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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:
Kylan Boswell and Tomislav Ivisic — along with coach Brad Underwood — will represent Illinois next week at Big Ten media day. It’s a return trip to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont for Boswell, who was also one of the Illini’s representatives last season along with Ty Rodgers.
Here’s a few notes about the 36 player attendees:
— The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year will be there. Purdue point guard Braden Smith is also the runaway favorite to be the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year when that honor is announced next week (both by the Big Ten itself and the media contingent that does it’s own separate voting).
— Just more than one-third of the player representatives are first-year transfers. That group includes a pair of honorable mention All-Americans from last season in Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz (Drake) and UCLA guard Donovan Dent (New Mexico).
— Illinois is one of nine programs that will be represented by a pair of returning players. Like the Illini, Wisconsin (John Blackwell and Nolan Winter), Oregon (Jackson Shelstad and Nate Bittle) and Purdue (Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn) will have a top guard/big man duo in Rosemont.
— The most surprising player representative? That honor probably goes to Ohio State center Christoph Tilly mostly because John Mobley Jr. and Devin Royal both return in addition to Bruce Thornton, who will be in attendance in Rosemont). Maryland guard David Coit also is in the running simply because of the number of former Texas A&M players on the Terrapins’ roster that followed Buzz Williams to College Park, Md. (Coit isn’t one of them, but Solomon Washington is).
— The least surprising player representative? Indiana’s Tucker DeVries. It was almost a guarantee he’d join his dad, new Hoosiers coach Darian DeVeries, at media day.
— Nebraska big man Rienk Mast is the only player of the 36 that will be in attendance in Rosemont that didn’t play at all last year. Mast sat out the 2024-25 season following offseason knee surgery. The Cornhuskers will also be represented by a second coach’s son, with Sam Hoiberg tabbed as the other player rep.