Illinois Basketball: Brad Underwood squeezed from left and right

We’re roughly three and half months from the tip-off of the Illinois basketball season, and Illini Nation’s impatience with the state of affairs in Champaign will be on full display.

New Illini men’s basketball head coach, Brad Underwood, brings a reputation for solid coaching and developing a winning culture.  As new Writing Illini contributor, Dr. Reef Karim, might say, he is the guy expected to put the “I” back in Illini basketball.

Fair or not, Coach Underwood will be under an intense microscope and will be endlessly compared to other coaches around him.  Coaches like Cuonzo Martin and Archie Miller immediately come to mind.  Both coaches were high on the list of many Illini fans.  So, let’s take a look at how Underwood stacks up compared to these two right now. Fair or not.

Martin, of course, ended up at Missouri, as everyone knows.  And with him came a bevy of excellent recruits, including the theft of outstanding big man, Jeremiah Tilmon who had previously committed to Illinois.  In an even more savvy move (I know, “savvy” is one word for it), Martin hired as assistant coach the father of the number one player in the country – Michael Porter.  The 6-foot-10 strong forward is not just a game changer.  This is the kind of player who a few years ago would have been going directly to the NBA where he would be seeing significant minutes early.

But perhaps even more important for the future and reputation of Missouri basketball, Martin’s shrewd coaching hire has also brought Michael’s “little” brother, Jontay Porter, from the class of 2018.  Jontay, also a 6-foot-10 power forward, is currently the No. 18 player nationally according to 247Sports.   And while the Tigers appear to be struggling to get additional 2018 recruiting targets, I have the feeling that recruiting, in general, will not be a problem for Martin.  It is, after all, something he has always excelled at.  And if he can get the horses he has this year and next to the Sweet 16 then the sky will open up, and it will be raining recruits because he will also be able to dispel the doubts about his coaching prowess.

In addition to Tilmon, the Tigers have a few decent returning players and a couple additional four-star recruits, including CJ Roberts.  In another good sign for Martin, Roberts – who was recruited by prior Mizzou coach, Kim Anderson – decided to stay committed to the Tigers with the coaching change.

Of course, I have to mention Tilmon’s recent legal problems or some in Illini Nation will pounce all over me.  I don’t know whether an 18-year-old kid getting in a little trouble is a bad sign going forward, or something that can be chalked up to immaturity.  But I expect he will be a dominant player at Mizzou for a couple years to come.

In a nutshell, things look very good for Missouri going forward. The metro east recruiting between Illinois and Missouri is going to heat up.  And the boiling point will come this year, and for years after, at the annual border battle known as the Braggin’ Rights game.  This is going to be exciting… again.

Unfortunately, the border to our southwest isn’t the only battle ground.  The Illini have always had an intense rivalry to the east with Indiana, and that is also about to explode.  New Hoosier head coach Archie Miller, who previously saw great success at Dayton, is having an instant positive impact on IU recruiting.  Not only has he kept all of Tom Crean’s players on the roster and the incoming recruits, he recently snagged three four-star players in less than 24 hours, as reported here.

The guy can also coach.  Miller was in my top five for the Illini job – as you can see here – and he was widely recognized by many as a great candidate. The main reason I had him so high was that his success at Dayton demonstrated what an excellent coach he was.  Dayton can’t be the easiest place to recruit at.  None-the-less, he recruited good players who fit his vision, and more importantly, he got them to execute.  Of course, the competition in the Big Ten is quite a bit more fierce, but imagine what a coach with his skills can do with Big Ten caliber recruits.

The future looks incredibly bright for IU under the leadership of Miller.  This is another rivalry that I think will heat up for the Illini.  Sandwiched as we are between Missouri and IU, look for some warm winters in the near future.

And that brings me to Underwood and how he compares.  On the recruiting front, he has done well, but Miller’s recent success and Martin’s masterful maneuvering have overshadowed his accomplishments.  Not that keeping four-star recruit and Mr. Illinois Basketball, Mark Smith, in-state wasn’t a huge deal.  But let’s face it, not much has followed since then.  There are many outstanding targets for 2018 still available, so the verdict is out.  But we need to see some recruiting success, and soon.

Underwood has also been diminished by his inability to keep Tilmon in the fold.  I could be proven wrong, but I maintain now, as I always have, that losing Tilmon hurt badly.  Time will tell.  But it wasn’t just Tilmon, right? He also lost DJ Williams, and most critically, Jalen Coleman-Lands.  These losses are mitigated by the fact that he kept incoming freshmen Da’Monte Williams and Trent Frazier, and snagged fifth-year transfer guard Mark Alstork.  He also has a stable of excellent players still on the roster.  I will look more closely at all of that in future posts.

So, what is the final verdict to date, fair or not, of how Underwood holds up to the competition?  In my view, in the two key recruiting metrics for new coaches of keeping good players and recruiting new ones, Underwood is behind Martin and Miller.

Underwood has a $3.3 million salary to justify, not to mention a highly paid and highly touted assistant coaching staff lead by Orlando Antigua. That is a lot of pressure, but that should be expected for that kind of money.  Illini Nation is very impatient. The focus will be unrelenting.  Expectations have been raised on a fan base that already expects Illini basketball to contend for a Big Ten title yearly, and a national title with regularity.

Next: Class of 2018 recruits pros and cons

Underwood stated at his official introduction in Champaign that all of us might pay attention to how many stars a player has behind his name, but he doesn’t.  He is looking for guys who fit his system.  He’s right about one thing. Illini Nation is paying attention to how many stars a player has.  And while we get what Underwood is saying, he has to prove to us that he is right.  That starts this year.  His reputation for being an excellent coach will be under intense scrutiny.  Fair or not.  We’re out of patience.