"Who do you think are this season's biggest dark horses?" A bespectacled man wearing a blue suit and red tie asked his partner while atop a barstool.
"The team I urge everyone to watch out for the most this season would be Illinois." The blonde woman wearing a similar blue suit and white blouse answered.
"Why do you think so?"
"Because they would have their captain Legend Stone Jr. back for his senior season in full fitness. Khalil Ogwuzeni is still a first round lock. And of course, this high school class' seventh overall recruit, Jaylen Mitchell joined them as well." She spoke fast yet articulately, pointing out the three major players of the team. "That said, I expect them to have a fighting chance against the Big Ten's favorites, maybe even steal some games from the nation's Top 25!"
"However, behind those undeniably dominant triumvirate, this lineup appears thin, especially in the guard spots." The male analyst parroted what most pundits thought about the current Illinois team.
"You're right. However, if those three were on fire, Illinois could hang with the best, but if the team itself were firing on all cylinders, this team could take the names of contenders handily."
"So it's all about the potential upsets then?" The male analyst asked again.
"They could make a Cinderella run, for sure." She admitted. "But they could also fall flat on their faces. This team has a lot of red flags."
"Medical for one. Both their stars had shady injury histories. Even Jaylen Mitchell broke his tibia in his junior year in high school! Their presumed starting guard, Ryan Brown, did not play at all in his freshman season due to a litany of maladies that continued as a sophomore."
"Plus, if we factor in their coach…" The female analyst slowly broached the idea. "They are an erratic team that could play anything, from zone defense, to man defense, to a dribble drive offense, or motion offense, or anything that could be called a style of play, but they aren't particularly good at anything. They don't have a bread and butter."
"Like a jack of all trades. And in past seasons, head coach Michael Roughan has been criticized for his tactical approach many times, do you think he'll change his ways?"
"I doubt it. Coach Roughan had been doing this for more than a decade, and it always allowed his teams to punch more than their weight." The third analyst, who spoke for the first time in a while, was an older gentleman wearing a brown suit and a polka dotted tie. "Expect to see him pull the same tricks this year."
"So, Coach Johnson, what do you think is the floor and ceiling of this dark horse team?"
"Floor is if the injury bug bites their stars and their offense fully implodes, so a bottom Big Ten team. Their ceiling however… hmm… is if the team gets hot and wins crucial games against ranked teams, probably getting close to last year's Sweet 16 team, maybe even Elite Eight." The old coach's assessment was harsh, but appropriate. It was because the new iteration of the Illini just had so many variables for the analysts to cover.
"We will certainly watch how this team navigates the Big Ten. Moving on, we got our preseason Associated Press Top 25 Poll!"
***
Inside the Illini practice facility.
It was almost lunch and the basketball preseason special had reached its fourth hour on air.
Most of the resting Illini players had been watching it through Samuel's fancy, high end laptop.
"That old coot was too fucking blunt!" Khalil, who had arrived to practice three hours late, mocked. "What bottom Big Ten team is he talking about!"
"Chill out, those preseason expectations are there for us to shatter." Ryan's chill out didn't match his intense proclamations.
"We first have to do well in our non-conference slate." Legend drank a small bottle of a popular probiotic drink in one gulp. "We will shatter those expectations no matter what those are."
After the pizza party, everyone returned to their focus on basketball. This time, all of them did so willingly, as even the coach himself stopped his binge drinking, and chain smoking, at least until the season ended.
If the coach was willing to sacrifice his trash lifestyle for the national title, how could they not do the same?
It was two days before their non-conference season opener against a star studded North Carolina team, away. Friendly or not, however, they will do their absolute best to conquer one of the highly ranked teams.
However, once the three analysts started listing down the nation's preseason top 25… the players watching started feeling a pit in their stomachs.
Central Florida, North Carolina, Louisville, Creighton, Connecticut, LSU, Georgetown, Wisconsin, Oregon, UNLV, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Syracuse, Texas, UCLA, Virginia, Ohio State, Arizona, Michigan, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Baylor, Gonzaga, and the nation's top ranked Duke.
Why does it seem like we're facing a lot of them in the non-conference schedule?!
"Tarik, who among them are we facing again?" If it's about schedules, Tarik had always been the man to ask. He remembers everything.
"Wait." Tarik looked at the monitor and had a bad premonition. "Shit… we're facing eight of them in the non-conference side of the schedule… of course, we'll be facing those in the same conference as ours too."
"Who is it?" Khalil asked warily. When they heard that they'll be fighting a ridiculous eight of the top 25 in the early part of the season, even the toughest of them felt sick. Especially if more than half their exhibition games are against nationally ranked teams!
"Who scheduled this, for fuck's sake!" Caleb Wilson yelled.
Tarik composed himself, before he fired out a string of names and dates.
"Nov 9 vs North Carolina
Nov 13 at Connecticut
Nov 17 at Harvard
Nov 20 vs Chicago State
Nov 24 vs Virginia
Nov 26 at West Virginia
Nov 30 vs Kansas
Dec 3 vs North Dakota State
Dec 8 at Gonzaga
Dec 11 at UNLV
Dec 14 at Oklahoma
Dec 18 Illinois Classic vs Illinois State
Dec 20 Illinois Classic vs Eastern Illinois
Dec 22 Illinois Classic vs Loyola-Chicago
Jan 1 New Year Tip-off at Kentucky."
Tarik flashed his milky white teeth, regardless of whether his team understood his speed rap-like words or not.
"Fuck it!" Khalil can't wrap his head around what Tarik said. "It's too fast!"
"What a dimwit, you didn't even understand North Carolina?" Quandre smacked Khalil's head. He only understood the first one.
"What dimwits, you didn't even understand the first of January game against Kentucky?" Dwayne smacked Quandre's head. He only understood the last one.
The three didn't realize that Kristian had written everything Tarik said so fast it was almost ridiculous. Kristian couldn't believe how the upperclassmen didn't know their non-conference schedule.
"North Carolina, Connecticut, Virginia, Kansas, Gonzaga, UNLV, Oklahoma, and Kentucky. Those are the eight preseason AP Top 25 teams we're facing." Kristian repeated Tarik's words and flashed a smile at him.
"Who scheduled this, for fuck's sake?!" Caleb grabbed his hair and repeated his words.
Tremaine was smiling on the side, while his hands trembled at the prospect of facing the country's best teams.
Things have changed.
I'm not a random walk-on anymore.
I'm gonna make a mark.
***
Extras:
Lamont Harris and Caleb Wilson were reading an article in a trusted sports website about the teams with the toughest non-conference schedules in the country.
There, they saw big teams like Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida, and Auburn.
However at number 1… was their school…
Lamont and Caleb looked at each other with defeated eyes.
"Who scheduled this, for fuck's sake?!" The two growled.