Illinois Basketball: Review of the Illini point guard outlook

Illinois basketball has been known to have great point guards over the span of time, and that trend has started to pick up over the last few years.

Before my time there were players like Bruce Douglas and Stephen Bardo who were great distributors of the ball. Larry Smith and Rennie Clemons helped usher in the 1990s for the Illini as they handled the ball and were great passers for the program.

Kiwane Garris and Frank Williams then helped Illinois get back into the national discussion about being the best team in the nation. The torch was passed to two of the legends in program history when Dee Brown and Deron Williams joined the team.

The great point guard streak slowed down a little bit with Demetri McCamey being the main ball handler of the late 2000s and early 2010s. Under the John Groce era, point guards were hard to come by and it showed in the win totals. But things changed with Brad Underwood.

Illinois’ current regime under Underwood has seen a resurgence in point guard talent. The Illini bringing in talented point guards has proved successful with this past season being one of the best campaigns in years. Let’s examine where we are as a team point guard-wise and what the future may hold for the Illini at this position.

Here is the current, future and potential at the Illini point guard position.