On the day before Illinois played UConn at the Final Four in Indianapolis, coach Brad Underwood walked onto the court at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Friday open practice. Amidst the vast sea of orange-clad Illinois fans who flooded the dome, Underwood spied Ashley Tanney, who used to babysit for his children when he was an assistant coach at Western Illinois back in the 1990’s. Underwood and his wife Susan had such affection for her that when their younger daughter was born in 2001, they named her Ashley.
Underwood hadn’t seen Tanney in some 20 years. That chance to reconnect underscored why reaching the Final Four was gratifying beyond what it did for his resume. “There were so many moments like that,” Underwood told Hoops HQ. “I had friends from high school, people from Nacogdoches, Texas, and Manhattan, Kansas, where I coached. You realize that we built real relationships in a lot of places that were about much more than basketball.”
Underwood hasn’t had much time to reflect on what he and his team accomplished. Like every other coach, he has been too busy recruiting and navigating the transfer portal in an effort to shore up his roster for next season. Not only did he accomplish that mission, but Underwood also recently signed a contract extension that will keep him in Champaign through the 2032 season, with incentives built in to extend it another four years.
It’s great news for Illinois fans that Underwood isn’t going anywhere, because the same could be said for his program. The Illini are projected to return five of their top eight scorers, though junior forward Andrej Stojakovic is still deciding whether to remain in the NBA Draft. Underwood has also added seven new players — six freshmen, and one transfer in 6-foot-7 sophomore wing Stefan Vaaks from Providence. As a result, the Illini are currently ranked No. 5 in the Hoops HQ Never-Too-Early Preseason Top-25 for the 2026-27 season.
The roster management demonstrates not only Underwood’s powers of persuasion (and ability to fortify his NIL budget), but also his flexibility. His approach this spring differed significantly from a year ago when he added five international players, two of whom transferred from Division I schools. And that was different from the year before when he had to replace 11 players, five of which came through the transfer portal. “We were ready to go international again, but we didn’t have to,” Underwood said. “We’ve identified what I call our four pillars, which are positional size, shooting, basketball IQ and character. We’re not varying from those four. Wherever that takes us is where we go.”
Even as the Illini was making its way through the NCAA Tournament, the coaching staff was keeping its eye on the emerging transfer market. Though the portal didn’t officially open until April 7, many players declared their intentions to transfer in the weeks beforehand. Coaches are not allowed to talk directly to players before the portal opens, but every coaching staff is in constant communication with agents and others around the game in order to monitor who might be available, and for how much.
Underwood and his staff knew they were graduating two key seniors, 6-foot-2 point guard Kylan Boswell and sixth man Ben Humrichous. They also knew that 6-foot-6 freshman guard Keaton Wagler had played his way into the top of the NBA Draft. So their first priority was to retain as many current players as they could. Their ability to lock up contracts with starters David Mirkovic, Tomaslav Ivisic and Stojakovich, as well as experienced reserves Zvonimir Ivisic and Jake Davis, gave them a critical core on which to build. “Everybody uses the word retention. I use loyalty,” Underwood said. “That means us being loyal to our players and them having enough confidence in their development, what we’re doing, and the relationships they have with their teammates and their coaches.”
Underwood had already signed three quality freshmen in 6-foot-7 wing Lucas Morillo (who is ranked No. 52 nationally in the 247Sports Composite), 6-foot-4 guard Ethan Brown (No. 169) and 6-foot-8 forward Landon Davis (No. 247). The class got even stronger on April 3, when Quentin Coleman, a 6-foot-4 guard from Saint Louis who is ranked No. 13 in the 247Sports Composite, signed on. Zavier Zens, a 6-foot-7 forward from Milwaukee who is ranked No. 124, made it a quintet on April 17.
That strategy cuts against the get-old-and-stay-old philosophy that has been so prevalent around the college game, but the presence of all those returning veterans gave Underwood the luxury of betting on talented teenagers. “We’ve invested very heavily in our freshmen,” he said. “I still believe in freshman and their development. They’re going to have opportunities to be contributors and step in.”
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The biggest remaining question is Stojakovic, who ranked second on the team in scoring last season at 13.5 points per game. He was invited to the NBA Draft combine in Chicago, although he did not participate in the five-on-five scrimmages. When asked his plans during the combine, Stojakovic said, “I’m in the draft with both feet in right now.” Hoops HQ NBA Draft expert Krysten Peek projects him as a second-round pick (No. 41 overall). Another draft expert, Jonathan Wasserman, believes Stojakovic’s best option is clear. “He should come back,” Wasserman said during a recent appearance on the Hoops HQ Show. “He could be the best player in college basketball next year, or he can maybe be a pick in the forties.”
Underwood, however, is not making any predictions. “I truly don’t know,” he said. “He’s just going through it and figuring where he’s at. There’s a difference between being drafted and having a roster spot. You can be in the G League a long time. So it’s just a matter of him gathering information, getting his name out there and seeing where it ends up.”
As for the returnees, Underwood expects all of them will make improvements. That’s especially true of the younger players, 6-foot-9 sophomore forward David Mirkovic and 7-foot-1 senior forward Zvonimir Ivisic, who both showed signs of potential last season but lacked consistency and the opportunity for heavy minutes.
The perimeter was significantly bolstered by the commitment of Vaaks, a 6-foot-7 guard from Estonia who had a promising freshman season at Providence, averaging 15.8 points, 3.2 assists and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 35 percent from three-point range. Vaaks is ranked by The Portal Report as the No. 16 overall player in the portal. “I thought he was the best offensive player in the portal,” Underwood said. “He took a lot of hard shots last year. He’s got size, he can do a lot of things from playing booty ball to shooting it. He fits everything we’re about.”
Having compiled a competitive roster, the only question is the degree to which Underwood will tweak his playing style. He has undergone a radical transformation over the last several years, ditching the fullcourt pressing system he ran at Stephen F. Austin and Oklahoma State in favor of a more analytics-driven style that puts top priority on free throws and three-point shooting. “Ideally, I’d like to play a little faster. We got really slow last year,” he said. “I think we found our stride defensively late. My whole thing is, we’ve got to keep being different and keep doing things better. In the world we’re in today, it’s very easy for boredom to set in. Everybody needs change.”
Now that the pace of activity has slowed, Underwood hopes to take some time in the near future to reflect properly on the Final Four run. He has yet to watch the Illini’s final two games, the Elite Eight win over Iowa (“That’s as nervous as I’ve been since my first year in coaching,” he says) and the Final Four loss to UConn. “It sounds corny, but I want to do it when I’m not even thinking about anything else,” he said. “Getting to a Final Four is better than you dream it. It goes so fast, you don’t get to soak it in. I can’t wait to watch the last two games because it’s going to rekindle all the emotions. I just want to sit down with a glass of wine and enjoy those moments again.”
Once that task is done, Underwood can turn back to the future, which, if all goes according to plan, should look very similar to the recent past. Underwood understands that his famously rabid fan base will likely have higher expectations, but he has no intention of asking them to lower their sights. He certainly isn’t. “We’re the winningest program in the Big Ten over the last seven years,” he said. “Making the Final Four, I don’t want to say it gives you validation, but it definitely creates a different attitude. Our players, our coaches, our fans, we all feel that. You’ve got to keep finding ways to be different and not satisfied. I think I’m pretty good at keeping that needle moving.”
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