Former Brad Underwood star provides momentum changer at the 2024 Olympic Games

As Illinois basketball fans await a much-anticipated season, there are things to take our minds off the fact we are still months away.

Fans of the Illini program can pay attention to the football team. We are going to be a solid unit in 2024. Illinois fans can think about the potential lineup. I put together a projected Illinois lineup for 2024-25. There is also the 2024 Olympics you can watch.

Team USA is always a good watch, as we display the best talent in the game on the world’s biggest stage. Not only can we root for the Red, White, and Blue, but there is also another subtle rooting interest in the Olympics.

Brad Underwood coached a player in the Olympics.

I know you are probably wondering what Illinois player is sporting a country’s colors. No, it wasn’t an Illinois player.

If you are looking for a rooting interest outside of Team USA, look no further than the team from Greece. The headliner for the Greek team is NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he can’t do this alone.

Starting alongside Giannis is another talented player who was coached in college by Underwood. This player is Thomas Walkup, former Stephen F. Austin standout and Underwood-coached superstar.

Thomas Walkup was a star for Brad Underwood and provided a spark for Greece at the Olympics

It has been nearly a decade now, but Walkup was a big piece to some really good Stephen F. Austin programs in the mid-2010s. He played four seasons for the Lumberjacks, three of which were under Underwood’s tutelage.

In the three seasons Underwood coached Walkup, Stephen F. Austin made the NCAA tournament each year, which included two trips to the Round of 32. In this three-year run, the Lumberjacks upset No. 5 VCU and No. 3 West Virginia.

Walkup’s final season where he averaged 18.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.1 steals per game helped propel him to a solid career overseas in Greece. He then parlayed his talents into a starting role on Greece’s Olympic team.

In the game against Spain on Tuesday morning, Walkup was a big part of a great Greek effort. With 6:35 left in the third quarter, the game was slipping away from Greece. They were down 55-39, and then Walkup took over. He hit a huge three-pointer to start things off. Walkup then came down and got a steal. On the other end, he was able to facilitate the ball and find an open player for another three-point conversion.

Just like that, momentum had changed. Greece would go on a run that saw the game at one time tied 71-71 deep in the fourth quarter. While the eventual end result was not what we wanted, as Greece fell to Spain 84-77, Greece put up a great fight with the help of former Underwood star, Walkup.