Illini hoops at a daunting crossroads? Brad Underwood — betting on a key alum — says noSteve Greenbergon May 11, 2021 at 9:11 pm

Former Illini point guard Chester Frazier was brought in as an assistant to help run the recruiting show after Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman both left for Kentucky.

One of the first moves Bruce Weber made after being fired by Illinois in 2012 and taking the head coaching position at Kansas State three weeks later was to call his former Illini point guard Chester Frazier and offer him a job.

Then 25 and playing pro ball in Germany, Frazier said yes and dove straight into the deep end as a first-time assistant.

Fast-forward eight years, and Frazier is the veteran hand Illini Brad Underwood decided he needed to keep the program on solid ground after the departures of star players Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn and star recruiters Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman. The latter pair left last week for Kentucky.

“I’ll be shocked in three years if Chester is not a head coach someplace,” Underwood said Tuesday.

Until then, he’ll have to prove he can cut it in a different sort of recruiting pool.

At Kansas State, Frazier helped Weber find tough kids whose talent wasn’t so obvious that Kansas and other “it” programs swooped in and got involved. At Virginia Tech after that, Frazier looked for interchangeable parts who could play off the ball in a motion offense. Both the Wildcats and the Hokies tried to keep the pace down and scores low.

The Illini? Different ballgame, folks.

“High-octane, transition, score in the first 7 seconds, guards that are fun to watch,” said Frazier, calling it an easier, “sexier” sell to players, which it certainly is.

Think: guards like Dosunmu and Andre Curbelo. Coleman led the way on the former and Antigua on the latter. Underwood is counting on Frazier to reel in his own versions.

Meanwhile, this is the most transition Underwood has ever dealt with in an offseason when he wasn’t on the move himself. His best players, gone. His best coaches, gone. That’s a daunting crossroads the Illini are at, isn’t it?

“It’s the way the world’s going to be when you get good,” Underwood said, also citing the effects of the transfer portal, which cost the Illini guard Adam Miller.

“You’d better have pros, or you’re not getting good. I don’t think it’s a crossroads. I just think it’s the new norm.”

But Illinois winning a Big Ten tournament title and getting a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament isn’t the norm. That was all shiny and new. What’ll be harder for Underwood: getting the Ilini to that level or keeping them there?

“The climb’s hard,” he said. “We’re going to find out.”

JUST SAYIN’

NBC Sports Chicago’s telecast of Monday’s Blackhawks season finale took a dark, unfortunate twist near the end of the third period just as longtime play-by-play man Pat Foley was complimenting team personnel for navigating through difficult travel conditions during a pandemic.

“Had I been traveling with the team this year,” Foley told viewers, “I might have put a bullet in my head.”

Metaphorical, but still insensitive and jarring. And a shame because Foley had just finished calling out the Hawks for their porous defense throughout a non-playoff season, and that was a fair and valid point. It was refreshing to hear needed criticism put so bluntly by a local announcer. We don’t need pom-pom waving, after all.

Foley apologized on the air for the “bullet” comment a few minutes before Dallas scored in overtime for a 5-4 win.

“I wish I didn’t say that,” he said. “I’m sorry if I offended some folks, which apparently I did. So I apologize.”

A strange way to end the season.

• The hottest team heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs? It’s not close. Joel Quenneville’s Panthers have won six straight, and 10 of their last 12, and overwhelmed the defending champion Lightning 5-1 and 4-0 in the last two games of the regular season. Good luck dealing with all that.

• Did you catch what Wizards guard Russell Westbrook said Monday after his 182nd career triple-double, breaking Oscar Robertson’s record?

“My motto is, ‘Why not?’ That’s how I live, and that’s how I think. Each and every time I step on the floor, I try to do things that people said I can’t do.”

Translation: “Stick that in your ear, Kevin Durant.”

• Don’t know if we’ve seen the last of Albert Pujols, who was of no use to Angels skipper Joe Maddon and — in his 40s and with 667 home runs, fifth all-time — perhaps should put a bow on it and call it a career.

But it would be wonderful theater to see him in a Cardinals uniform again, even if it’s just in a pinch-hitting role. Come on, baseball gods, make it happen.

• We can’t let May 12 go by without acknowledging the anniversary — No. 51 — of Ernie Banks’ 500th home run, hit off the Braves’ Pat Jarvis at Wrigley Field in 1970. It’s always fun to note that Billy Williams later homered to tie that game in the ninth inning and Ron Santo won it with a base hit in the 11th. It should be known as the Hall of Fame Game.

It’s also the 66th anniversary of Cubs pitcher Sam “Toothpick” Jones’ no-hitter against the Pirates at Wrigley. Jones was the first African-American to accomplish this feat in an MLB game. A side note: With the score 4-0, he walked the first three batters of the ninth inning before striking out the side. Nowadays, not even Tony La Russa would leave him in to finish that one.

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