REACTION: Illinois Retains Mirkovic Plus Core Players

In this rapid episode of the podcast, Said reacts to Illinois retaining most of its production from the 2025-2026 Final Four team. David Mirkovic, Tomislav Ivisic, Zvonimir Ivisic and Jake Davis are all set to return... who could be next?

Transcript

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Well, the retention in this offseason for the Illinois men's basketball team is going about as well as you can hope for this point in the offseason. David Merkovich, Tomislav Ivasic, Jake Davis, and Zavonimir Ivasic all announcing their returns this past Wednesday. Welcome back to the Align Eye Audible Podcast. My name is Said Bravo. Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the pod as always. I really, really appreciate it. And obviously, the news of the day being the fact that Illinois retention efforts are paying off right now, and you've you're seeing it. Tomislav Ivasic, Zanavir, uh David Merkovich, and Jake Davis all announcing their returns massive, so so massive after the final full run that you had in 2022, 2025, 2026 to be able to have these guys back. Just absolutely huge. And the reason, you know, it felt like the wind was going towards this, uh, this for a little bit simply because of how well this team gelled and how good this team was. It felt inevitable for this to be the case, but it's worth a conversation about this because you just didn't know, right? Anybody in the college basketball world, even elsewhere, could could have come up out of nowhere and shot their shot with a guy like Tommy, a guy like Zavonimir, especially given the fact that he didn't have a crazy big role on this team. And Jake Eric did have a crazy big role on this team, but not the significant minutes that he might be looking for personally. Uh, and sharpshooter Jake Davis, who's whose stock really rose in 2025-2026. You just never know. In this era of college basketball, in this era of college athletics, anybody can come in if they want to offer a big load of cash. And there you go, there's your answer. But no, right? The the winning, the yelling of the guys, obviously, two or twins, that all culminated in this team making itself want to return for another run, hopeful run in 2026-2027. Absolutely huge news. And at this point, you feel really good about where Illinois is at in terms of its off-season planning, its off-season schedule with so many things going around, the transfer portal, recruiting, and Illinois at this point, having knowing that you're gonna count on these at least these four guys, uh, when it comes to returning is so so important. You have to remember last season there were so many changes that happened at this point. You had a Ben Homricals, a Jake Davis, of course, who makes another Tomislav Ivasic, and uh you had a Boswell, Tomislav Ivasic, Jake Davis, and a Kylan Boswell who were returning, and you've just didn't know what to expect given the fact that you saw a Casper, Jack Jonas, a Will Riley, the part to the NBA, and you suddenly now you feel really comfortable with what could be ahead for this Illinois basketball team, and to do a little bit more in terms of information when it comes to how much how big of contributors these guys were. It's absolutely huge. You obviously have a big Z who provides significant, significant rim protection, an insane blocker. It felt like you you had him, right? Like you had you. This is one of those guys that was able to provide at least one huge dunk per game. And the fact that he now comes back with a role that could fluctuate with maybe more development under this offensive coordinator that is Tyler Underwood, then maybe you could see his role kind of becoming enhanced or shifting at least a little bit at this point. And Tomislav Ibisic, who is become who they call, and I would agree with this, he is the original Balkan on this fighting alliance team. He makes his return to this Illinois basketball team for a third season absolutely huge. And you have to remember, this is a guy who has been through a lot at this point in his Illinois career with illnesses and sickness and removed tonsils and rough off seasons. He will have a full summer to get his things together, to really put on as much, you know, manipulate his his body weight as much as he wants, get in the shape that he wants to be at with Fletch, get in the weight room, and then address the things that he may want to address coming into this 2026-2027 season. And you feel really good about him coming into this season, uh, this upcoming season, that is, and being a huge contributor. Not only is he just a big contributor when it comes to scoring and rebounding, but it he's a at this point, he is with the third season under his belt at Illinois, he is a locker room leader, and he will that expectation will continue to be. And obviously, you saw the you saw him play or excuse me, his production dropped a drop a little bit, 13 points in 2024-25 this past season, 10.4 points per game. You had a the same goes for rebounds 7.7 to 5.6, 2.3 assists to 1.6 this past season, but you still feel really comfortable. The fact that you get him back one of your key centers and a centerpiece of at this point, this program, and uh that's that's that's huge. That's huge to get him back uh as an anchor of those Balkan guys. It's it's really, really going to be interesting to see how the season continues. The season will unfold, and uh, I mean, 66 games played for the aline at this point. You feel really comfortable with him coming back. Jake Davis, though, also one of the guys who announced his return, and he is the sharpshooter that came off initially last season in 2024-25, came off the bench. Maybe didn't have as much production as you would have wanted slash expected that season, and then this year finds himself a role in the starting lineup, albeit somewhat ineffective at points in the season. Can I offer you a Jake Davis corner three, guys? If you know, you know, this is this is really what you need when it comes to continuing to build your roster and retaining efforts. A guy who now has two years of going into the NCAA tournament and final four appearance and being in that starting lineup, who knows what his role will look like. You would suspect that it may look it may be him in the starting lineup once again. But you do wonder if if the roles continue to fluctuate, you now you've secured him. Maybe you explore different options in terms of how you splice up his time, uh, time distribution, and how he ends up playing where and and in which situations. You obviously saw him be clutch at times. You that Michigan, that Michigan three uh foul, uh the Michigan state uh free throw shooting that takes Illinois to overtime comes to mind. And a guy that is really well liked here in Champaign. It's really great to see. And obviously, all these four guys, and the fourth guy that I obviously I kind of buried the lead, but David Merkovich, the sophomore who's been or the sophomore, incoming sophomore now, who has been really incredible, uh, was incredible this past season. But obviously, all three, all four, excuse me, guys being represented by the same agent, and that agent going on podcast and then talking about how Illinois is so supportive with these international