Illinois Basketball: Illini depth takes hit with Luke Goode on the mend

Ahead of this week’s exhibition game against Quincy, the Illinois basketball program has been struck with some bad news.

The Illini had a really good class of 2021 enter the program before last season. This group helped Illinois get back to the second round of the NCAA tournament, and they are the foundation for future success of the program.

Luke Goode was a part of that 2021 class. He started to really blossom as a player toward the end of his freshman season. The 2022-23 campaign was supposed to be the year he took another step forward as well, but it looks like we will have to wait to see Goode on the court anytime soon.

On Monday, it was reported by Jeff Goodman of Stadium, and confirmed by Goode himself, that the Illinois wing is to have foot surgery on Friday and will miss time this season. In Goode’s quote retweet, it sounds like he will miss all of the non-conference slate but will be back sometime during the Big Ten season.

Illinois basketball took a blow to the depth with Luke Goode missing time.

In the most recent projected Illini lineup for the 2022-23 season, I had Goode as the primary backup at the No. 4 spot. I had him coming in and spelling minutes for Matthew Mayer.

I also mentioned in the write-up for Goode that he could play the No. 2 through No. 4 spots on the floor. His versatility would really help Brad Underwood this season. But that versatility is now gone for the time being.

If I had to guess, I don’t think this is going to change anything with the starting rotation. The biggest change for Illinois is going to be relying on the class of 2022 freshmen to play even more minutes than originally planned.

I had Skyy Clark starting at point guard and then Jayden Epps, Sencire Harris, and Ty Rodgers as the primary backups at the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 spots on the floor. It now wouldn’t shock me to see, at times, RJ Melendez move to the No. 4 and Rodgers play at the No. 3 at the same time.

Thankfully, Underwood and his coaching staff secured one of the best recruiting classes we have ever seen and added a great haul of transfers in the offseason. Illinois can sustain this blow for the first half of the season. I can’t wait to see what we look like with Goode back in the fold.