Illini Power Rankings: Self-Awareness Is a Virtue Most Divine

Throughout the Illinois men's basketball team's recent three-game skid, which has been as dark a period of the Underwood era since he was losing exhibition games at EIU (in case you forgot just how dark it truly was at the beginning), I've found myself thinking back to that moment in the above photo. With 6:16 left in the first half of Illinois' game against Michigan State--a game that was as hyped as any home game in recent memory, with a fired-up team desperate to avenge the toughest loss of the year, a loony-birds home crowd and an emerging-NBA-stud in attendance to be given Illinois basketball's highest honor by unleashing a banner that was hoisted in a way that did not require you standing on your head to read it--I thought this team was going to the Final Four. Our gentlemen looked transcendent for for the first 14 minutes of that game, a game that only took place 12 days ago, and it felt like the corner was being turned ... that the inconsistency had been left behind us, back there with the flu, the mono and whatever other illness was making, as Brad Underwood memorably put it, "come out both ends."

Then two things happened, one bad but familiar and unsurprising, one worse and, I'd argue, fatal.

The first was that Michigan State went on a run, which everyone saw coming: To see a vintage Izzo team like this, a team he clearly adores, is to know that they will never relent. The second was the moment when I made my peace with the fact that no matter how thrilling this team has looked at times, no matter how clandestinely I might have sniffed around San Antonio Airbnbs, no matter how much we've tried to talk ourselves into Final Four Upside ... it's just not happening this year.

This is that moment:

We can talk about the flu all we want. But the minute this team lost Morez Johnson Jr., who had blossomed into the most consistent, most reliable, most passionate, most predictable player on this roster, it lost its loftiest dreams. Underwood is pretending that Morez--who has a broken wrist--is going to be back for the Big Ten Tournament. Even if that's true (and it's almost surely not), it will take far more time than that to get back to the best version of this roster that this team has. The flaws can not be ignored. The ceiling is no longer the roof. This team isn't the one.

This is fine. It really is! Our Illini are about to make their fifth consecutive tournament (and it of course should be their sixth). There was a six-year stretch before that in which we did not make the tournament at all. Underwood is still a smart, ambitious coach, Josh Whitman is still as hard-charging as ever and with a fanbase like this, in the age of NIL, this is not a franchise/organization that is likely to go wanting. Things are, still, good. I will appreciate the slightly disappointing times, remembering, as I do, the truly wretched ones.

And while I will still watch this team with my usual fervor, I also cannot help but look toward the future. So, today, in this penultimate installment of the 2024-25 Illini Power Rankings, I will put a number, 1 being "no way they're coming back," 10 being "get your licensed NIL Store gear," on the likelihood of each player coming back next year.

As always, these rankings are ridiculous, uninformed and written primarily as a nervous tic. There may be nothing I think about more than the Illinois men's basketball team. My name is Will Leitch, a contributing editor at New York magazine, a columnist at The Washington Post, national correspondent for MLB.com and author of seven books, including the novels How Lucky, The Time Has Come and the upcoming Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride, which comes out next May and I would not be against you pre-ordering, were you to feel so inclined. I also write a free weekly newsletter about parenthood and living through these tumultuous times that you might enjoy: You can find it here. I am (somehow, still) perhaps best known as being the founder of the late sports website Deadspin, though I’d prefer you think of me as “former Daily Illini sports editor” and "forever Mattoon Green Wave."

Thank you for letting me scratch this itch once again.

11 and 12. AJ Redd, Keaton Kutcher (previously: 11, 12).
Want a sliding doors moment for this season? This was nine days ago, during the Wisconsin game:

You think this team seems psychologically fragile now? Imagine if this would have happened. There has been much discussion about how "tough" Underwood should be on this team, whether he's being too easy on them. I'm fascinated that he crept up to the ledge of kicking KJ in the head like this, and then backed off. I wonder if he regrets it. Either way: Keaton Kutcher came this close to being subbed in for an NBA lottery pick. He'd be able to dine out on that forever. Redd/Kutcher Return Quotient: 9/10. They're both juniors, they can come back, they might as well, right? What star will Kutcher almost replace in a pique of Underwood rage next year?

10. Morez Johnson Jr. (previously: 2).
I don't know what this team looks like next season. I don't know if Underwood will focus on continuity, if he'll clear house and try to reload, if everyone is going to want to come back or if they want the hell out. But I know there isn't a version of this program that isn't better, this year, the year after that, the year after that, for having Morez Johnson Jr. He has been the one guy you've been able to count on getting better each game, and we were just starting to really build around him when he hit the deck against MSU. I miss him every time I watch Ben Humrichous flail for a rebound or miss a back cut. I think he's a future All-American. I just hope it's with us. Morez Return Quotient: 8/10. You construct the whole roster around Morez. You build the whole plane out of him.

