Brad Underwood on What Makes 2026-27 Illinois Different From 2025-26 Version

The Illini bring back most of the core group from 2025-26, but key personnel changes may (somehow) boost the offensive attack

Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood gets after his team Saturday, April 4, 2026, during a Final Four game against the UConn Huskies at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

"Retention" was the word of the summer for Illinois basketball. The Illini, who trekked all the way to the Final Four last season, return five of their eight rotation players from 2025-26 for their upcoming campaign.

But the three losses – Keaton Wagler, Kylan Boswell and Ben Humrichous – are not to be glossed over. That was the entire Illini backcourt, along with one of the most underrated role players in the country. But Illinois didn’t try to find plug-and-play replacements to fill those exact holes.

Brad Underwood and his staff just did what they always do: find high-IQ, sweet-shooting hoopers with positional size. The twist: They did it almost entirely through the high school ranks (plus transfer Stefan Vaaks). So how will this 2026-27 squad differ from last year’s, as the seven newcomers become integrated with the returners?

Brad Underwood on the main differences for Illinois heading into 2026-27

Apr 4, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood reacts after a play against the UConn Huskies during the first half of a semifinal of the Final Four of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“We have got six freshmen that have never played a college basketball game,” Underwood said on Friday night at Illinois’ on-campus media day. “Some of those guys are going to help us – and have to help us. It will look a little different.

“I think that we have some quality depth. I think we have more versatility this year than maybe we allowed for last year and showed last year. We played a way that was very effective. Obviously, we played to our strengths. Keaton having the ball in his hands, and ball screens. We were No. 1 in the country in points in ball screens, and [David] Mirkovic and Tomislav [Ivisic as screeners] were really good.

“We don’t have that with Keaton [gone]. So I think our versatility will be very different. I think we can play jumbo, as you call it, with the [Ivisic] twins and Mirk. And some other perimeter players out there. I think we can play smaller and maybe slide Mirk to the five some. So I think there’s a lot of things we’re excited to look at here in the preseason.

“And this group has to find the joy. The beauty of last year’s team was the joy they had every game for each others’ success. And this group has to find that through their own way. But, yeah, I’m excited about the versatility of this group. [It] is going to be pretty fun to tinker around with.”

Let’s take our analysis from the top: of those six Illini freshmen Underwood mentions, multiple need to contribute. Quentin Coleman will, in one way or another. Consider that a slam dunk. But after him, who knows?

That’s more good news than bad, though. In late August, Underwood told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein that Illinois hadn’t “lost” any of its freshmen – which the Illini head man says is a common occurrence in the summer. The implication was that all are still in the running for playing time.

We could run down the list of each players’ strengths and weaknesses, but it’s clear that each freshman brings a unique skill set that could allow them to push for rotation minutes in Year 1. That abundance of options is what Underwood means when he talks versatility.

And it isn’t just the versatility of individual players on the team – which Illinois has in spades. It’s the vastly different abilities of players throughout the roster. That allows Underwood to exploit nearly every lineup imaginable and put a unit on the floor custom-built to take advantage of any opposing squad’s weaknesses.

That jumbo lineup he mentioned – the Ivisic twins and Mirkovic – would be an impossible cover for most. And if Mirkovic is as mobile as the Illini have suggested – assuming he returns to that level once he recovers from his injury – then it’ll also be a dominant defensive unit.

Then Mirkovic at the five? Well, that would make for a potent playmaking and fastbreak unit, not to mention a roughly positionless defensive crew. And Underwood can also pick anything in that spectrum between those two extremes. He now has the opportunity to push any button he wants. And if history is any indication, he’ll push the right ones far more often than not.