If we hope and dream for the Illini to ascend to the highest levels of college basketball, we have to sit at the table with Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Kansas in terms of recruiting.
As good as Underwood may be at Xs and Os, he can't make chicken salad out of chicken droppings.
So, with the bar set high, settle in and get ready to battle the blue bloods. Their place on top of the mountain is well fortified, and getting to the top will be a bloody, dirty, hard earned achievement.
Illini will get punched in the coconuts but have to counter punch in a coconuts.
I believe under Josh Whitman's leadership that it will happen. The non conference basketball schedule is already looking much stronger.