Illinois Basketball: Projected Illini starting lineup for the 2020-2021 season

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CHAMPAIGN, IL – DECEMBER 29: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Alan Griffin (0) dunks the ball while warming up for the college basketball game between the Florida Atlantic University Owls and the Illinois Fighting Illini on December 29, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Illinois basketball roster is starting to come together for the upcoming season, but what will it look like when the 2020-2021 campaign rolls around?

This is a question not many people are asking or even thinking of right now. I realize we haven’t made the NCAA tournament since the start of President Barack Obama’s second term in office. That is a long time, so just making it back to the Big Dance is at the forefront of most Illini fan’s minds.

But I am looking at the macro and not the micro. I want to make the NCAA tournament this upcoming season and think we have the talent to reach that goal. This team also needs to prepare for the future as well. We aren’t used to players leaving early but that is a reality now that could hit us hard in the next couple of years.

The 2020-21 season is still two campaigns away, but the roster is a little scary to look at right now and the class of 2019 isn’t building as well as I had hoped. This makes me concerned about what could be coming down the road. There is still time to build, though. Illinois needs to have a couple of solid classes. We should also have some great talent on the team as well.

Here is the projected Illini starting lineup for the 2020-2021 season.

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