Illinois has been slated as the 3rd best team in the country by the AP poll voters. They also, along with #1 Florida, got punked by the Baylor Bears in the preseason, giving up 63 points in the first half on their home floor. Wednesday against the UIC Flames, Illinois showed serious promise as a team that can prove those AP voters right. While many put no stock into exhibition games, there are some data points to consider. Here are 3 key takeaways from this game:
1. Brad Underwood's tactic is working on Stefan Vaaks.
Stefan Vaaks has quite the reputation as a player who only really plays one side of the ball. It appears that coach Underwood has had a plan from the start to remedy this issue. Brad's message to Vaaks has been clear, if you'll allow me to paraphrase: "on nights when your shot isn't falling, there is no reason to play you." Guess what, the shot was not falling this game. So, what did Stefan do? He dove on the floor, he grabbed rebounds, he poked the ball out and got a hand in the passing lane, and he got 2 steals. Vaaks looked like a veteran out there with his effort in a situation where a lot of guys with his talent would stick up their nose and act like they are too good to come off the bench.
2. This is the best freshman class in the Brad Underwood era.
Maybe this is not a hot take at all, but I cannot think of a better group of freshmen at Illinois than this one this year. We knew Quentin Coleman (10 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast) was going to be awesome. What we did not know was that Ethan Brown would be arguably the 3rd best guard on the team. Ethan Brown has a 3-point stroke that I'm convinced the Underwood's have been having prophetic dreams about for years. The freshmen in this game combined for 55 points, 23 rebounds, and 18 assists. With key players out, it is nice to know that the freshmen will step up.
3. The defense is not good... But it is getting better.
Kenpom.com run by Ken Pomeroy, a statistician who runs the most glorious college basketball website of them all, has projected Illinois as the 22nd best defense in the sport. As of today, October 29th, I am not convinced that they are a top 22 defense in the state of Illinois alone.
Call it a lack of effort, of preparation, or of ability, who knows. One thing you cannot say about this Illinois defense is that it is a top 25 defense right now. In this game against UIC, a team that is not known for being awesome at basketball, I watched dunk after dunk after dunk during the second half. Yes, the Illini only gave up 66 points which is not bad, but UIC actually matched Illinois 42-42 in the second half.
Illinois begins the regular season against Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday, November 2nd at 7:00 PM CT.