All Grown Up

Brad Underwood put it very succinctly last night after his team’s first round NCAA Tournament win over Xavier. He had just watched his team get 44 points from freshmen Will Riley (22) , Kasparas Jakucionis (16), and Morez Johnson (6). He got another 20 points from Tomislav Ivisic who is a sophomore by name and weird NCAA eligibility ruling only. When asked about the maturity of his first year players?

“Yeah, we’re not freshmen anymore.”

Last night his youth was put to the test against a grown man Xavier team. The Musketeers came into the game ranked 2nd in all of college basketball in D-1 experience - at 3.54 years. They had a guy (Zach Freemantle) who will turn 25 this year - and played before Covid was a thing. By contrast Illinois ranked 301st at just 1.08 years and was led by a pair of teenagers.

Kylan Boswell is absolutely the heart and soul of this group, but make no mistake, this Illinois team is only going as far in this tournament as the kids take them. And last night under the brightest of lights - they came of age.

The 22 points from Riley were the most ever scored by an Illinois freshman in an NCAA tournament game. (If you were wondering, the previous record was held by Frank Williams with 21 against Penn in 2000. Jamar Smith had 20 against Air Force in 2006, and that’s the sum total of Illini freshmen with more than 20 points in a tourney game.)

Jakucionis’ 16 points tied Dee Brown for fourth most tournament points by a freshman, but would anyone be surprised if he were to break Riley‘s mark on Sunday? Oh, and KJ was just one rebound shy of being the first freshman to ever have a triple double in an NCAA tournament game. If only that last three from Xavier had caromed left instead of right.

Ivisic had four three pointers and that was apparently the most threes ever made by a 7-footer in an NCAA tournament game. Kind of an obscure stat - but noteworthy nonetheless.

The fact that Johnson is even playing at all - just one month or so removed from breaking his wrist - is an accomplishment in its own right.

As the grind of a college basketball season is want to do, all were forced to grow up under extreme duress. The journey of each Illini newcomer over the course of the season was fraught with unique trials and tribulations.

Jakucionis battled through an injury to his forearm in January while the microscope was laser focused on his ball security all season.

Riley charged out of the gate with a 31 point debut against Eastern Illinois in the season opener, but hit the freshman wall around the holidays and saw his minutes per game drop into the teens for much of December and January.

Ivisic, well, he got mono. Enough said. I was at the Maryland game at the SFC in late January and I swear Tomi looked like he weighed about a buck eighty five.

Johnson, of course, broke his wrist against Michigan State and he still looks like he is playing one handed. Watching him try to dribble with his injured left hand during one sequence last night was giving me serious Stanley from The Office vibes.

The illness and injury bug that ravaged the entire Illinois roster for much of the Big Ten conference schedule made it especially challenging for Underwood to develop his youth and help them adjust to the rigors of the season. He made note of that last night - pointing out that with just two Big Ten conference games over the last two weeks of the season he was afforded some much needed catch up practice and additional rest. Jakucionis especially seemed energized and fresh last night. He was aggressive early and often and I thought his play in the first ten minutes really established the tone against Xavier.

Underwood has talked in the past about how “getting old and staying old” is often a key to success in college basketball, and while that was the blueprint for his Elite Eight team from last season, he opted for the Monty Python approach to his roster rebuild: “And now for something completely different”.

He lost over 60% of his production to graduation (and most of the rest to the transfer portal), and as such had no choice but to fully retool. His strategy this time around was a full youth movement and went fishing in international waters to make it happen. A gamble for sure, but despite more than a few bumps in the road, it looks like that gamble is starting to pay off.

The kids are indeed alright.