Brian Hamilton, writing for The Athletic, has a great story on Brad Underwood and the advantages of being a former JUCO coach in the NIL era.

It’s sad, he says, that college basketball players often are rentals. It’s sad that it has occurred to him to think like a junior college coach again and only expect to work with a given player for two years, tops. He has fought against that reality at Illinois, with some success; Ayo Dosunmu and Cockburn both played three seasons in Champaign, and Illinois has more true freshmen on its roster than transfers. He’d prefer to build. At the very least, he’s trying to.

But reality is reality. Underwood gets that, too. A guy he once gushed about as a near-generational passer, Andre Curbelo, now plays for St. John’s. Players will come and go. So while the Cockburn-centric system wouldn’t function without Cockburn, this rewired system should be somewhat personnel-agnostic. Yes, Illinois’ coaches probably have to regularly find Hawkins-like big men who can trigger the offense for optimal results. But it should work, generally, no matter what, starting with a three-freshmen recruiting Class of 2023 that is ranked in the top 20 nationally.

And, in so doing, it should mitigate any insidious variances college basketball throws Illinois’ way. “I’m banking on that,” Underwood says as Christmas music plays softly through one of two massive televisions in his freshly renovated office. “I think you can have a system. I do. It’s why we went to this. I think our system can sustain, and if (players) stay, then it can be special.”