Illinois Basketball: Potential Starting Lineup for 2017
Heading into the 2017-18 season, Illinois will at least have an experienced point guard leading the way.
Te’Jon Lucas is going to get a lot of playing time this upcoming year and that will prepare him for the starting role in 2017.
Illinois Fighting Illini
It is exciting to have experience that is healthy at the point guard position. This is what Illinois has been missing the last two years.
In the 2016-17 season, I expect Lucas to be the backup to Tracy Abrams for most of the year. That means Lucas would only get 15-20 minutes per game.
If Lucas can get that many minutes, I am expecting 5 PPG and 3 APG his freshman season.
But, entering his sophomore campaign I want to see more out of Lucas. He will have the starting role and I want to see 9 PPG and 8 APG.
Lucas’ primary role will be as a distributor because Illinois will have so many different scorers.
Backup: Trent Frazier (Freshman)
The stability at the point guard position will continue on as Trent Frazier will enter the picture.
Frazier is a 4-star point guard that is the 74th best player in the class of 2017.
The addition of Frazier is going to give the Illini a point guard threat off the bench. He will play the role that Lucas is playing this upcoming season.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Frazier get almost an equal timeshare as Lucas in 2017, though.
Having a one-two punch like Lucas and Frazier is going to be dangerous in the Big Ten.
Next: Shooting Guard