Is Illinois’ Brad Underwood in Over His Head?

Coming off one of the best seasons in years for Illinois basketball, a lot was expected in 2024-25. For a team that made its first Elite 8 in nearly 20 years, Brad Underwood’s Illini, haven’t quite lived up to their billing this season. Is it a lack of leadership, too many new faces, or could it possibly be that Underwood himself might be in over his head a bit?

For a fanbase there at Illinois, who act like they have conquered the highest of highs, which is winning March Madness. They haven’t and their lone coming close to doing so was back in 2005. Weird to say but, how many in the Illini student section were old enough to remember that? A lot was expected out of this year’s team, with such a strong freshman class, and the key retuners, mixed with a couple of key transfer acquisitions. Thus far the hype hasn’t lived up. So who’s to blame?

Is Illinois’ Brad Underwood in Over His Head?

Now, I’m not saying Brad Underwood is a bad coach, because he’s not he’s won the Big Ten, he’s proven he belongs in the toughest conference in America. But for this team to have the likes of Will Riley and Kasparas Jakucionis who are both going to be pros, they can’t seem to get the job done all the time.

This team is 18-11 (10-8), and some of their losses have been ugly. First off they lost both meetings against Big Ten-leading Michigan State, with plenty of chatter from their fanbase and even coach Underwood, about unfair officiating. Well, that was the first big mistake for Underwood, you are toeing a line when you start questioning officials. They aren’t going to treat you any better, and that has been the case this season.

Three-Point Shooting

If that wasn’t enough of an issue, coach Underwood certainly gave a heck of an answer after the Illini’s crushing defeat against Duke this past weekend. Playing the Blue Devils this late in the season is a problem in itself, but for Brad Underwood to publically say, oh if we just shot the ball better, we would’ve been in the game. According to Zain Bando from the Sporting News, Underwood was a bit snarky in the postgame.

” Yeah, Duke’s good,” Underwood said. “5-of-16 (in) the first half- of we’re just 5-of-16 in the first half, which is 32 percent from three, it’s a two-point game.”