INDIANAPOLIS — Illinois head coach Brad Underwood signed All-American Keaton Wagler without seeing him play. He trusted assistant Geoff Alexander to assemble the “Balkan Bloc” of international talent. And a hometown guard who left for Arizona came back to help complete the puzzle.
That’s the Cliff’s Notes version of how Illinois assembled a Final Four team entering Saturday’s national semifinal, the fifth game of this NCAA Tournament for the Fighting Illini and a rematch with UConn.
Four of Illinois’ top six scorers are Europeans with roots in southeastern Europe, largely a credit to Alexander’s ability to land top club team talent and a collective trust that magnetized it all together.
“We knew we needed positional size. We knew we were recruiting shooting. They do it as well as anybody in the world in my opinion,” Underwood said Thursday. “Geoff has spent many, many trips going over there, developing relationships, and now Orlando (Antigua) comes back and we’ve just invested heavily in doing that. We believe in it.”
This isn’t an entirely novel concept for Underwood. He let Antigua shop for overseas talent when they were together at Western Illinois — where Alexander played his college ball — and continued to cross borders at subsequent stops. More recently, Illinois developed 2025 draft pick Kasparas Jakucionis, the No. 20 pick of the Miami Heat last June. One of the other top freshmen on the roster last year was Will Riley, a Canadian import drafted one pick later (21st) by the Utah Jazz and traded to the Washington Wizards. Before that, Kofi Cockburn of Jamaica was one of Underwood’s biggest international scores.
Riley was a five-star recruit and Jakucionis was coveted. The players who have helped replace their production are Wagler, an overlooked playmaker on the recruiting trail, transfer Andrej Stojakovic and holdover Kylan Boswell. Boswell brings linebacker toughness and has blossomed in his hometown after starting his college career at Arizona.
“I think going home has helped. The way he has handled himself. He’s just been elite,” Underwood said of Boswell, a Champaign native. “He’s been a joy to coach. He’s been unselfish. He’s been a guy that is all about winning.”
One of the few competitors who can match Boswell on the roster is David Mirkovic, a freshman from Montenegro. At 19, he’s been a terror during the tournament, going for 27 and 19 in the opening-round win over Penn. At 6-9, 250, Mirkovic has a vast skill set and helps Illinois control the glass alongside the Ivisic Twins — Zvonimir and Tomislav, or Z and Tommy to Underwood.
“Their chemistry is unbelievable. Their competitiveness is unbelievable. They go at each other all the time,” Underwood said of his tandem 7-footers. “They’re very different people, even though they’re twins, and yet their synergy is really fun to see.
“I think for lack of a better word, those two set the tone for the other guys from over there. And just their comfort of being in the States, even though Z wasn’t with us the whole time, they’ve helped ease some of the transition and the challenges that lie for the others.”
A preseason knee injury was a setback for Stojakovic and he dealt with an in-season ankle injury to be limited to 21 starts. When Boswell returned from a hand injury, Stojakovic accepted a role off the bench. He’s been lethal as a reserve.
“The one thing he’s done is he’s accepted defending. He’s accepted rebounding,” Underwood said. “We all know his offense can come and that he’s a very capable guy there. But now he has just adjusted. I couldn’t have asked for anything more coming off the bench. He’s done that in a way that has helped us grow and play our best basketball.”
–Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media
