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I'm going to skip over Alabama State, Troy, Jacksonville State, and get right into the Emerald Coast Classic. First up is Illinois.

Illinois is another team with a roster in flux due to newcomers and injuries. Head coach Jim Groce is feeling his seat get warmer in his fourth year. He has not finished with a winning record in conference, and his overall win totals and postseason results have gotten progressively worse. Groce's teams at Ohio did work in the MAC conference tournament, winning it twice. But during his Illinois tenure, he is just 2-3 in the Big Ten tournament with no upsets.

Off the Team:
Nnanna Egwu is a big 6'11" center who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Orlando Magic over the summer. He was the Illini's leading rebounder (196) and shotblocker (59). His shooting percentages were decent for a big man, although he was just the fifth-highest scorer. His main role was to be the defensive anchor and rim protector. Guards Ahmad Starks and Rayvonte Rice graduated and are playing professionally overseas. All three were in the top five of minutes played. Illinois also had two role players transfer to C-USA schools in the offseason. Aaron Cosby is a graduate transfer who will play immediately at Western Kentucky, and Austin Colbert will sit this season at Old Dominion.

On Roster, Not Playing:
The biggest loss is point guard Tracy Abrams. He missed last season due to injury but was coming back for his senior season. Then he tore his Achilles and will miss another season. He could petition for a sixth year and probably get it, but he might just choose to end his career. Deep on the bench is guard Mike LaTulip. He has asked to redshirt this year while he finishes his degree, so that he can be a graduate transfer next year. He would have provided some depth, but likely wouldn't have played much. Kendrick Nunn would likely be the starting shooting guard, but he injured his thumb and will miss eight weeks, including the ECC tournament. He was second on the team in minutes played last year. Leron Black, a 6'7" forward, hurt his meniscus. He will likely be back for the UAB game.

Returning Players:
Malcolm Hill (6'6", 220 lbs) is the returning star of this team. Last year he led the Illini in scoring and was second in rebounds. He had a good slash line of 44.3%/38.9%/78.1%. He should start as the third guard, matched up against Rob Brown. Jaylon Tate (6'3", 170 lbs) was the backup point guard who will likely now be the starter. Even as a backup playing 20 minutes per game, he still led the team in assists. He was 1-12 from deep last year. 6'10", 245 lbs center Maverick Morgan returns and will likely be a backup again. He played nine minutes per game last year. That's it, just three returning players.

Incoming Transfers:
Our old friend Mike Thorne Jr (6'11", 270 lbs) is a graduate transfer from Charlotte. He was added to replace the hole in the middle vacated by Egwu. Thorne has played us three times in the past two years, and he always had pedestrian games against us. Khalid Lewis (6'3", 185 lbs) is another graduate transfer, this time from La Salle. He should fill the role of backup point guard. He averaged 6 points, 2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game last year. The two graduate transfers are the only seniors on Illinois' roster. Also added to the mix is Alex Austin (6'4", 185 lbs), a walk-on from Eastern Illinois. He was productive there, and I expect him to be a solid role player with all of the injuries.

The Freshmen:
First up is 6'10", 230 lbs Michael Finke who redshirted last year. I never know what to think of redshirted players. On one hand, he wouldn't have had much opportunity to play behind Egwu and Morgan. But on the other hand, I have my doubts of how good you can be if you can even get five minutes per game. Redshirting freshmen in college is rare, and I don't think it works out well very often. As mentioned above, Groce did bring in a highly rated recruiting class with three 4-stars. All three play on the wing, although DJ Williams (6'7", 200 lbs) may need to slide up to PF at times. The other two, Jalen Coleman-Lands (6'3", 180 lbs) and Aaron Jordan (6'5", 190 lbs), will rotate with Hill and Austin on the wing.

I think Illinois will have a hard time replacing the departed talent on its roster. The graduate transfers will be good role players but not really difference makers. Plus it's asking a lot for any freshman to come and be a star right away. There are only a few of those who can do that from day one and half of them go to Kentucky. Malcolm Hill versus Rob Brown will be a fun star versus star matchup, and I think we are notably better in the frontcourt. Depending on their injuries, we should be the deeper team too. I think we are the better team, and on a neutral court, we have a great shot at a win.

I'm going to preview both Iowa State and Virginia Tech since we don't know which one we are going to play.

