The 2019-2020 season has abruptly ended for the Illinois basketball team thanks to the Coronavirus.
This virus has had an impact on everyone in the world in some form. One impact was the cancelation of all NCAA related sports for the winter and spring seasons. That means no more NCAA basketball for right now.
Illinois was about to play on Friday afternoon in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament. They earned the double-bye, and they had their eyes set on Selection Sunday where their name would be called for the first time in over a half-decade.
None of that is happening now, though. Everything is canceled. But this also means that the seniors on the team end their careers with nothing because they don’t get a chance at winning the Big Ten title or making the Big Dance. But could there be another year instore for these seniors?
There have been rumblings of how the NCAA should handle what is going on. One of the suggestions is to give the seniors another year of eligibility without it going against the scholarship count. That means the Illini could have their 13 scholarship players plus the seniors who are coming back. I wanted to see what that team might look like.
Here is the projected Illini lineup with the seniors returning for another year.