Scrimmage, exhibition up next for Illini

Oct. 12—Illinois hosted its on-campus media day Friday afternoon at Ubben Basketball Complex. Here’s some of what Illini coach Brad Underwood had to say, courtesy beat writer :

Even after delaying the start of practice by a week, Illinois eighth-year coach Brad Underwood sees his team “trying to fight the monotony of just seeing each other every day.” That will be solved — at least momentarily — with a Sunday scrimmage against Butler.

The format will be much like what Illinois had two years ago against Kansas in a similar situation. More segmented action than full game. Underwood said the Illini are in a spot where they need to put five on the floor instead of 10 and start identifying roles on a roster that hasn’t seen much separation between players thus far in practice.

“I need to see what we’re not good at,” Underwood said. “I need to see the first speed bump. What is it? You get to a point where I am right now standing here today. Our offense was good, so does that mean our defense was bad?

“I just need to see what the reaction is to seeing a different colored jersey. There’s a lot I want to learn. There’s a reason we moved it up a week compared to what we’ve done in the past. Then we’ve got two weeks to quite simply go to work and get some things fixed, and then we’ll actually have a true road environment game (in the Oct. 27 exhibition at Mississippi).”

Illinois will scrimmage Butler this weekend without freshman Tomislav Ivisic. The 7-foot-1 center has yet to be cleared by the NCAA. There’s no timeline for when Ivisic will be cleared or if that decision will come by the Nov. 4 season opener against Eastern Illinois. Underwood said Illinois continues to field questions from the NCAA in regards to Ivisic’s time playing the past three seasons for Montenegrin club SC Derby in the ABA League (previously the Adriatic League). It’s a similar process Ivisic’s twin brother, Zvonimir, went through last season at Kentucky.

“There’s some differences in their cases, but I would think there’s at least a footprint of what that looked like,” Underwood said. “I would hope that’s expediting some things. … We keep getting a question here, a question there more in terms of his amateurism stuff. The university, our people, along with the NCAA, they’ll make those decisions once they get all the information they need.

“We’re literally at their beck and call. When they ask a question, it’s the beauty of email. Things can get answered and moved around pretty quick. We understand their office works with every other school in the country in these situations. Sometimes, they can sit for a little bit. Our people here do a fantastic job of staying on them and moving that.”

The first two weeks of practice for Illinois have already drawn representatives from more than 20 NBA teams to Ubben.

A pair of potential lottery picks in freshmen guards Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley has boosted the Illini’s stock on the get-out-and-see-them circuit.

Both have been projected first-round picks and were among the top 25 players in ESPN’s latest updated draft board. Arizona transfer Kylan Boswell and Evansville transfer Ben Humrichous were also in that newly minted top 100, and Humrichous has impressed the NBA front office personnel with his abilities as a 6-9 shooter.

“They’re just that — mock drafts,” Underwood said. “It’s like recruiting services. Show me one that gets it right, and I’ll tell you it’s the first time. They don’t mean that much. We’ve got to go out and prove it. We’ve got to go out and play. I don’t think this group is wired that way. I think they’re all in here to win a national championship at the University of Illinois.

“If they’re worried about it, it’s the wrong thing to be worried about. We’ve had 20-plus teams in here already. I think it’s an every day, common thing that kids grow up with today that are good players.”