CHAMPAIGN – All Illini basketball coach Brad Underwood had to see was the old videotape from the introductions more than a decade ago, when guard Chester Frazier laid into a former Illini commit prior to the Illini-Indiana game in Assembly Hall.
It was more of a body check than the typical pregame hug.
“That half-court handshake with Eric Gordon,’’ said Underwood. “He blasted the dude. You don’t think that fits with me?’’
In his first appearance since losing two valuable assistant coaches to Kentucky, Underwood resurfaced to declare the interest in the remaining openings – Stephen Gentry is also expected to leave the coaching staff – as a frenzy. According to Underwood, he can’t keep up with all the guys sniffing around the openings for a program that returned to the upper atmosphere of the college hoops universe for the first time since 2005.
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