No. 3 Guard/Forward
Starter: Terrence Shannon Jr.
A part of me wants to bench Terrence Shannon Jr. for the way he has played and the lack of leadership he has shown on the floor, but I think Shannon is too valuable to ride the pine. He is averaging 17.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.1 steals per game this season. With those numbers, I have him starting at the No. 3 spot for the Illini.
Shannon has a ton of talent. We see flashes of it in every game. But this kid needs to wake up. I am not sure if he saw some of the NBA mock drafts and thought he could cruise into the NBA next season, but whatever is going on is terrible for his game and the Illinois basketball program. Maybe with Jayden Epps taking more of a leadership role, this will rattle Shannon. It will hopefully make him wake up and realize that we need him to play well so we can make the NCAA tournament.
Backup: Ty Rodgers
The departure of Skyy Clark doesn’t just affect Jayden Epps. I think his departure is also going to give Ty Rodgers more playing time moving forward. This is something I have wanted for a while, and it looks like Brad Underwood’s hand might be forced.
Rodgers isn’t putting up big numbers by any means. He is averaging 1.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 15.1 minutes of action in each game. But I think there is a superstar just waiting to burst out with Rodgers. He has great talent. Rodgers will be a really good player, and now he is going to have a chance to play more. Even though I have Rodgers as the backup at the No. 3 spot, I think he is going to see a minutes increase and will probably play the No. 2 through No. 4 spots at times.