9. Carey Booth (previously: 10).
Can you imagine what the Michigan bigs are going to do to him? If Ivisic gets in any sort of foul trouble, you won't have to imagine. The weird thing about him is that he looks more lost the more he plays, not less. Oh, and in addition to being a big who doesn't seem to be able to rebound or play defense, he's good for at least one rushed, off-balance, fading-away brick a game. I repeat: He led Notre Dame in rebounding last year. Was second place "missed shots hitting the floor untouched and rolling out of bounds?" Booth Return Quotient: 2/10. He was always going to be a project, but I'd just as soon someone else take on that project, thank you very much.

8. Ben Humrichous (previously: 3).
I know Humrichous was not personally responsible for every single point Duke scored last weekend. It felt that way though. I'm not sure I've seen an Illini player have a worse game? He missed every shot he took, he got brutalized on the boards and every time I looked at him he was leaping out toward the wide-open 3-point shooter he was supposed to be guarding from somewhere just out of frame. He hit a couple of shots against Iowa, that's great, but he looks overmatched and overwhelmed in every other way. Basically, the only way left he can contribute is going 6-for-8 in threes, and I don't know if I can stomach watching him shooting that many threes again to even have the chance to try. The worst part about Humrichous is not just that he's a huge transfer portal miss; it's that by playing him, you are forced to play the style of ball that is the Illini at its worst, a floor-spreading 3-point offense with a bunch of players who can't shoot 3-pointers. He seems like a nice guy. But when I look back at why this team was so frustrating, he'll be the first guy I think of. Humrichous Return Quotient: 3/10. He's actually eligible to return now because of the Pavia rule, but the discount I presume he'd have to take to come back is surely more than he'll want to accept. Someone else will dream on a tall, theoretically deadeye shooter just like Illinois did. It sure will drive me insane if, next year, for somebody else, he becomes one.

7. Jake Davis (previously: 7).
With Morez on the roster, Davis has value as a shooter who can maneuver around the space Morez creates to grab a rebound or just be in the right place at the right time. But without him, you are just asking too much of him. He is going to get absolutely murdered on defense against Michigan. I feel bad for him already. Davis Return Quotient: 5/10. He worked himself into more of a role than I had been expecting him to have. He could do it again.

6. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (previously: 6).
I had been hoping that DGL would become a lineup mainstay, the guy whose effort and spirit would infect and inspire the rest of the team. Instead, the last couple of games have been arguments for keeping him as the bench sparkplug we assumed he was in the first place. That's extremely valuable, and I can still see it winning a game for us at some point. (He could be a fun darting wild-card presence against Michigan, for example.) But in the end, I do think he's too undersized to play even 25 minutes--this year, or next. I hope he plays here as long as he can. But if I were him? I'd sniff around DePaul. Gibbs-Lawhorn Return Quotient: 6/10. He could be a lifer here, and I wouldn't be against it. But will he ever be a full-time starter? If he's willing to be the Microwave for the next three years, he should stay. I don't know if I'd be willing to be that, though, if I were him.

5. Tre White (previously: 5).
You got the best version of Tre against Iowa, though we sort of got the best version of everybody against Iowa. (It is, after all, Iowa.) I say this every time I talk about White, but his job should be very simple:

1. Cut to the basket.
2. Shoot only when in the corner, and even then, only when wide open.
3. Be an absolute pest on defense, particularly on bigger guys.
4. Get to the line whenever possible.

One of the reasons Morez broke through is that he embraced the simplicity of his role: He was told to do four things, and he did them over and over--and kept getting better at them. White always seems to want to do more stuff, stuff that he's not as good at. (He really, really should stop dribbling, for example.) It might be a little too late in the season to expect much of a change. But he does have his moments. (I still wish Ty Rodgers were here instead.) White Return Quotient: 4/10. Maybe he's the guy Underwood focuses on being a key returner, another piece of that "continuity." But I dunno. Do you think the start to his Illini career has turned out the way he wanted?

