CHAMPAIGN — The confluence of Deon Thomas’ past as Illinois’ all-time scoring leader and present as associate director of development for the I Fund often leads, without fail, to conversations with donors about basketball.
Thomas said he joked with some donors recently that they would see the “new, old Brad Underwood style of play” in 2022-23. Except Thomas really wasn’t joking. Illinois is going to look incredibly different on the court this coming season.
So will the Big Ten.
Gone are Big Ten stars like Kofi Cockburn, Keegan Murray, Johnny Davis, Jaden Ivey and E.J. Liddell. And then 10 more of the top-20 scorers in the conference last season.
“I think we’re all looking at the makeup of the league, and, obviously, people are going to give Indiana the nod at the top of the conference because they return just under 91 percent of their scoring from last season,” CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein said. “There’s a lot of unknowns with this league. We’re going to see a lot of new faces have an opportunity to emerge.
“That’s going to make it really, really interesting, but it’s also going to be really, really unpredictable, as well. I don’t think anyone has a great feel for the personnel on the majority of these rosters except for Indiana right now. There was just so much attrition in the league. The door is open for different players and different teams to come to the forefront.”
Rothstein mentioned both Coleman Hawkins and RJ Melendez as two potential breakout players on the Illinois roster. Others he has his eye on to make a leap like Davis, Keegan Murray and Ivey did last year are Iowa’s Kris Murray and Payton Sandfort, Michigan State’s Jaden Akins and Purdue’s Brandon Newman.
The Big Ten has at least settled as a conference after what’s become the offseason norm of roster turnover across the entire college basketball landscape. Illinois and Michigan were the final two programs to lock in their team — probably — for the 2022-23 season. The Wolverines added Duke transfer Joey Baker and Lebanese wing Youssef Khayat, while French forward Zacharie Perrin was the final piece for the Illini.
Illinois coach Brad Underwood still has one open scholarship remaining, but has said repeatedly he would prefer to keep at least one available during the season. So Perrin completes Underwood’s self-styled retooling of the Illini roster, of which 75 percent of the scholarship players are newcomers.
It’s a clear shift from last season when Illinois had a returning All-American at center in Kofi Cockburn and surrounded him with multiple fifth-year guards.
“I think Illinois has done a really good job of accumulating talent,” Rothstein said. “As of now, I have them forecasted fifth or sixth in the Big Ten. I still like the potential of this team, but so many of these commodities are unproven. Now, you’re relying on a freshman point guard (Skyy Clark) that’s never played college basketball before and is coming off an injury. You’re relying on Dain Dainja to play major minutes — again, somebody who has not played high volume minutes in college basketball.
“And you’re counting on, if you’re going to be a team that again competes for a spot at the top of the league, Terrence Shannon and Matthew Mayer to be All-Big Ten caliber players. It’s their first time in the conference, and, remember, those guys were ancillary pieces at their last stop.”
Thomas gave Underwood and the Illinois coaching staff an “A-plus” for its efforts in the transfer portal in building the 2022-23 roster. It started with Dainja in January and continued into the spring with the additions of Shannon and Mayer. It also completed Underwood’s shift to a roster full of big guards and bigger wings that could be a matchup nightmare for opposing teams.
The return of the “new, old Brad Underwood.”
“Even though Ayo Dosunmu was our best player, let’s not fool ourselves that even as a freshman Kofi Cockburn changed the way other teams had to defend us,” Thomas said. “For three years, we were a post pivot-centric team with guys that could slash and drive and guys that could shoot. This year’s team is going to be a bevy of guys who are super skilled, great shooters, can handle the ball and are fast. You’re going to see a more Golden State-like team than we’ve been used to. Like back to the days of the Flyin’ Illini.”
Like how Underwood’s teams at Stephen F. Austin played. Just with a higher level of collective talent.
“Illinois had the most physically imposing force that I’ve ever covered in college basketball in Kofi Cockburn, but I think you’re going to see a team this year that will be built and constructed more in the way that Brad Underwood wants to play,” Rothstein said. “If you think back to his teams at Stephen F. Austin, he had to play with interchangeable pieces because he had to play with guys who could be able to pass, dribble and shoot to be competitive in the games he wound up winning in the NCAA tournament.
“Even though you’re not going to have the star power that you did a year ago with Kofi Cockburn, you’re going to have more guys who are interchangeable and more guys who are skilled and can stretch the defense from all over the floor.”
