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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:
Illinois doesn’t have much of a connection to the Olympics. At least when it comes to basketball. Deron Williams is the only former Illini to play in the summer games, which just wrapped their 33rd iteration Sunday in Paris.
But at least Williams was successful. The one-time Illinois guard turned first-round draft pick and three-time all-star won gold with Team USA at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. The closest any other former Illini got was at the FIBA World Championship with Tal Brody playing for Team USA in 1967 and 1970, Rick Schmidt winning bronze in 1974 and Kiwane Garris also winning bronze in 1998 (which came during the NBA lockout).
The future of Illinois basketball and the Olympics might play out in 2028 in Los Angeles. Of course, it’s doubtful the Illini will have anyone on Team USA. Ayo Dosunmu and Terrence Shannon Jr., at least as things stand now, don’t project to be on that roster.
Will Riley? Kasparas Jakucionis? Tomislav Ivisic? That could be a different story.
Canada has a growing wealth of talent to pull from, but a 22-year-old Riley might have a chance to be the “young guy” on that team. That is if he follows the five-star path he’s currently on.
Jakucionis is already considered one of the best young guards in Europe and has played for Lithuanian at every other level. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to think he could play for “The Boogeyman from the East” should Lithuania qualify (they didn’t this Olympics).
The same is true for Ivisic with Croatia. He already got some senior national team experience in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers last year. He’ll also be 24, turning 25, when the 2028 games happen and perhaps ready to assume a bigger role alongside his twin brother, Zvonimir.