Illinois Basketball fans excited about freshman, Mark Smith

The Illinois basketball team tips off their 2017-2018 campaign on November 10 against Southern University.

This season should be fun to watch with returning players who will dazzle and newcomers who will give the veterans the boost to get to the postseason. The combination of players Brad Underwood has assembled will do some special things during their time in Champaign.

I think every Illinois fan is excited to see how the players progress under Underwood. The veterans are going to be able to take their game to the next level, and the young guys will, hopefully, pick up the speed of the game pretty quick.

There are a handful of newcomers joining the team this year that fans are excited to see. Veteran newcomer, Mark Alstork, will eventually be our starting No. 3 guard on the team. He has talent that will help this team to the NCAA tournament.

Greg Eboigbodin and Matic Vesel will both be coming into the program to help the deficiencies in the paint. These two are talented big men that bring something different to this Illinois program.

Trent Frazier and Da’Monte Williams are incoming freshmen who fans are excited to see play as well. These two guards will help give Underwood the flexibility of solid rotations and subbing when players need rest.

All of these newcomers are going to be great for the Illini and all Illinois fans can’t wait to see what they can do. But, the one incoming freshman that most fans are excited to see play is Mark Smith.

Smith is coming in from the class of 2017 and is the biggest commitment Underwood has landed since joining the program in March. There are great reasons why fans are most excited to see this kid play.

At one time, just a year ago, Smith wasn’t even a mention in the recruiting top 100 rankings. Time passed and he ended up starting his senior season off strong and on January 1, Illinois pounced with a scholarship offer. Smith continued to improve and rise in the rankings. He finished ranked as the No. 79 player in the class of 2017 and also won the Illinois Mr. Basketball award.

Smith brings some prestigious accolades with him to Champaign. That is one of the biggest reasons why fans are excited for this kid. Another big reason is that Illinois hasn’t had this type of guard play since the national title run in 2005 and the following year with Dee Brown in 2006. While there have been good guards come through the program, this just has a different feeling.

In a poll last night on Twitter, Smith ended up winning which newcomer peaks your interest the most. I only had four players – Mark Alstork, Trent Frazier, Mark Smith, Da’Monte Williams – because there were only four spots available, so it has some flaws. He ended up getting 62-percent of the vote. But, this shows there is a lot of anticipation to see what Smith can bring to this team.

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Smith, the newcomers and the veterans don’t just have a team to put on their shoulders; they have an entire hungry fan base. This group of players has the will to do great things and it will be a pleasure to watch them dominate on the court for the foreseeable future.