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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:
Brad Underwood spent part of his Memorial Day weekend appearing on the Field of 68 “After Dark” podcast with Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman, with the episode released Tuesday afternoon. Here’s some of what the Illinois coach had to say:
Roster construction
“We knew what we had to spend budget wise. We were in a position where taking care of the guys in our program that were back was priority one. That was the loyalty piece. Then we were selective. We only took two guys out of the portal. Obviously, we’ve got a European, Balkan flavor to us, but that was with intent as well.”
Euro influence
“I think they’re guys that I’ve enjoyed coaching. … They’re coached different. They’re brought up different. … They’re naturally very competitive. They play a lot of five-on-five. They play a lot of pickup. I love their IQ and their feel. (David Mirkovic), we recruited all year. We didn’t expect to get (Zvonimir Ivisic). Probably thought he would be a pro, and that one just kind of fell in our lap. Through the process, Andrej Stojakovic going into the portal was a guy we earmarked. We wanted to get older with this group. … This has been a three-year buildup or maybe longer, especially (Geoff Alexander), of going over there developing relationships, building contacts. We’re not going to stop. We’re going to continue to recruit these guys. They’re high IQ and they’re tough.”
Adaptability
“The personality of how you deal with guys is what I had to evolve with. Am I still tough and demanding? I call it accountability and responsibility instead of those things. Then I’m always going to be truthful with players. Through everything else, being truthful with players has gotten me to this point. They don’t like it sometimes, but it’s always the truth. … If I ever don’t evolve, then I probably need to retire. I think change is really good. I think it keeps me young. I’ve hired a bunch of young, really smart guys to challenge me so I don’t get stagnant, so I don’t get status quo.”
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