Basketball media day: What we learned

After Indiana, the most popular figure was first-year Illinois coach John Groce, who was late to the open portion of the media gathering because he was doing spots with the BTN, Sirius XM radio, ESPN and other national outlets. At his table, he was answering questions to a full house for the duration of the event. "John has a big personality, he's certainly high energy, he's basketball all the time," Dakich said. "In terms of coaching, he's shown what he can do. I think that he's absolutely the guy for them."

Marcus Jackson