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Illinois Basketball: Should Illini fans worry with the Samba Kane news?

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - FEBRUARY 08: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood shouts to players during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 8, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - FEBRUARY 08: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood shouts to players during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 8, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Illinois basketball big man situation took an interesting turn on Friday afternoon.

Derek Piper of 247Sports first reported that Samba Kane is leaving the team for the summer due to transcript issues. He was slated to take summer classes but was unable to. He is reported to be back in the fall to enroll for the fall semester, but that is still in question the way the article reads.

Illinois hasn’t had the best luck with size in the paint over the last year. They had Leron Black declare for the NBA. Michael Finke decided to become a graduate transfer and is with Grand Canyon now. Greg Eboigbodin recently announced he is transferring. Matic Vesel departed the program. And, finally, Illinois failed to land but two big men for next season.

Samba Kane and Giorgi Bezhanishvili were the only two players over 6-foot-7 on the roster. Now there is a huge question mark on whether or not Kane will even be with the team come August. There is a realistic possibility that Kane isn’t eligible next season leaving Tevian Jones the second tallest eligible player at 6-foot-7. This would also leave Illinois with only nine scholarship players as well.

Kane would have easily started at the No. 5 spot for the Illini. He was a nice, big, athletic center who was athletic and could run the court. This is what Brad Underwood was looking for. Now that he is in question, though, the fan base is even more unsettled.

What should Illini fans make of these new developments with Kane? Honestly, on a panic scale of one being no worries at all and 10 being a complete meltdown, I would say the loss of Kane for, at best, the summer is a seven.

I think Illinois fans should be worried right now. Illinois has very little in the way of size and opposing teams are going to just eat them up in the paint. Even the size we do have – Bezhanishvili – is a true freshman and will likely get into foul trouble early in games. If we are really honest with ourselves here, we are looking at an amazingly small lineup that will struggle at times.

Illinois has the guard play to be a Sweet 16 team. I firmly believe that is a fact. But, their paint situation will likely hold them back from their potential. I think they can still be a bubble team this year and potentially go dancing, but they are going to have to have some big games from players every night.

Next: Projected Illini starting lineup without Greg Eboigbodin

The loss of Kane for at least the summer is something to worry about. Hopefully, everything is fine, and he can enroll this fall. If not, this could be one of the most interesting seasons in Illini basketball history.

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