Brad Underwood has made his personnel desires abundantly clear over the past few seasons: positional size and shooting. Seeking those traits in every target – be it a high school recruit, overseas prospect or transfer addition – Illinois has carefully tailored its roster in recent years.
When Illinois initially signed Andrej Stojakovic in the 2025 offseason, there was one very lofty goal: a national title. And after the Illini made a run to the 2026 Final Four, they made it clear that wasn’t an objective outside of striking distance for Stojakovic and his teammates.
Doesn't matter if it's the men or women: If you can hoop, regardless of where you're from, Illinois basketball will recruit you. Brad Underwood currently has four international players on his roster, and now Shauna Green has added a fifth to her women's club after landing forward Lana Brenjo on Wednesday.
For the second time this offseason, Andrej Stojakovic has announced he is returning to Illinois.Yes, the second time. Because apparently one commitment announcement was not dramatic enough for Illini fans, who were briefly allowed to feel peace before being launched directly back into offseason panic mode .
The Illinois Fighting Illini entered Wednesday anxiously waiting for one of the biggest roster decisions of the college basketball offseason. After testing the NBA Draft process and participating in the NBA Combine earlier this month, Andrej Stojakovic officially made his long-awaited decision just before the withdrawal deadline.
After a 2026 season in which Illinois football took advantage of one of the most experienced rosters in FBS college football, coach Bret Bielema is dealing with the hangover of many of his top players departing after exhausting their eligibility – not to mention the brisk outgoing traffic of transfers that have compounded the Illini's losses.
Before Friday morning, Bret Bielema had four wide receivers committed to the program for the fall, but that number is now up to five after wide receiver Nathan Cichy decommitted from Harvard and picked Illinois on Friday.
We say it in this space time and again: If Brad Underwood and Illinois offer a high school prospect, that recruit is, among other things, almost surely a gifted shooter (one recent offer certainly fits into that category ).
Brad Underwood and his staff are known to have an eye for talent. Keaton Wagler , who ranked outside the nation's top 250 in his high school class (per 247Sports’ composite rankings), is the prime example.
Illinois head coach Bret Bielema has resurrected his coaching career across several very successful years with the Illini. But he might have made some brand new enemies with his support of College Football Playoff expansion.
A five-star recruit coming out of high school, Kylan Boswell has long been viewed as an NBA prospect. But after two seasons at Arizona, there was work to be done (even after Boswell shot 38.2 percent from long distance over those two years).
Illinois basketball last season played a rough-and-tumble non-conference schedule, and its NCAA Tournament draw wasn't exactly a walk through the quad.
Bret Bielema signed his fifth junior college recruit for the 2026 class on Wednesday in tight end Benjamin Thurman , and as expected, the Illinois coach added his sixth JUCO recruit two days later when three-star defensive lineman Joshua Davis announced his decision Friday.
Earlier this week, Illinois football saw Cameron Wagner – a four-star in-state offensive lineman from St. Joseph-Ogden – slip through its grasp and instead sign with Big Ten rival Oregon.
After an underwhelming performance in shooting drills at the NBA draft combine ( but plus measurements and solid athletic testing ), Illinois guard Kylan
Once college basketball rosters are finalized, a fairly vivid picture will be painted for the upcoming season. There will be whispers and buzz (as there was with Illinois’ Keaton Wagler in the 2025-26 preseason, but once the main characters are settled, there are rarely seismic changes that drop or boost a club’s stock in a drastic manner.
The Illinois Fighting Illini like head basketball coach Brad Underwood, and they have plenty of reason to.
Illinois’ least-discussed NBA Draft prospect: senior guard Kylan Boswell. With freshman standout Keaton Wagler being projected in the top five and Andrej Stojakovic’s every move being closely monitored, as his Illini future appears to hinge on the NBA Draft Combine, Boswell has slid into the background.
Illinois hasn’t been to the Final Four in all of … one month . Naturally, though, the Illini are seeking to make the final weekend of college hoops a common occurrence for the program rather than an anomaly (2026 was Illinois' first Final Four appearance since 2005).
At some point over the past six months or so, too many factors were pushing Ty Rodgers toward the State Farm Center doors for him to resist the idea of
The Illinois Fighting Illini parted ways with softball head coach Tyra Perry on Monday. Now, a national search for a new leader by Chief Sports Officer
The general consensus ahead of the 2026-27 season: Illinois, which returns the majority of its core from last year’s Final Four squad, is a top five preseason squad .
The University of Illinois announced on Monday that it was parting ways with the softball program's head coach, Tyra Perry. Perry spent 11 years at the helm of the Fighting Illini and signed a contract in 2023 that extended her through the 2027 season.
Kamden Lopati had been committed to the Illinois Fighting Illini since July of 2025. Now, almost a year later, that's a commitment that doesn't hold.
UConn outlasted Illinois in a thrilling 71-62 contest that saw the Fighting Illini’s comeback fall short at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.
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