No. 4 Forward
- Starter: Zvonimir Ivisic
The 2025-26 season could be one of the most fun I will watch when it comes to frontcourt play. Illinois has two big men over 7-foot tall, and I am here for every second of it. If the Andrej Stojakovic injury lingers, I want to see the two towers for Zvonimir Ivisic and Tomislav Ivisic on the court at the same time.
I have Zvonimir potentially starting at the No. 4 spot. He played some good basketball with Arkansas last season, averaging 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game. He has a similar game to that of his brother, as he attempted 3.6 three-pointers per game and hit them at a clip of 37.6%. That is a dangerous player.
- Backup: David Mirkovic
I think a wild card for the Illinois basketball team in 2025-26 is David Mirkovic. He is another player the Illini managed to land from overseas, but he is still pretty young. While I think Brad Underwood could go with Mirkovic as the starter at the forward spot, I, for now, have him as the primary backup.
Mirkovic has great size at 6-foot-9, 255 pounds, and he is someone who can bang around the paint and gobble up rebounds. Mirkovic averaged 8.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game last season. I would love those numbers in year one at Illinois.