Illinois Basketball: Projected Illini starting lineup without Samba Kane

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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) /

The Illinois basketball team is going through some rough terrain when it comes to their roster for next season.

In my time as an Illinois fan, I have never seen anything like what we are witnessing this year. The amount of departures from this team for one reason or another is astonishing. Illinois will have more new players next season than they will have returning scholarship players. That is incredible.

But, one of those newcomers might not make it to Champaign this fall. There were reports on Friday that Samba Kane has left the program for the summer because of transcript issues. The article also says he is expected back in the fall, but the vibes of the article feel like there is a possibility he won’t be available next season.

Illinois has already lost a tremendous amount of talent before this Kane news. Leron Black, Michael Finke, Greg Eboigbodin and Matic Vesel are four big men they lost who would have helped the team this season. They also missed on a few recruits as well.

Now there is a possibility that Kane isn’t going to be able to play this year. That is just another layer of ouch to a tough offseason for the Illini. The starting lineup would look different if Kane wasn’t available too.

Here is the projected starting lineup without Samba Kane.

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