recruits, international players, how they've been treating this and how impressive it is for these international players to come into college basketball and see the nature of what college basketball could be. And that's been just really impressive for him, and for him to see that, and you that that's the kind of stuff that where where you gave you confidence that this these couple guys would want to return, and it felt like Champagne has treated them well, and the fact that you saw in the final four how many people showed up, not only in the actual game, but in the open practice, which is you know, it's an open practice, it's that kind of stuff that matters, and you've seen it now pay off. So, you guys have done your job, Illinois fans, to to what make these guys want to come back and uh and really continue to be a part of what Brad Underwood is continuing to build, and we obviously knew that retention was a priority. It all started with David Merkovich. David Merkovich as a freshman who was stellar, who was probably who is one of the band favorites at this point. The way he did his announcement, 10 out of 10. It just you can't you can't ask more. You can't ask more, right? Like, this is a guy who is unapologetically himself and is just a unique human being. I've said it before on this podcast. When I'm out of here, when I'm out of the University of Illinois, I'm going to buy his jersey uh because I will no longer be covering this team, probably. Uh or I will move to a different role, whatever. Not about me. David Merkovich, though, just a swell guy, and unapologically himself, you feel really good. The fact that he comes back, you wonder how much it was that Illinois was able to provide in terms of compensation for a guy like him to return. But it's also inevitable to think and feel like the fan base had such a big part in doing uh in what David Merkovich's decision was, which ultimately was to return. And now suddenly you have what about more than 50% of Illinois production coming back. Most it feels like the production slash roster, obviously, it's just four guys that reprise that return. Uh, but the those guys are big-time hitters and they return, they're going to be roster leaders. Now the ball is in Andre Stoyakovich's court because you still wonder if if he will want to return. These things probably take time, and and I'm sure that his dad has at least some influence in whatever is next for Andre. Uh, but you do wonder if there is a new pitch for him. And you you wonder if maybe he needs, he's a guy that you need to compromise when it comes to hey, here's your starting, here's what we envision for you to be a starter, or this is what your role could look like. We want to have the same success with you that we had this past season. We know that you want it to look a little differently. Maybe we want it to look differently ourselves as well. That could be a part of the equation. It's gonna probably come down to money, though. So you wonder how much of that you know will impact obviously the fans and having that final four success. I think that helps significantly. I'm not sure. Like, I I don't know what Andre would do at this point, but I do think that there is a solid chance that he returns simply because of the fact that Ilono had so much success with him in first season, and you felt like in March, that's when you make your money, and that's where the difference was made. And you saw that in the NCAA tournament, you saw that so many times there. And now you're sitting pretty in the Big Ten because you have a bunch of guys who are returning, who are returning, and new guys who look to be providing a lot of depth and providing significant production as well. Quentin Coleman, who is one of the top prospects in the country, is going to be inevitably compared to Keaton Wagler, his predecessor. Those expectations I think are completely unrealistic. But with that being said, he is still one of the top prospects in the country, and freshmen can impact a college basketball team. We've seen it time and time again. We've we've seen it now for two years in a row. You wonder if you're going to continue to see that theme. It is likely, I think. And Quentin Coleman is gonna be a guy that is thrust into a big time position um early on. Lucas Morillo, who is a guy that I think he has I think you feel good about, right? Like you feel good when he when he's coming in, he can be a good good contributor as a freshman. Um, and you wonder what that role would kind of fluctuate to, how it would look. Ethan Brown, who's gonna come in as a freshman, and obviously the Providence transfer, Stefan Box, who provides some pretty good spot up shooting, and will overall look to be a guy who contributes here as one of those bigger guards, and and and you're you're they're going for the same same template that they went for this past season, which is the size. The size on this team will continue to be huge. Yeah, big team, and you're gonna have good rim protection, and you're gonna have a prolific offense, is what you hope to have if you're Illinois. And you wonder if uh you wonder if if John Blackwell is interested in coming here as well, which is the transfer from Wisconsin. But that's getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. You're you never know. You you wonder, but you don't know, and it'll be interesting to see how that all continues to unfold. But the important thing here is that you have a really, really solid foundation to continue growing this program to keep going in the same trajectory. It seems like you're going to now. Things are not going to be completely the same next season. Things could change on a dime, injury, god forbid. Uh March Madness is is is known for its variants, right? Like this season, you got a favorable draw. You're not apologizing for it, but you the fact is that you you got a favorable one. So next season, what is it gonna look like? You you don't know so many things go away, but for now, there's no reason to think about that. Illinois put themselves in a really good position, and that's what matters. That's what you come to expect from this Illinois men's basketball team at this point in Brad Underwood's tenure, at this point in Josh Whitman's tenure as AD. And so that that's the news of the day, and that's where we'll leave it at because uh just wanted to come in and provide a little bit of an update and then and you just a temperature check on how you feel about this Illinois men's basketball program at this point in the offseason. The answer is really, really good, and you hope to see that continue. Andre Striakovic, there's the big question mark. Obviously, Brandon Lee and Dax and Ty Rogers will have to be guys who also make decisions. But for now, the guy who was all eyes should be on, and who you will have to pay a lot of attention to whether or not he decides to leave, it might determine the future of that transfer portal activity, is Andre Syriakovich. You would hope that he returns simply because of the tenure, simply because of being in the system, simply because of what he showed you in March. But we'll see. It all really we'll see. So, yeah, but thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the pod. Subscribe rate review, if you so please. I really, really appreciate it, and peaceful.