Illinois’ Brad Underwood keeping his head down as madness of college sports swirls around him

Illinois men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood returned a call Tuesday, and, boy, was I relieved that he did.

Otherwise, an occasionally dimwitted columnist would have to resort to Plan B and attempt to write substantively and coherently about a Congressional hearing earlier in the day on Capitol Hill at which college athletics and the massive effects of NIL were the main subjects. Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman, Underwood’s boss, was among those testifying.

The college landscape sure has gotten complicated and confusing, hasn’t it?

At least Underwood is staying focused on basketball, so much so that he swore he didn’t even know where his AD was, let alone what Whitman was up to.

“It’s basketball season,” Underwood said, “and the games come fast and furious.”

If only the Wild West world of big-time college sports were that simple.

Addressing the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, Whitman asked Congress for “comprehensive bipartisan legislation” to preserve the American collegiate sports model. “Bipartisan,” in 2025? Some nerve, Whitman has, suggesting U.S. Representatives might risk besmirching the reputation of politics’ most dysfunctional cesspool by actually reaching across the aisle.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., the subcommittee chairman, actually said, straight out of 1955, “After all, that’s why [student-athletes] go to college, to get a good education.” And with that, he pulled on his letterman’s sweater and went to the soda shop.

Kudos to Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., though, for taking the opportunity to point out the Trump administration cuts of research funding for universities is an “even more important” issue than what’s happening in athletics. It is, isn’t it?

Then again, what the hell would I know?

I know it’s March and Purdue-Illinois is coming to State Farm Center on Friday, just about as good a regular-season finale as it gets. And that both the Boilermakers and the Illini have designs on long, fruitful postseasons that rival last year’s efforts. And that — as any schmo knows — there’s nothing like March Madness.

“Absolutely,” Underwood said. “You get an opportunity to live out a lot of people’s dreams. The grind of the regular season comes to a halt, and you get to move forward.”

It’s a goofy premise, but one of the main reasons I wanted to connect with Underwood was to inform him that he simply can’t lose another game this season. Because if and when he does, it’ll be his 100th loss in eight seasons as coach at Illinois. The 162-99 record is mighty good. Shouldn’t he just wait until next season to hit triple digits in “Ls”?

Of course, that means winning against Purdue, then winning the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis and then — no biggie — winning the national championship.

Sound strategy, isn’t it?

“Uh, sure, that sounds like a terrific plan and one that I would like to see come to fruition,” he said.

“Yet the other side of that is a real positive — that somebody has liked me long enough to keep me that long. In today’s world, you’re only as good as your last game.”

The last game was a 93-73 win at 15th-ranked Michigan, a rousing upset that raised the Illini’s record to 19-11 and blew away the cloud that had been sitting over their heads for several weeks. In a jubilant locker-room setting, Underwood told his players they were peaking at the ideal time. If he’s right about that, it could be a March to remember because anyone can see the Illini are loaded with talent.

But a completely rebuilt roster from last year’s Elite Eight squad has had its challenges. One is age; three of the Illini’s best players, Kasparas Jackucionis, Will Riley and Morez Johnson Jr., are freshmen. Another is an utter absence of continuity; no two players in the rotation played together before this season. There have been too many practices and games missed due to illness and injury, beyond the typical.

Last March, Underwood talked about having to recruit in the transfer portal while the biggest games of the season were still being played. He didn’t complain, but it rubbed him the wrong way. Wild, meet West. He doesn’t know the extent to which he’ll have to rebuild again soon, though quite as many new pieces shouldn’t be required.

“Will somebody unexpectedly leave? Probably,” he said. “Don’t know who, what, when. It’s just the way it is.”

But Underwood has proved more than once he can be tireless in his efforts to put the pieces of a winning puzzle together. Twenty years ago, heading toward his third and final season as coach at Daytona Beach (Fla.) Community College, Underwood assessed his roster as of the Fourth of July. Alas, there were only three names on it. But then the season came and a damn good JUCO squad went 25-6.

Before that job, Underwood, now 61, was an assistant for 10 years — spanning his entire 30s — at Western Illinois in what then was called the Mid-Continent Conference. Some of those Leathernecks teams are best forgotten. The last one Underwood was a part of, in 2002-03, went 7-21. Underwood made all of $48,000. Then he had to find a new gig.

What a long way from there to here.

“It’s crazy to think about,” he said.

And yet it seems so normal — quaintly so — compared with what’s happening around the sport now. Maybe it’s madness. Or maybe that’s just life.