Brad Underwood leaning into hilarious new Illinois persona

The Illinois basketball team has had a ton of unique players over the years, but Brad Underwood’s new persona may take the cake.

It has been a great start to the 2025-26 campaign for the Illini. We are 6-1 with a victory over a top-25 Texas Tech program. The only blemish has come to a tough top 10 Alabama squad as well.

When you watch Illinois play, you will notice a familiar trend in the roster. There are a lot of -ic ending last names. This has been a topic of discussion when it comes to recruiting, and Underwood and his coaching staff have leaned heavily on the overseas market, as well as a few transfer portal players who could help this team in the States.

Andrej Stojakovic (transfer), David Mirkovic (overseas), Tomislav Ivisic (incumbent), Zvonimir Ivisic (transfer), and Mihailo Petrovic (overseas) are the main characters on this unique squad.

Back in April, Underwood had an AI photo done of him and posted it as a new profile pic. The picture was of him in an orange Illinois tracksuit that appeared to be somewhere in the Balkans.

Well, on Wednesday, Underwood leaned even further into his hilarious new persona. The Illinois men’s basketball social media account posted a real picture. This time, Underwood is in an orange tracksuit, doing the same squat, wearing the same type of Cabbie hat that is portrayed in the AI photo.

The AI version of the photo was funny because there aren’t a lot of coaches who have personalities. We got to see a little of Underwood’s back in April. Now that he has taken a real photo, that makes the situation a million times funnier. Plus, this has to be great for brand recognition because it already has over 4,000 likes on social media.

Illinois basketball going all-in on overseas recruiting is paying off in a big way

While this is all fun, and Underwood is leaning into the fun of the photo, the serious part is, it is a brilliant recruiting play. He is doing some great work overseas, and that will only continue in the future.

Mirkovic looks like at least an All-Big Ten Freshman talent, and I think he could be in the running for a spot on the Freshman All-American team. Petrovic is also coming into his own. He started slowly due to injuries.

Last season, Illinois pulled in Tomislav, and now his brother transferred in from Arkansas. Stojakovic transferred in from Cal, too.

Illinois has something special going with their great recruiting. I love to see Underwood embracing the craziness of the recruiting world rather than pushing it away. This photo is incredible.