Brad Underwood’s positionless blueprint defies traditional roles, relying on versatile playmakers and high-octane efficiency to prove that a prototypical floor general isn't required to dominate the court.
The Illinois basketball team is going into next season with incredibly high preseason expectations. But by being in the spotlight, analysts are inspecting the Illini roster and offering their critiques. Rob Dauster from Field of 68 discussed his thoughts on Illinois and said his biggest concern was losing the playmaking ability of Keaton Wagler from last year's team and not having someone to replace him.
The issue with making this sort of critique against Illinois is ignoring the Illinois blueprint over the last few years of which they have been very successful. Underwood has increasingly recruited and built his team around a more modern positionless appraoch where multiple players on the floor can initiate the offense, handle in space and make reads based on matchups and defensive responses. It is the type of structure where a natural ball-handler is a luxury, but not a necessity.
Three seasons ago, when the Illini made a run all the way to the Elite Eight, the main ballhandler on that team was a point forward named Marcus Domask. Two seasons ago, it was 6-foot-6 Kasparas Jakucionis who was the dominant presence with the ball. And when Jakucionis missed time during the season, there were many occasions where center Tomislav Ivisic would initiate the Illini offense from the high block.
Even last season, while there was a prototypical point guard on the roster in Kylan Boswell, it was actually 6-foot-6 freshman Keaton Wagler who was the ball-dominant presence on the team. And when the Boswell went down with an injury, it was power forward David Mirkovic who was given the task of bringing the ball up the court to give Wagler a break. It should be noted that for the majority of last season, Illinois had the highest-rated KenPom offense in college basketball history despite the lack of a pure point guard.
The important context missing from a lot of this point guard panic is that Illinois has already been playing in that gray area.
Upon scanning next year's roster, there are several players who could have a role as being the main ball-handler. Freshman Quentin Coleman and transfer Stefan Vaaks will be the starting backcourt and Mirkovic will be returning as one of the best playmaking big men in the country.
None of this means the concerns should be dismissed entirely. Last season, there was no plan for Keaton Wagler to be the ball-dominant player on the team. The staff this year is going to be hoping that one of the newcomers are going to be able to make a similar leap in being able to handle the responsibility.
Still, calling it a fatal flaw may go a little too far in assuming basketball can only be played one way. Illinois has proven they do not need a natural point guard to function. For this program, the relevant trait is not if a certain player looks like a classic point guard. It is whether said player is able to think, pass, and create well enough to keep this Illini offense rolling.
