It has been a good past couple of weeks for the Illinois basketball program, and the coaching staff wants to continue those good vibes.

While there have been two recruits commit to the Illini in as many weeks, the Illini aren’t just focusing on the immediate recruiting class. Brad Underwood and the Illinois coaching staff want to build the foundation for big-time recruits in future classes as well.

One big recruiting target for the Orange and Blue is Lincoln Williams. He is a 6-foot-5 forward from Kankakee High School in Illinois. Williams is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 84 player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 25 small forward in the country and the best player coming out of Illinois.

The scholarships have started to pile up for Williams as well. He already has roughly 10 scholarship offers with some of the bigger programs including Arizona State, UNLV, and Virginia Tech, to name a few.

On Sunday, it was reported that Williams will be taking an unofficial visit to Illinois on October 19. This wouldn’t be the first visit for the talented forward. He also visited in early February, and that is when Illinois offered him a scholarship.

Underwood likes a wide variety of players on his roster. He wants traditional big men, he likes the shooters, and he wants some athletic freaks who can run the court and do remarkable things above the rim.

Williams is one of those special athletes. He is someone who can jump out of the gym. I like his shot from anywhere on the court, but I believe he would be at his best when attacking the rim.

It is amazing what Williams can do on the wing. He can catch the ball and with just subtle little moves, he can get baseline and get to the hoop. He has a great wingspan that can be a huge asset defensively as well.

Williams is going to develop his game in the next couple of seasons. This kid is going to skyrocket up the recruiting site rankings. It wouldn’t shock me to see Williams cemented as the best player in the state of Illinois and a top 50 recruit overall. The sky is truly the limit.

Maybe it only seems this way to me, but every time you see a piece about changing our clocks back an hour when fall rolls around, you’ll also see a photo of an old-timey alarm clock with the bells on top sitting out in a pile of leaves in a forest or woods someplace.

The photo above is exactly what I’m talking about.

It’s like we all decide at some point during the summer to throw our clocks out into the wilderness, then, a few months later, remember what we’ve done and go pick the clock up out of the pile of leaves and bring it back inside until it’s time to spring our clocks forward.

Maybe I’m reading a bit too much into the clock-changing imagery.

Everyone Really Seems To Want To Stop Changing Clocks Twice A Year, And We Also Really Seem To Want The Powers-That-Decide-These-Things To Just Pick One Time And Stick To It.

Despite all the talk about doing away with clock-changing twice a year in the United States, lawmakers in this state and throughout the country just can’t seem to get their act together and get rid of something that a majority of Illinoisans want to see go away once and for all.

There have been several efforts at making a change, but they’ve all failed and left us with no choice but to keep rolling with this spring forward/fall back cycle we’re currently trapped in.

In 2022, The U.S. Senate Took A Vote And Unanimously Passed A Bill That Would Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

So why has nothing changed? Well, for one, this was done by voice-vote, and has not been taken up by the House of Representatives. Also, the current administration has not actually articulated a stance on the topic to begin with.

Then there’s the problem of picking the wrong method of time-keeping to begin with. After the vote in favor of permanent Daylight Saving Time, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a statement that praised the idea of eliminating time changes, but lamented the fact that the Senate chose the wrong one to keep around:

The AASM position statement also indicates that “current evidence best supports the adoption of year-round standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology and provides distinct benefits for public health and safety.” The statement was endorsed by more than 20 medical, scientific, and civic organizations, including the American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National PTA, National Safety Council, Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, and World Sleep Society.

While Everyone Works That Problem Out (Hopefully Within Our Lifetimes), Here’s When Illinoisans Should Turn Those Clocks Back

I wanted to give you a little heads-up time now, so you won’t find yourself scrambling later to change your clocks because you keep showing up early to everything.

Before 2005, clocks were to be turned forward on the first Sunday in April, then turned back again on the last Sunday in October.

Now, we “spring ahead” on the second Sunday in March, and “fall back” on the first Sunday in November. So, on Saturday November 2nd, turn your clocks back an hour before you call it a night so you’ll be all set when the time change happens at 2am on Sunday, November 3rd.

Three Chicago-area drag artists are competing in a battle of horror, filth and glamour for the chance to be “the World’s Next Drag Supermonster” on an upcoming reality show.

“The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula,” premiering Oct. 1 on Shudder and AMC+, enters its sixth season with three contestants from Illinois among the 12 monsters competing for the title and grand prize of $100,000.

They include Aurora Gozmic, a mainstay in Chicago’s drag scene for the past decade; Auntie Heroine, a dramatic camp queen who’s also a community leader in the Rockford area, and Scylla, an otherworldly performance artist in Chicago inspired by fantasy and mythology.