I'll keep it short on Iowa State. I know we all remember last March. Since then, head coach Fred Hoiberg left the Cyclones to coach the Chicago Bulls. The new head coach is Steve Prohm, who spent the last four years building a monster at Murray State. However Prohm won't have to build much his first year, as most of the team returns. Six of the top eight in minutes played return, including Georges Niang. Niang spurned likely being drafted to return for his senior season. He is one of four senior starters. Despite all of the returning experience, the roster is not very deep. One newcomer is sophomore Hallice Cooke, an eligible transfer from Oregon State. He will likely be the backup point guard. Two other transfers are also in the mix, but are sitting out. Deonte Burton from Marquette is a midseason transfer, so he has to sit until the second semester. Nick Weiler-Babb transfers from Arkansas and will be eligible next season. With the coaching change, Prohm wasn't able to bring in a highly-ranked recruiting class. He added two forwards who were each rated between two and three stars. I know recruiting rankings aren't everything, but that's all I have to go on. So the team consists of the six returners, the Oregon State transfer, and two freshmen. It's rare to see such a starter-heavy team. Obviously, it would be great if we could get them into foul trouble. Or have Tyler Madison grab another nine offensive boards in 14 minutes. I would expect this game to be more up-and-down rather than the rockfight in the tournament. Iowa State will be looking for revenge, but we have the horses to keep up in either type of game. It will be a great rematch if it happens.

Virginia Tech is a team possibly on the upswing after a rough transition in head coach Buzz Williams' first year (11-22, 2-16). The Hokies may be building for next season. They only have one senior, and he isn't projected to play much. They should bring back almost the entire team in 2016. But that's not relevant to our game, so let's talk about the present.

Off the Team:
VT loses two starters who could have played again this season. Leading scorer Adam Smith is a graduate transfer staying in conference to play for Georgia Tech. He hit 81 treys last year, 20 more than anyone on our team, and he hit them at a 42.4% clip. Another guard Malik Muller left early to play professionally overseas. Joey Van Zegeren (6'10") only played in 13 games, but when he played he got 20.4 minutes per game. He transferred to Northwestern. A couple of other role players who got ~10 minutes per game are gone too.

Returning Players:
The top six players in minutes were all guards, and four of them return. Devin Wilson (6'4", 190 lbs) plays point and racked up 140 assists last year. Ahmed Hill (6'5", 195 lbs) and Justin Bibbs (6'5", 220 lbs) shot a lot of threes and made them at ~40%. Last year, it seems that Virginia Tech spread you out with mostly guards and dared you to cover shooters all over the floor. It's a fun offense, but it tends to get you killed on defense unless you're forcing a ton of turnovers. I think Buzz ran this system because of the personnel he had instead of the other way around. His recruiting of more forwards with size suggest a return to more typical lineups. There was one seven footer on the team, freshman Satchel Pierce. Despite his size, he finished eighth in points scored and rebounds, and only played 13.8 minutes per game. He might not be able to make a big jump in minutes this year.

Incoming Transfers:
Guard Seth Allen (6'1", 195 lbs) is the main one here. He was very productive at Maryland before sitting out last year. He plays a lead guard role where he scored and distributed. I don't know how he and Wilson will co-exist, since both are probably too good to keep off the floor. I'm guessing Allen will play off-ball most of the time, plus two distributor lineups are growing in popularity. Also added are forwards Zach LeDay (6'7", 235 lbs) from USF, Tyrone Outlaw (6'6", 215 lbs) from junior college, and center Johnny Hamilton (7'0", 230 lbs) from junior college. All three will likely provide depth.

Incoming Freshmen:
Buzz brought in three 4-star recruits. If I had to guess, Kerry Blackshear (6'10", 240 lbs) is most likely to start because of the hole at power forward. The other two are point guard Justin Robinson (6'1", 180 lbs) and small forward Chris Clarke (6'6", 205 lbs). Even if those two don't start, they should see plenty of playing time.

There are no guarantees for freshmen, transfers or jucos, but this team looks like it could legitimately go 13 deep. The biggest questions are how do they all play together, and if there are any stars. I think Seth Allen is pretty good, but I wouldn't want a team of one star and twelve role players. Maybe Bibbs will be that guy after scoring 11.4 per game last year, or maybe one of the newcomers will step up. For now, it's a team with a lot of interesting parts, and it's on Buzz Williams to put them all together.