Illinois Basketball: Good, bad and ugly scenarios for the Illini offseason

CHAMPAIGN, IL - NOVEMBER 18: Illinois head coach Brad Underwood speaks with his team during a time out in a huddle during a college basketball game between the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Illinois Fighting Illini on November 18, 2018 at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill (Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - NOVEMBER 18: Illinois head coach Brad Underwood speaks with his team during a time out in a huddle during a college basketball game between the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Illinois Fighting Illini on November 18, 2018 at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill (Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Illinois basketball
CHAMPAIGN, IL – FEBRUARY 11: Illinois Fighting Illini forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (15) reacts from the team bench after a play during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Illinois Fighting Illini on February 11, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Illinois basketball season ended in the weirdest way you could possibly end a hopeful season.

Just a year prior, no one could have predicted the Illini would make a run, snag a top-four seed in the Big Ten Tournament, be a solid NCAA tournament bid and then everything gets canceled by a pandemic. This has absolutely been the craziest sports year in my lifetime.

But things will eventually go back to as normal as possible. The college basketball season is a few months away still, so I assume there will be a game plan in place to open up the season on time. With that being said, Illinois should be ready to hop back on the horse and start winning again.

Much like the country, this won’t be the same Illinois team. We had some changes this offseason that will change the dynamic of this team moving forward.

Illinois had a couple of players declare for the NBA Draft. That hasn’t, legitimately, happened in about a decade and a half. There is also the possibility of a transfer or two coming into the program. Let’s not forget about adding to the class of 2020 as well.

There are different scenarios this offseason that could help or hurt the program in the near future. What are some of the scenarios, though?

Here are the scenarios for the Illini to finish out the 2020 offseason.