Brad Underwood hasn’t watched the Final Four loss to UConn yet.
He hasn’t slept much.
I caught him on the phone late last week while he was in Florida, helping his wife with his daughter’s move. The only other time he left Champaign since the end of the Final Four was to jet off to Sacramento to visit with the Stojakovic family and watch workouts in LA. In the middle of it he made sure to host his annual Coaches vs. Cancer benefit event last Wednesday in Champaign. It’s all been “very intense.’’
“It’s been a lot of long nights,’’ said Underwood. “Nobody sleeps. Everybody is working until midnight or 1 a.m. We are watching film on lots of players. But for us it was all about bringing guys back.’’
And no other program, certainly not one that had as much success as Illinois, is retaining as much talent as the Illini.
Underwood likes the word loyalty instead of retention. The word choice doesn’t matter. The results do.
Illinois has received re-commitments from Andrej Stojakovic, David Mirkovic, Tomislav Ivisic, his brother Zvonimir, and Jake Davis. The Illini also picked up one of the best shooters in the portal in Estonia’s Stefan Vaaks of Providence and signed incoming freshman Zavier Zens out of Milwaukee.
“We’re in a good spot,’’ said Underwood.
The Illini don’t rely on one person for their NIL payments. Like many elite schools, they utilize a combination of revenue share and NIL. Underwood believes being too reliant on one person can make appeasing such a person an issue.
“The worst thing you can do is go in with a set budget,’’ said Underwood. “It only takes one school to set the market (on a player).’’
The Illini were fortunate they had such great chemistry this season. These players, a number from Eastern Europe, all got along well.
“That’s been one of the truly exciting things is that they all feel good about it here,’’ said Underwood. “This group is beyond special. They are so connected and they have fun with each other.’’
The Illini will make sure they can defend, hopefully as well as they did in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight wins over Houston and Iowa. Losing Kylan Boswell at the top of the perimeter is a hit. But this team won’t lack scoring. They should yet again be one of the best offensive teams in the country.
The schedule will be rugged again with UConn coming to Chicago for a “neutral” game, the annual Braggin’ Rights game against Missouri in St. Louis, a return game at Texas Tech and possibly one or two games against ACC teams still to be determined. A neutral-site game against Tennessee is likely to be pushed to 2027 (and will probably be played in Chicago).
The Illini knocked off VCU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
UPDATED: The Top 50 Players in the Portal
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VCU coach Phil Martelli Jr. then went through the same process as Underwood — just two weeks earlier.
After losing in Greenville, S.C., the Rams were just inside the NCAA-mandated 400-mile distance that provides a bus — not a plane — for the return trip back to campus.
Martelli made sure it was a productive bus ride, as he mapped out how to retain his roster.
“It was the busiest, hectic week of the year,’’ said Martelli Jr. “And we didn’t even play a game!’’
Martelli Jr., said he met with every player. He had to meet with the agents. And, like Illinois, loyalty was key. The Rams are bringing back seven out of the eight possible players. The one departure is Terrence Hill Jr. He has stayed in the portal.
“We’re about 75 to 80 percent done, but won’t be a hundred percent done until the portal closes,’’ said Martelli Jr. “Our players are back and in workouts. We are constantly making sure they are all good.’’
The retention means the Rams will be a favorite again in the Atlantic-10.
“I haven’t had a chance to watch our (first-round win over North Carolina),’’ said Martelli Jr. “My wife asked if I was OK. She said you don’t seem as excited about (the win). And I said I’ve just been back in it.’’
The Rams’ 2026-27 schedule should provide plenty of at-large opportunities. They will play in the Maui Invitational with Arizona, BYU, Ole Miss, Providence, Clemson, Washington and Colorado State; play Memphis; will pick up a game in California en route to Maui; and get NC State at home.
The good news for VCU, and for that matter, Illinois, is that all of this chaos since their NCAA Tournament runs ended means they actually may get their rosters finished by the end of the month.
The one constant I’m hearing from a number of coaches: This could be the fewest number of players who return to school after the NBA Draft combine next month.
Schools simply won’t have the money or the patience to wait for a player to see if he wants to return.
And if the player is a borderline first-round pick, he’s probably more than likely to return to college where the money is actually more than an NBA second-round deal — and guaranteed.
“It’s going to be way, way, way less,’’ said USC coach Eric Musselman on players returning after declaring for the NBA Draft.
Musselman did make an interesting point about the money involved in college right now — the money is for about 31-32 games, as opposed to an NBA contract that is for 82 regular-season games, or a G League contract, which is nearly half of that schedule. It’s an interesting observation and continues to show how the players, not the coaches, have all the leverage.
Musselman is still waiting to hear if Alijah Arenas will return or go to the NBA Draft. He is getting back Rodney Rice (shoulder injury) to pair up with Georgetown transfer wing KJ Lewis. The Trojans did land twins Adonis and Darius Ratliff out of Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.), a pair of frontcourt players who should have an immediate impact.
Shout Outs
- Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd is thrilled with the Wildcats’ ability to retain Ivan Kharchenkov and Motiejus Krivas and then add JJ Mandequit (Washington), who Lloyd coached on the FIBA gold-medal winning U-19 team last summer. Arizona also added North Carolina transfer guard Derek Dixon. The last UNC transfer worked out pretty well for Lloyd. His name was Caleb Love.
- Shout out to Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington, who got two gems in the portal last week. Love the pickup of Ace Glass (Washington State) to pair up with Tyler Tanner. Glass dropped 40 against Arizona State in Maui last November. Glass is a bucket getter and gives the Commodores arguably the most potent backcourt in the SEC.
“We are excited about him,’’ Byington told me. “I think he can take a jump, even going to the SEC and be fine.”
The Commodores also got Berke Buyuktuncel from Nebraska. He’ll be a much-needed rim protector and rim runner.
- Ole Miss coach Chris Beard got a hidden gem in Adam “Budd” Clark from Seton Hall. He made a significant jump from Merrimack to Seton Hall and should take another one in the SEC. The Rebels also got another player in ND Okafor, a big who scored 11.0 points per game for the Cougars.
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