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Illinois Basketball: 5 biggest surprises for the Illini in 2017-2018

By Rees Woodcock

PISCATAWAY, NJ - FEBRUARY 25: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood during the first half of the College Basketball Game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 25, 2018, at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in Piscataway, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PISCATAWAY, NJ - FEBRUARY 25: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood during the first half of the College Basketball Game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 25, 2018, at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in Piscataway, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MI – FEBRUARY 20: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Illinois Fighting Illini gives instructions to his players during a game against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on February 20, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

1. Illinois didn’t hit the .500 mark

The Illinois basketball team wasn’t expected to do much this season. I had them pegged for potentially an NCAA tournament bid but nothing more. They were an inexperienced team who had a few solid pieces in place.

A coaching changed affected the expectations as well. With any new coach usually come struggles from the existing players. That happened in Brad Underwood’s system. Most Illinois players were used to what John Groce was teaching and then a new coach came in with a different mindset. That is hard to deal with sometimes.

But, while struggles were expected, I also expected the Illini to be better than they were this past season. Very few times in my life have I seen Illinois finish below .500 – four times to be exact – and I didn’t expect this season to be one of those bad seasons. It was, though, and I was a bit surprised.

Illinois actually started off pretty well this past season. They were 10-5 heading into the main conference schedule. They just beat an NCAA tournament team in Missouri and a solid Grand Canyon team. This was when the fall started to happen, though. Illinois dropped their next six games. They won two in a row after that and then went on another four-game losing streak.

This was a hole the Illini couldn’t dig out of and they finished 14-18 overall. I never want to see the Illini under .500 again and the fact they did this past season really was a surprise to me.

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