It doesn’t seem that the confidence is too high for the Illinois basketball team in 2023-24.
With the Illini having three departures in the transfer portal early in the offseason, it has made some fans a little worried about what is to come for a program that has seen a recent resurgence.
Brad Underwood took over in Champaign back in 2017-18 and has been building a strong program ever since. A couple of rough years to start were quickly corrected into three-straight NCAA tournament appearances, and what could have easily been four-straight if it wasn’t for a once-in-a-generation pandemic.
Despite the fact that Underwood has continuously put teams together that could, at least, make the postseason, there seems to be a strong hesitancy about the upcoming rendition of the Illini.
With the transfer portal starting off badly, most Illinois basketball fans are at least slightly worried about the 2023-24 season
In a poll posted by the Writing Illini on Twitter, we asked, “Are you worried about the men’s Illinois basketball team for the upcoming 2023-24 season?”
The Writing Illini then gave the options of yes, no, lean yes but wait and see, and lean no but wait and see.
After 773 votes, the results showed that most Illinois basketball fans are slightly worried about the upcoming season but are still in wait-and-see mode to see what happens this offseason with the transfer portal. This option received the most votes at 32.3%.
Are you worried about the men's Illinois basketball team for the upcoming 2023-24 season?#Illini
— Writing Illini (@WritingIlliniFS) April 4, 2023
The next option that received the second-most votes was, yes. 30.8% of fans flat out are worried about the upcoming season for the men’s program. So, 63.1% of Illinois basketball fans are at least somewhat worried about what we will see for the 2023-24 campaign.
There is also some optimism in the house. Coming in third is the answer, no. No received 23.3% of the votes. These fans clearly trust what Underwood is going to do despite being -3 in the transfer portal department right now.
Rounding out the poll is lean no but wait and see. These fans represented 13.6% of the vote.
Opinion
Personally, I am probably in the lean no but wait-and-see camp. Am I worried about the program right now? No, I think there is plenty of time for Underwood and his coaching staff to land some talented transfer portal players in the coming weeks.
With that being said, I am also waiting to see. The coming weeks will tell the story of the upcoming season. If Illinois is only able to land a few fringe players who won’t make a huge impact on the team, then I am going to start worrying.
If Underwood is able to land a few big pieces, like Utah Valley transfer Justin Harmon, then I am going to shift more into the full no camp. I think Underwood has earned the benefit of the doubt with the last four seasons. Let’s see what he can do. As I mentioned earlier, the next couple of weeks will tell the story.