Illinois Basketball: 5 reasons to be excited about Brad Underwood

Balanced

Another downfall of the previous regime in Champaign was the stale offense that we all had to watch night in and night out. I can’t tell you how many times I have yelled at my television because this team isn’t moving.

Illinois also struggled on the defensive side of the court during the previous era as well. There were only a few times that the Illini cracked the top 100 in points allowed per game.

On both sides of the court, Illinois looked lost sometimes and that should all be fixed with Underwood coming in and implementing his style of play. This is a high-intensity scoring offense and a nice shutdown defense that will impress Illini fans.

In Underwood’s first season at Stephen F. Austin the team averaged 76 points per game and only gave up 63.4 points per game. These numbers ranked No. 51 and No. 36 in the nation, respectively.

Underwood’s defense took a dip in year two with the Lumberjacks but the offense got even better. Stephen F. Austin gave up 64.4 PPG which ranked No. 117 in the nation, but the offense scored at a clip of 78.6 PPG, which was No. 11 in the nation.

The final season with the Lumberjacks was the best for Underwood. The team played amazing and the stats show that fact. They only gave up 63.3 PPG and scored 80.2 PPG that season. These numbers ranked No. 11 and No. 23 in the nation, respectively.

In Underwoods only year with Oklahoma State the team was an offensive juggernaut but they struggled on defense. The team ranked No. 6 in the nation in offense averaging 85.7 PPG. But, they still gave up 78.5 PPG which ranked No. 308 in the nation. This was also with Ford’s players so Underwood had to retrain them.

Even with a bad defensive performance in the only season with the Cowboys, it is clear that Underwood brings a balanced attack to each game. He will do wonders with this Illini team and we are going to watch some fun basketball.