Has Illinois' Andrej Stojakovic Only Scratched the Surface of His Potential?

We probably toss around certain phrases and words too often in sports: gifted, special (and in a nod to Illinois' Brad Underwood) elite. If you're playing Division I college athletics, chances are, one or all of those descriptors apply. But Illinois’ Andrej Stojakovic takes each of them to new levels … on offense. The value he brings with the ball in his hands can’t be recreated by any other Illini, and the manner in which he scores may not be matched by any other player in the country.

Illinois' Andrej Stojakovic has room for improvement

Still, Stojakovic is far from a finished product. We’ve seen the defensive flashes, and in general, he’s been pretty sound on that end. But there is still room for growth.

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On the glass, though, Stojakovic’s performance has been a letdown. He has yet to snag more than five rebounds in a single game and is averaging just 3.8 per outing – a low number for a player with his size and athleticism.

The shortcoming seems to be purely a reflection of his effort – or lack thereof. In Stojakovic's defense, he has been recovering from a knee injury and still likely hasn’t reached 100 percent in terms of conditioning. And given his usage rate on offense, paired with the effort he has been exerting on defense, he probably doesn’t have much left in the tank to hit the boards.

Brad Underwood details Stojakovic's untapped potential

Surely, though, Illinois coach Brad Underwood wouldn’t care for that explanation. For him, the process of encouraging Stojakovic to be a complete player is fairly straightforward: rebound, defend and do all of the so-called little things, or don’t play.

“Saw how quick he got subbed out?” Underwood asked the media following Illinois’ 98-58 win over Long Island. “That’s the back-and-forth. There’s not much back-and-forth. There’s, you either do it or you’re just going to come [to the bench].

“You know how many rebounds he had at half? Zero. So there’s a direct correlation between him doing all the other things and getting invested in those things and being on the court long enough to actually score 18 in a half. I know he can do that. It’s all we keep demanding from him. He can be an outstanding, elite player when those other things [come together] – because he can go do them all. He just has to want to go do them all. And it’s my job to make him want to go do them all.”

For once, Underwood, who is always laser-focused on rebounding, appears to be channeling the majority of his efforts toward turning Stojakovic into a top-notch defender. (That said, Underwood made it clear he’s harping on Stojakovic to attack the glass, too.)

“Come hell or high water, I’m going to make Andrej Stojakovic one of those, too,” said Underwood on his 6-foot-7 wing developing into a defensive stopper in the near future. “Because he’s got the ability to do that.”

All-American potential for Andrej Stojakovic

If Stojakovic actually blossoms into a consistent shutdown defensive presence and starts hitting the glass at a high rate – both of which are very possible realities – he probably flies into first-team All-American discussions. And, more importantly for the Illini, they will likely become a top-three team – one with true national championship aspirations.