Illinois Basketball: Projected Illini roster breakdown for 2017-18

Feb 18, 2017; Iowa City, IA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Jalen Coleman-Lands (5) shoots the ball as Iowa Hawkeyes forward Cordell Pemsl (35) defends during the second half at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Illinois won 70-66. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 18, 2017; Iowa City, IA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Jalen Coleman-Lands (5) shoots the ball as Iowa Hawkeyes forward Cordell Pemsl (35) defends during the second half at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Illinois won 70-66. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
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Illinois basketball
Feb 18, 2017; Iowa City, IA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Jalen Coleman-Lands (5) shoots the ball as Iowa Hawkeyes forward Cordell Pemsl (35) defends during the second half at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Illinois won 70-66. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

The Illinois basketball team now has a new head coach and come November they will have a new looking roster as well.

This program headed into this past season with high expectations of making the NCAA tournament because they had a senior-laden team. The likes of Malcolm Hill, Tracy Abrams, Maverick Morgan and Mike Thorne Jr. were supposed to bring this team back to the promise land.

Well, that didn’t happen and fans were left with another missed NCAA tournament which made for four in a row. With new head coach Brad Underwood coming in, things should be changing.

In addition to the Underwood change, Illinois will also be losing those previously mentioned seniors along with Jaylon Tate and Alex Austin. This is a team that will be looking for players to step up that haven’t been asked to in their careers.

Illinois is going to have to replace a lot of production from this past season. Their top three leading scorers are departing. On top of that, the Illini also have two of their top three rebounders and three of the top four leading assisters leaving the program.

Illinois needs to replace this production with a mix of current talent on the roster and incoming freshmen that should be pretty good.

Here is a breakdown of the Illini roster for next season.