Illinois Basketball: Illini head coach Brad Underwood up for Coach of the Year

Illinois basketball head coach Brad Underwood is starting to get some serious national attention for the job he has done in Champaign this season.

On Friday morning, a watchlist of 15 coaches was announced for the Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year. A part of this list was none other than Underwood himself.

Underwood wasn’t the only Big Ten coach to don this prestigious list. He was joined by Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers and Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell. Both of these coaches have done a marvelous job this season as well.

Let’s take a look at why Underwood should be the coach of the year, though.

Last season, Illinois only managed to put together 12 total wins. They were 12-21 overall and 7-13 in the Big Ten. This season, Underwood has managed to already increase his total wins by five – 17-9 overall – and Illinois’ conference wins by two – 9-6 in the Big Ten. Both of those numbers are likely to increase as well.

Winning is always first and foremost to determine whether or not a coach wins the coach of the year award. I also believe we should look at team stats. This is where you can tell if a team has improved under a coach as well.

When it comes to the Illinois offense, we actually average fewer points per game this season compared to last year. The Illini are scoring 70.8 PPG for this season compared to 72.7 PPG in the 12-win campaign we saw in year two of Underwood. But this doesn’t tell the entire story.

While Illinois averaged more points last season, we weren’t as efficient. The Illini have improved their field goal shooting. This season, they are making 43.5-percent of their field goals compared to last season where they hit 43.1-percent of their shots. While we didn’t score as many points, we were being more efficient with the shots we were taking.

Besides for field goal percentage, there are some other big statistical categories that have improved for Underwood this season. Illinois’ average scoring margin is one of the main ones. Last season, we had a scoring margin of -2.6 per game. That means we averaged losing every game by 2.6 points. This season, that scoring margin as improved to +5.9 per game, which ranks No. 66 in the nation.

Illinois has also seen improvements in both rebounding and turnovers. The Illini averaged 33 rebounds per game last season, which was No. 276 in the country. Now they are averaging 40 RPG, which ranks No. 17 in the country. Turnovers haven’t seen as big of a jump, but there is still solid improvement there. We turned the ball over 13.2 times per game last season and are only turning the ball over 12.7 times this season.

All of these stats prove the Underwood has this team on the right track, but there are two categories that put him over the top when it comes to coach of the year. I believe team fouls and points per game allowed are those two metrics. Both of these numbers show you how disciplined a team is and how well they are receiving the coaching that is being given.

Illinois’ fouls have improved greatly this season. Last year, we were averaging 21.1 fouls per game, which ranked No. 343 in the nation. That is such a bad number. This season, we have improved tremendously, only averaging 16.1 FPG, which ranks No. 65 in the nation. That is five fewer fouls per game. This means the opposing team is shooting fewer free throws per game, and Illinois players are getting in less foul trouble.

The defense for the Illini has been insane this season too. Underwood’s coaching has helped develop each of these Illinois players into being dominating defensive specialists. Last season, Illinois was giving up 75.2 PPG, which ranked No. 255 in the nation. There is no wonder we only hit the 12-win mark. That number is now 64.8 PPG, which ranks No. 54 in the nation. Illinois is giving up 10.4 PPG less this season. That is such a big number.

So, while the other coaches on the Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year watchlist deserve to be on there, Underwood deserves to win it. He has done some tremendous things with this Illinois program and has them on the verge of going dancing for the first time in a half-decade. I can’t express to you enough how impressed I am with what I have seen this season.