For the segment of Illinois basketball fans that believe losing out on Jeremiah Tilmon is a blessing in disguise, Monday brought news that they’ll eat up like a starving person sitting in front of a big steak.

The former Illini signee, who then later defected to Mizzou after both programs made coaching changes, was arrested this past weekend by Missouri University Police.

Here’s a tweet from Daniel Jones, who covers Mizzou basketball for the local newspaper in Columbia, Missouri.

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Illini basketball has landed Matic Vesel, according to Derek Piper of Scout. While that phrase sounds like a marketing buzzword you’d hear at an information technology convention, or maybe a term used during a Naval mission debriefing, it is actually the name of a soon to be Illini basketball player.

This is great news too, and Illinois really needs to beef up their front-court. Depth is needed at forward and center so that Illini basketball coach Brad Underwood can rely on his preferred three guard lineups, and not be forced into often putting four guards on the floor.

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As the often quotable, and sometimes verbally clumsy, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld infamously said-

“you go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had.”

It’s mid-June and Illini basketball coach Brad Underwood still has three open scholarships on his roster. He’s simply going to have to go to war in 2017-18 with the roster he has, not the roster he wishes he had. To be more specific, Underwood will have to enter the B1G battles with the wafer thin front court depth he has, not a deep, beefed up front court that he wish he had.

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Brad Underwood’s Illini basketball team, along with everybody else participating in the B1G/ACC Challenge, learned their draw today. Illinois will travel to Wake Forest, in a rematch of the famed 2004 contest that helped vault Illini basketball to the highest perch that the program has seen in recent memory.

On a historical “paint the hall orange” night, #3 Illinois destroyed #1 Wake Forest 91-73, in a contest that was actually way more lopsided than that final score would indicate.

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With Michael Finke the only guy on the roster over 6’10” and the very real prospect of a 6’7″ starting center in Leron Black, Illini basketball has to add size. While there’s plenty of work yet to do, the addition of UIC de-commit Greg Eboigbodin, certainly helps. He’s 6’9″ 220 and beefs up the depth chart at the four and the five.

Illini basketball coach Brad Underwood had four open scholarships, and the commitment of Eboigbodin reduces that number to three. Our friends at Writing Illini indicate that the former commit to the sister school is:

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Jalen Coleman-Lands is today’s Illini basketball trending topic, in the silly season that just won’t end. Says this for the 2017 offseason, it has certainly not been boring. The eventfulness continues today with news, first reported by Scout.com national recruiting expert Evan Daniels that JCL is leaving the Illinois basketball program.

Daniels cites word from the father of Jalen Coleman-Lands.

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