In the Notre Dane basketball media room in 2011, a scout was raving to me about what a fine overseas player Tim Abromaitis could be. It wasn’t a conversation I willingly signed up for, and I sure as hell did not stay engaged in it at all, but I remember it vividly because I see the concept now applying to Illini basketball star “Grandpa” Tracy Abrams.
He’s about to play in his final Braggin’ Rights game and then his last go around in the B1G, and after that who knows what the future holds.
From what we’ve seen so far, and what we know of players in the same mold with comparable resumes of Tracy Abrams, a solid pro career in Europe could very well be in the cards for the sixth-year point guard who has overcome ACL and Achilles injuries that sidelined him for the entirety of back-to-back seasons.
During his recovery, Abrams earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and is now working on his second master’s. He will turn age 25 on Feb. 6. Abrams is older than five Chicago Cubs who played in Game 7 of the World Series and helped his hometown clinch a world championship.
Player – Birth Date
Tracy Abrams – Feb. 6, 1992
Willson Contreras – May 13, 1992
Javier Baez – Dec. 1, 1992
Kyle Schwarber – March 5, 1993
Addison Russell – Jan. 23, 1994
Albert Almora Jr. – April 16, 1994
Note: Kris Bryant (born Jan. 4, 1992) is one month older than Abrams
Those factoids and nuggets of information come to us via the Illini basketball Sports Information Department.
For my money, Abrams has been this team’s best player this season, not Malcolm Hill.
Sure, Hill has better scoring and rebounding averages, and he’s the guy who got all the preseason plaudits and hype (deservedly so I might add), but look at his FG and 3 pt (.441%, .431%) percentages compared to Abrams (.547%, .609%).
Abrams is also superior to Hill in assists and steals, and the duo have combined with Jalen Coleman-Lands, Leron Black and Mike Thorne to form “a winning hand,” as it appears the correct starting five seems in place now.
Against Central Michigan, Abrams was basically a real life version of when you’re playing the ’90s NBA Jam Session arcade game and you’re controlling Glen Rice (or Nick Anderson to make an Illini basketball reference) and then make a bunch of threes in a row and your opponent doesn’t score (when the ball is a flame and smoke trails behind on every shot).
Way way back in 2013-14 and 2012-13, Illini basketball Coach John Groce was raving about how special Abrams is in postgame press conferences on a regular basis. Groce would go on and on about Abrams’ leadership, intangibles and other assorted topics that are actually very very important, but usually sound like meaningless coachspeak cliches.
We must admit now that there really is a bit of “don’t know what you got till its gone” thing going on with Tracy Abrams. Last season’s total disaster, and the year before that which was no day at the beach, we saw what was truly missing, because Abrams wasn’t there.
Just a shame that there was absolutely no atmosphere for it. There was no official attendance figure released, and that’s probably a great thing, because media and fans in attendance estimated the total number of Illini fans in the building to be about 2,500-3,500.
It was certainly much worse than last year’s announced attendance of 5,151 versus UIC that was closer to a true real life number of 3,000 approximate fans at the venue.
It could be worse though- Northwestern couldn’t even draw all of their friends and family. Apparently, the NU community won’t travel south of Dempster Avenue to see their team play. Media and fans in attendance estimated the total number of Illini basketball fans in the building to be about 2,500-3,500.
Both “home team” coaches were asked the tough question about the dreadfully inexcusable attendance (again maybe my idea that college basketball season should start six weeks later than it does now needs to start getting more consideration?)
Groce gave an actual answer of sorts while Northwestern Coach Chris Collins did nothing but evade and spin, in a manner that would make a politician from either of the two major parties proud. Both men of course, answered the query in a manner that best serves their interests and the interests of their program, as you or I likely would if placed in the same position.
“What I do know is we’re staying tonight. We weren’t supposed to stay. The band didn’t come because of the weather. The cheerleaders didn’t come because of the weather. I had several people text me that didn’t make it because of the weather,” Groce said.
“So how much of that was affected by the potential of snow, ice, low temperatures, between the two cities, I don’t know that. I can only guess. I don’t have any idea.”
You can read Collins’ answer at this link.
With the Illini basketball team staying overnight in the city, against their original plans, and their not even bringing their band and cheerleaders, the treacherous weather is a valid excuse for the downstate contingent. The roads around the venue were bad late Saturday night
What is the excuse for the Chicago contingent not showing up to the Tracy Abrams “Homecoming Game” though? All the Illini basketball alums, donors, fans and more in the second city, and yet they avoided the place? What about Dayton? A school from another time zone had a band, cheerleaders and a loud boisterous fan base that was approximately five times the size of all the other three schools combined (BYU didn’t draw anybody either).
Getting back to Abrams, hopefully, he’ll get a bigger crowd to watch him the next time he plays in the Chicagoland area (February 7th at Northwestern) According to the Illini basketball communications team, he’s averaging 15.8 points over the last five games (79), shooting 57.4 percent from the field (27-47) and 64 percent from 3-point range (16-25).
He likely won’t get drafted, but he’ll almost certainly get a NBA training camp invite, and stick with a Developmental League team somewhere for awhile.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.