The Illinois basketball team starts their regular season next Tuesday, November 5 against Nicholls State.
This is a big game for the Orange and Blue, not for we play, but more for the impact a good start would have on this young but experienced bunch. We need to come out of the gates firing and never let up. A good start will help launch us into a tough two-game stretch early on in the season.
Illinois is going to look a little different this season compared to last. There are a few players who have departed the program. There are new additions to the team that should be able to help win some games. There has also been an academic issue that is keeping one of our up-and-coming players on the bench for a while.
With all of this taken into consideration, I wanted to put together what I think the lineup will look like game one. This is without watching them yet; the first exhibition game is this Friday. But it is a rough outline of who I think should be in each slot on the basketball court.
Here is the projected Illini starting lineup for the 2019-2020 season.