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INDIANAPOLIS — Eligibility has been a moving target this college basketball season. Multiple G League players and a former NBA draft pick all saw the court in recent months.
Now, Illinois is two wins away from a national championship by scooping star players from across the pond and assembling a European team in middle America.
Will other teams now try to follow them?
“Absolutely,” Illinois associate head coach Orlando Antigua told Front Office Sports.
Celtics general manager and former coach Brad Stevens once said all coaches “are thieves.” While other programs have spent the year using the NCAA’s relaxed definition of amateurism to chase professional players domestically, the Illini haven’t flinched and have stayed the course with the Balkan pipeline.
The G League alumni in college basketball this year were largely irrelevant compared to the Illini’s European core. Other coaches have taken notice.
One Power 4 assistant coach told Front Office Sports that he lobbied his head coach a year ago to put more recruiting resources into Europe. His boss declined, and now he’s pushing for it again. “I feel vindicated,” the assistant coach said.
“International players have been a trend for the past two years, but [Illinois] is definitely going to make it more popular,” an assistant coach in the Big Ten told FOS.
Illinois coach Brad Underwood said he’s prepared for the program’s stronghold on the continent to be challenged, but doesn’t expect it to be easy for his peers to break in–at least immediately.
“I still think the one thing that is not talked about enough, yes, we dove hard,” Underwood told reporters on Friday. “I think it goes back to Orlando Antigua, Geoff Alexander and the years and years of relationships that they have built over there. Those young guys aren’t coming here without the relationships that have been worked hard on with people over there. I went to Belgrade.
“I did a clinic last summer. I spent four days over there, had the time of my life, and when it comes to a basketball coach, I was in pure heaven talking basketball. Those relationships are very, very important.”
Croatian forward Toni Bilić is the latest Illinois addition from the Balkans, having joined the program in January. Bilić said all of his basketball friends back home are asking about the program. “They hit me up and are like, ‘Yo how is it there? Send me some pics and stuff.”
He added that the adjustment has been easier thanks to his other teammates from his part of the world. “I knew both [Ivišić] twins and David [Mirković], we played against each other with the national teams under-14 years ago.”
Bilić said having other teammates from the Balkans has made his adjustment to the Midwest easier, which is why he thinks the European-heavy roster has had success on the court.
“You have guys there from your culture. I can ask them anything.”
Bilić is one of the few Balkan players not represented by Serbian agent Miško Ražnatović, who represents four of the ‘Balkan Five.’ Ražnatović previously told FOS that he expects “more package deals” with European players all going to one school.
Other programs may not have a choice but to sign up for two European players while Underwood has the pipeline and locker room culture to be a bit more selective.
Antigua said recruiting Europe is more situational than just entering the country and targeting the best players. Underwood has long said his interest in foreign players is enhanced by his preferences for fundamentally sound players with a good feel for the game.
“It all stems from his vision and what he looks for in a player and the kinds of kids he wants to coach,” Antigua said, “That makes this all make sense.”
