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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In a press conference originally intended for discussing the new Busey Bank patches that Illinois Athletics teams will be wearing this upcoming season, it was only a matter of time before the conversation steered elsewhere.
Illini men’s basketball head coach Brad Underwood fielded questions on the new partnership with Busey of course, but also talked about how the summer has been for his team.
“It’s been really good; I’m excited,” Underwood said.
In regards to that excitement, one of the first things that Underwood referenced was the freshmen he has coming in.
Six players make up the Illini’s 2026 class: guards Quentin Coleman, Lucas Morillo, Ethan Brown, Lincoln Williams and forwards Zavier Zens and Landon Davis.
The No. 6-ranked class nationally according to 247Sports certainly isn’t missing any beats so far during their time in Champaign.
“They’re smart, their retention has been really high,” Underwood said. “I don’t feel like we’ve lost anybody, and it’s been a big summer of install, as we call it, where we install new things offensively and defensively.”
Underwood also noted that, for the first time, he’s getting an idea of what his whole group looks like as a unit.
Senior guard Andrej Stojakovic is back from an injury, and sophomore Stefan Vaaks has been getting caught up after spending time playing for the Estonian men’s national team.
Having the entire team together over the summer is something that the Illinois head coach isn’t taking for granted, as he knows how it may help him in the future.
“It just allows you to get a vision, a picture of what it might look like… I don’t want to be like how I was last year, where it took me till after the UConn game to figure out Keaton [Wagler] on the ball and that [David Mirkovic] Mirk wasn’t a center,” Underwood said.
While the 2026-27 season doesn’t start for a few months, it’s never too early to start getting prepped.
And it seems like Underwood has already been attacking the summer with later game plans in mind.
“I want to figure that out… it was a challenge last year because we didn’t have a lot of the guys in the summer, so it’s been very helpful,” Underwood said.
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