Illinois Basketball: Three Storylines heading into 2024-2025 Season

Illinois basketball kicks off its 2024 season on Monday evening vs the Eastern Illinois Panthers. The fans will finally get to see one of the most intriguing teams in recent Illini basketball history. For the past few years, Illinois basketball fans have had high expectations at the start of each season. Brad Underwood and his teams have certainly delivered over the past four years with an outstanding 96-39 overall record. However, this season is a unique one with three key storylines to monitor moving forward.

1) What’s this team’s identity? When does that start to show?

Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

In the 2023-2024 season, we all knew that the Illini would be a rugged, old, experienced team. With fifth-year guys like Terrence Shannon Jr, Marcus Domask, and Quincy Guerrier, we knew that Illinois basketball would be physical and versatile. In the 2020-2021 season, we knew that Ayo Dosunmu would lead the ship with defensive-minded shooters having his back. We do not necessarily know what the identity of this team will be. This is mainly because there are just so many new faces on this roster. The team probably will not have an electric transition attack as they did with Shannon Jr. and Dosunmu.

Hence, it is pretty interesting to see the type of identity that this team adopts. With such an intense non-conference schedule, when will this identity start to show?

2) Who falls out of favor?

Last year, Brad Underwood played a tight 8-man rotation. In addition to the starters, Dain Dainja, Luke Goode, and Justin Harmon were the key contributors off the bench. Players like Amani Hansberry, Niccolo Moretti, and Sencire Harris were relegated to bench roles, even having to redshirt. On this year’s team, there are a total of 11 guys expecting to help contribute. How will Brad Underwood distribute minutes? As he said in the locker room, he does not know who to play. However, the eight-man rotation is rather likely. Even Dan Hurley’s UConn Huskies played with a strict 8-man rotation.

The question is, who sits? Beyond that, who takes a lesser role?

3) Who is the go-to guy?

Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Illinois basketball has been blessed with guys like Ayo Dosunmu, Terrence Shannon Jr, Marcus Domask, and Kofi Cockburn. These are all guys that we knew would be relied upon heavily in crunch time. For the first time in quite some time, we really do not know who that guy will be. Are we asking young guys like Kasparas Jakucionis or Kylan Boswell to take that? Though it is a tough task, the Illini may not have a choice. They need one guy on this team who sets the tone, helps their teammates get into place, and takes on this responsibility. For me, Brad Underwood may need to lean on sophomore guard, Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn. 

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