Champaign, IL- Last season John Groce and company had a pretty rough campaign, they lost star Tracy Abrams before the season even started, Rayvonte Rice and Aaron Cosby were both injured and eventually Cosby got kicked out of the program for violating team rules, so Groce turned to the bench and called up Ryan Schmidt. Schmidt had been the team’s student manager for four years, he played high school basketball but never thought he would get the call to suit up when the Illini needed extra players. From that point on the Illini went downhill, losing key games to conference opponents down the stretch against Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota. The Illini’s disappointing season didn’t end there as they had to play in the Big Ten Tournament, however they were knocked off in the first round by Michigan.
That was last season, what can we expect from the 2015-16 squad? Well if you asked the question roughly two weeks ago, this writer would have said the Illini would be playing in the NCAA tournament. However, Tracy Abrams was injured yet again in an offseason workout, sidelining him for the entire year.
If we set the Abrams injury aside and look at what Illinois has to work with, this writer would say we are looking at a 17 win team perhaps 20 if no one gets injured.
Illinois brings back Jaylon Tate, Malcolm Hill and Kendrick and they add freshman D.J. Williams and Aaron Jordan. Both Jordan and Williams ranked in the top 100 in the 2014 ESPN best high school basketball players in the nation. Another big addition for the Illini this year is Charlotte transfer Mike Thorne. While at Charlotte, Thorne led the team and ranked fifth in Conference USA in rebounding with an average of 7.3 rebounds per game. Thorne also started 30 of the 32 games played by Charlotte last season and was the team’s third leading scorer, averaging 10.1 points while shooting 53.4 percent from the field.
Now lets shift our focus over to the players that this writer believes will have the biggest impact this season for the Orange and Blue. Let’s start with the freshman phenom out of Plainfield East High School in Illinois, Aaron Jordan. The 6’5” 190 pound guard was a first-team All-State selection by the Associated Press, Champaign News-Gazette and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association. Jordan averaged 19.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game as a junior and shot 48 percent from three-point range.
Not only does he get the job done on the court, he also gets it done in the classroom. Jordan was a member of the National Honor Society throughout his tenure at Plainfield East. This writer spoke to Jordan back in November andI asked him what exactly he brings to Illinois and he said, “Character off the court and pretty much everything on the court, I feel as if I can do it all.”
Aside from Jordan there is one more player that will have a huge impact on this year’s squad and that is junior guard Malcolm Hill. The 6’6” 220 pound guard can do it all, scoring from everywhere on the court. Last season, he increased his points per game total from 4.4 PPG to 14.4 PPG, while also coming in third on the teams rebounding list with 4.8 rebounds per game. His coming out party was without question the "B1G" game between #9 Maryland. Hill racked up a career high 28 total points including a career best 4-7 from beyond the arc in a career high 39 minutes. With that being said, all this writer has left to say is buckle up folks because this season is going to be interesting. If everyone can stay healthy this team can potentially shock the country.