It is hard to put into words what to think of this Illinois basketball team right now.
This season has been, unquestionably, the most up and down year I have experienced in quite some time. Honestly, my hopes were probably a little too high to start the year, but we did land a top 35 player in Ayo Dosunmu. We were getting back Trent Frazier, who should have been the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season. Let’s not forget the okay returning cast and the solid class of 2018 that was coming in.
I was expecting to at least compete for the bubble this season. I wanted to see a team that was competitive and could win a few games. I was expecting to see an okay non-conference followed by a .500 Big Ten record. That would, at least, get us to the bubble.
Those expectations were clearly off, though. The 2-7 start really got me down. We followed that up with two should-be wins. A stretch of five losses followed and one of those was to Missouri by double-digits. That stretch really helped put the season in perspective for me.
Over the last four games, though, something has changed. This team has settled down, minus the 24-point blowout loss to Iowa. The big win against Minnesota was a nice sight to see. This kind of solidified that we aren’t too far off. We aren’t as bad as our record shows.
The game this past Saturday, against No. 13 Maryland, showed me what the future holds. Everything before the game against the Terrapins, in the big picture, doesn’t really mean much. I finally had the opportunity to see what this team is going to look like next year and in the future, and it is exciting.
Ayo Dosunmu is doing his thing. He is going to put up numbers in just about every statistical category. Hopefully, he sticks around another year. That is the fan greed coming out of me. I want to see him in the Orange and Blue. This game was about more than just Ayo, though.
Illinois is returning the majority of their roster next season. Just from the big win on Saturday against Maryland, the Illini are returning 70 of the 78 points scored in that game. Illini fans truly had a chance to see the potential of this team for years to come.
In addition to the 70 of 78 points returning next year, 47 of those points came from true freshmen players. That comes out to 60-percent of the scoring was from freshmen. That is an impressive number.
Illinois might head into the rest of the season and drop quite a few more games. They might not win too many more this year. But, this game against Maryland showed me what we are going to have in the coming seasons. When we add Kofi Cockburn and Antwan January to the mix, this Illini team will be even better.
The future is so bright for this program. You might see some people make fun of the current record or make fun of Brad Underwood’s record with the program but, believe me, hold tight. Things will improve and the win on Saturday against Maryland showed me what to expect in the future.