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Illinois Basketball: Brad Underwood trying to correct recruiting struggles

By Rees Woodcock

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 18: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks reacts in the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 18: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks reacts in the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 18: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks reacts in the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 18: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks reacts in the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

The Illinois basketball team now has Brad Underwood leading the program.

This was a big change for the Illini because for the past ten years they have been stuck in mediocrity. This has hurt fan morale, program prestige and the ability to secure the nations to recruits. The level of the program has declined with the last two coaching hires.

Underwood coming into the program will be different, though. He comes in with some high-level coaching experience and he has made the NCAA tournament every season he has been a head coach. This is an impressive feat.

This season should be special for the Illini. They have some experienced talent left from the previous regime and Underwood secured two top 100 recruits for the Illini. These two players will help the Illini backcourt tremendously and that will turn into success.

The past four coaches the Illini have had saw some success with recruiting top 100 players. Some of these coaches secured the great talent but couldn’t coach, though. But, then there were some coaches who kept getting top talent and eventually, those players led the program to the national title game.

Underwood will help lead this team back to the promise land. He will continue to land the top players and more importantly, he has the ability to coach players to perform to their capabilities.

Here is how the past coaches fared with top 100 players.

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