We’ve finally reached our last position review for the 2018-2019 Illinois basketball team. Last and surely the least in terms of quantity is the big men.

The Illini played three bigs at center with freshmen Giorgi Bezhanishvili and Samba Kane, and graduate transfer Adonis De La Rosa. In all reality, the roster really only possessed two true centers as while Bezhanishvili may have the weight and strength to bump down low, ideally you want him at the power forward spot, which was manned primarily by Kipper Nichols before he lost favor in the rotation.

But being short-handed nonetheless, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood tried to do what he could with his limited number of big men. Did it always pan out? Well, some days the team got away with its undersized lineups with Bezhanishvili at center, and other days, well, the opponent’s size was overbearing.

Depth shouldn’t be a large issue in the frontcourt next season with the additions of four-star center Kofi Cockburn and forward Bernard Kouma, however, the returning bigs still need to develop more if the overall position is to take a large step forward.