4. Will Riley (previously: 8).
We're now to the big four: The gap between four and five is dramatic. There is a small part of me that wanted to put Riley No. 1 on this list. We've seen the scoring binges, but I've been impressed lately by his passing and his court vision: Sometimes he'll drive and get himself in a bad situation I think he won't be able to escape, and then he dumps it to the exact right guy at the exact right time. I wish the 3-point shot were falling a little bit more, but, well, that's the season slogan at this point. I'm glad he was in the starting lineup against Iowa. It may be time to keep him there. This might be all we ever get of Riley. Let's ride it as far as it can go. Riley Return Quotient: 4/10. Now that he's creeping back up draft boards, this is probably a little wishcasting. (That he classified early is proof he's in a hurry, after all.) But I think if he came back to college basketball, he'd be an All-American next year, and probably a top five pick. Though who's to say Illinois would be the place he'd come back to?

3. Kylan Boswell (previously: 4).
Stop shooting those! Christ, man! OK, now that I've gotten my most common Boswell-related scream out of the way, let's focus on how good Boswell was against Iowa. He seems to have taken Underwood's urges for him to be more of a leader and veteran to heart. He was a huge pain to those Iowa scorers, and he was the only thing against Duke that wasn't actively embarrassing. (He actually did make things difficult for Cooper Flagg, which makes me sort of optimistic for what he could theoretically do against Danny Wolf.) He's also getting into the lane more, which, if you may have noticed, is the only thing that has worked in two weeks. The next two games are pivotal for Boswell. Is he the slightly frustrating guy who can play fantastic defense but has forgotten how to shoot and can bog down the offense ... or is he the leader and best player on next year's team? The defensive changes may help him here; he sure seems to think so. Of all the decisions that have to be made with this roster next year, Boswell's may be the most fascinating. Boswell Return Quotient: 7/10. I'd be willing to bet on the shot returning, and if does, it changes him from what he is now until a potential Michigan State-like All-Big Ten guard. I'm in on him.

2. Kasparas Jakucionis (previously: 1).
The Iowa game should be his new model, because it should look familiar to him: He played the way he started the season. KJ was a little pensive, almost apprehensive, at the beginning of the season, remember? Like he didn't want to score? He was just a distributor who occasionally used his size to get to the line until Underwood (understandably) started encouraging him to be more comfortable, to shoot, to look for his own number more. That unlocked more of KJ's game, but it also brought all those reminders that he's only 18: The stepback threes stopped falling, he didn't draw many fouls driving and, worst of all, the turnovers got absolutely out of control. He seemed to simplify his game against Iowa, looking to get the ball to others, to be a little safer with his drives and, most impressive, to start rebounding like mad. (He is 6-foot-6, after all.) Having him look for others, rather than try to force offense, might be the way to go moving forward. And if you need one of those stepbacks, well, he can foist those when we're desperate late in the shot clock. (And we will be.) More to the point: In the NBA, he won't need to be the only guy who can score, the one everyone else just stands around watching, waiting for him to do something. The best way to prep him for that NBA is to not have him be that now. He's still capable of carrying a team. But the best Illini team involves him not having to. Jakucionis Return Quotient: 0/10. The best thing he could do for future international players that might come to Illinois--including Luigi!--would be to get a ton of NCAA tournament exposure, go pro after one year and become a lottery pick. I can't wait to get him on my Knicks NBA 2k team.

1. Tomislav Ivisic (previously: 9).
Welcome back, King. Ivisic finally looked like the mono was behind him against Iowa, and he was fantastic. This is Illinois' version of Nikola Jokic, or, if that's a bit much for you, maybe a less mobile version of Michigan's Danny Wolf: The guy you run the offense through, the one who makes things happen–the one who can even calm things down. I might advise him to shoot maybe one fewer of those top-of-the-key 3-pointers a game, and I'd definitely advise him to turn those bounce passes into over-the-top ones, but the guy we saw against Iowa is the one we've been waiting to return from the mono inferno. The good news is that I bet we see that guy the rest of the season. The bad news is that if he gets in foul trouble ... well, prepare thyself for more of The Carey Booth Experience. Ivisic Return Quotient: 7/10. It may cost more than it did this year. But you've got to hang onto him. I'd love to see a full year of him and Morez in the starting lineup together. If you're looking for the next Underwood pivot–the next team he sees, after Houston in 2022 and Connecticut in 2024, and says I want that--I can see it being 2025 Michigan. There are worse ideas.

Will Leitch is a contributing editor at New York Magazine, columnist for The Washington Post, national columnist for MLB, and the founder of the late sports website Deadspin. Subscribe to his free weekly newsletter and buy his novels “How Lucky,” and "The Time Has Come” from Harper Books. And pre-order his next book, "Lloyd McNeil's Last Ride," which will be released on May 20, 2025.