The Illinois basketball team begins their season in less than two weeks and this has Illini fans buzzing.
On Friday, the Illini will be taking on Illinois Wesleyan in an exhibition game to tune up for the start of the regular season. This is a game that should help develop what Brad Underwood wants as the first starting lineup of the season.
The first game of the regular season is on November 8. This game will be against the Evansville Purple Aces. Illinois will welcome in the Purple Aces in what should be another nice tune-up game for the rough schedule to follow.
Figuring out the early lineup is going to be the tricky part for Underwood and this coaching staff. I believe they probably already have a good idea of what they want it to be, but there are a lot of new faces and some of them are freshmen. It will be interesting to see who officially gets the starting nod.
But, until then, speculation will run rampant. There are some players who I think should start over others. My lineup will need the true freshmen to step up this season.
Here is the projected Illini starting lineup to star the 2018-2019 season.