine Brown-Hagger […]

By Larry Smith - Co-Host & Executive Producer, IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular 

December 20, 2024

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

(Editor's Note - Larry is the co-founder of IlliniGuys.com. His journalism career spans nearly four decades and includes more than 60 major championships worldwide and thousands of shows on CNN, TNT, and NBA TV. He is a Murrow, Emmy, and Peabody Award winner who is entering his second season as host of the WNBA on Ion Friday night studio show.)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It's almost 51 weeks to the day when Terrence Shannon Jr.'s life turned upside down.  The All-American candidate found himself in Lawrence, Kansas answering to a rape allegation while, hundreds of miles away, he was being temporarily removed from the Illinois basketball team. The latter being reversed three weeks later, but only after he won a temporary restraining order against the school he represented.

Shannon maintained his innocence and was later cleared of all charges in Kansas after the season ended and, on February 15th, another step of putting one of the most bizarre turn of events in Illinois athletic history further in the rear-view mirror will be taken when the university will raise his jersey to the rafters.

No one is more deserving.

Ten days into winter portal session officially opening, Illinois football coaches are spinning a lack of acquisition by selling its success of player retention.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

December 19, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In the midst of meddling public results in this current transfer portal session, the football coaches inside the University of Illinois are pushing a similar narrative that their program is already fully self-sufficient.

With only two known verbal commitments out of the player acquisition mechanism known as the transfer portal, the public relations path for those inside the Smith Family Football Center is to sell the idea of player retention.