The competition is hosted and judged by the Boulet Brothers, a Los Angeles drag duo who rose to prominence through their extravagant nightlife productions. The show features drag artists from around the world who are judged on the three tenets of “Dragula”: horror, filth and glamour. Each week, someone is “exterminated” until the grand finale.

Dubbed “Season 666,” the show’s next chapter will put the drag monsters through horror-themed performance and costuming challenges, as well as a series of “Fear Factor”-esque “extermination challenges” to see who is the last one standing. Past exterminations have included everything from skydiving to electric shocks.

Aurora Gozmic

“This is going to be one of the craziest seasons of ‘Dragula,’ ” Gozmic told the Sun-Times. “We bring the looks and we bring the drama for one of the best seasons ever.”

Gozmic’s drag persona came to life for a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” screening on Halloween 2010. Gozmic was 16 at the time and living in Gwinn, a small town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Gozmic would watch online videos of popular Chicago drag queens like Shea Couleé, Kim Chi and Pearl — who all went on to star in “RuPaul’s Drag Race” — and fell in love with the city’s drag scene from afar.

“I always knew this is where I would have to be one day,” Gozmic said. “After I turned 21, I got booked here from Michigan and moved to Chicago not long after.”

Gozmic would perform in shows at the famed Berlin Nightclub, which closed late last year, and eventually made a home for herself at Scarlet, 3320 N. Halsted St., where she was a resident drag queen for four years until the COVID pandemic, she said.

“I learned so much at Scarlet,” Gozmic said. “I was hosting my own show and promoting everything, so I really found my own voice.”

Gozmic, who makes many of her looks in collaboration with her drag daughter Vanda LaRose, draws a lot of inspiration from the past, she said. Her favorite decades are the ‘80s and ‘90s, but her references also go back to the ‘40s and ‘50s.

“I put a lot of care into my looks,” Gozmic said. “And I’m definitely the glamour ghoul of this season.”

Auntie Heroine

Heroine, who started watching “Dragula” during its first two seasons, said she was always drawn to the show for its embrace of diversity and alternative drag styles.

While “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has been criticized for its slow embrace of transgender drag queens and alternative drag styles, “Dragula” has made an effort to include drag kings, trans and nonbinary competitors, and bearded drag queens, such as Heroine.

“I didn’t see people or styles like me on other shows, but ‘Dragula’ gave me a place to see myself reflected on TV,” Heroine told the Sun-Times.

Heroine, who grew up in Winnebago, a small town outside of Rockford, started doing drag while going to college at Illinois State University, she said. Heroine’s now-drag mother, Sharon ShareAlike, was hosting a charity show and welcomed Heroine to the scene after the event.

“Sharon showed me what I like to call ‘the heart of drag,’ ” Heroine said. “It’s all about love and community.”

Those values stuck with Heroine as she moved to Chicago, where she was a frequent performer at Berlin and hosted Auntie’s Treasures, an all-ages drag show creating opportunities for artists too young to perform in nightlife.

Heroine later moved back to Rockford, where she now sits on the Rockford Area Pride committee, which just put on the city’s first officially sanctioned Pride Parade.

“Pride in a small area like this is so important because a lot of people feel like they have to travel two hours to Chicago just so they can be themselves,” Heroine said. “This visibility shows Rockford that it’s OK to be yourself here, and I’m proud to represent this area on the show.”

Scylla

Scylla goes into “Dragula” already connected to Heroine, who became Scylla’s drag mother after they participated in Heroine’s drag show for underage artists, and Gozmic, who booked Scylla for her first gig in Chicago.

“I go way back with those two, so for us to be in this together is a big full-circle moment that feels really surreal,” Scylla said.

Scylla moved to Chicago at 18 years old from Dubuque, Iowa, and made a name for themself as an artist through the internet and a few all-ages drag shows, before turning 21, they said.

Since then, Scylla has competed in multi-week drag competitions across Chicago, including Alexandria Diamond’s Survivor at Fantasy Nightclub and Crash Landing at Berlin, they said. Last year, Scylla won Ghoul School, a pageant for alternative drag monsters at Splash.

“That was like my pre-K to ‘Dragula,’ ” Scylla said. “These competitions build you up to be able to take criticism really well, build a name for yourself and understand how your drag translates in a competition setting.”

To win “Dragula” would be “monumental,” Scylla said.

“I’ve put so much work into this craft and preparing for this moment for so long,” Scylla said. “Now I finally get to share this with the world.”