Considering both immediate impact and long term upside, rank the Illini newcomers 1-8.

I will have my ranking in a front page story.

Carey Booth
Kylan Boswell
Jake Davis
Ben Humrichous
Tomislav Ivisic
Jason Jakstys
Morez Johnson
Tre White

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Redshirt senior catcher Jacob Schroeder has been named Big Ten Player of the Week, the conference announced today.

Schroeder went 8-for-15 (.533) with nine runs scored, three doubles, three home runs, nine RBI and four walks over four games, posting a .632 on-base percentage while slugging an incredible 1.333.

The Chicago native started the week by doubling, scoring twice and walking twice vs. Missouri on March 26 before going 7-for-12 (.583) with seven runs, two doubles, three home runs, nine RBI and two walks during the Illini's three-game sweep of Penn State. In Saturday's series finale, Schroeder homered twice, including a two-out go-ahead grand slam in the fifth, and drove in six runs.

Schroeder's big week extended his hitting streak to a career-high eight games, in which he has gone 13-for-30 (.433) with four doubles, five home runs and 15 RBI. He has raised his batting average from .192 to .321 during that span.

This marks the first time in his Illini career that Schroeder has earned conference weekly honors. He becomes the second Illinois player this season to earn weekly honors, joining Drake Westcott.

STANFORD, Calif. -- The Fighting Illini men's golf team - rated No. 18 in the latest NCAA Division I team rankings - tees off Monday at Stanford Golf Course to begin three days of competition at the 2024 NCAA Stanford Regional hosted by Stanford University. The Orange and Blue are making their 16th consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and are also looking to advance to the NCAA Championship round for the 15th time in the last 16 seasons.

THE SETTING
The 2024 NCAA Stanford Regional is hosted by the Stanford Cardinal at their own Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif. Located in the foothills above the Stanford University Campus, the Stanford Golf Course is consistently rated one of the finest courses in the world. Throughout the years, it has hosted many intercollegiate and non-collegiate events, including U.S. Open Qualifying, Women's NCAA Championships, NCAA Regionals, Pac-12 Championships and the USGA Junior Amateur Qualifying. The course was ranked No. 88 in the world in 1993 by Golf Magazine. In a poll of college golf coaches in 2009, the course was ranked No. 3 in the nation.

Stanford Golf Course opened in 1930 and was designed by famed architects George C. Thomas and Billy Bell Jr. It underwent a renovation by John Harbottle in 2008 and in 2018, all bunkers were rebuilt, and several holes were modified. The sprawling, championship layout (Par 70 / 6,727 yards) is flanked by majestic oak trees and meandering San Francisquito Creek, the latter coming into play on nearly half the course. Each hole offers stunning views of the surrounding mountains, and San Francisco, about 30 miles north, can be seen from the elevated 18th tee.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The 54-hole tournament will be played over three days, Monday-Wednesday, with 18 holes slated for each day. The low four scores will count towards the team score in each round, with the top five teams, and the low individual not on one of those teams, advancing to the NCAA Championship.

THE FIELD
The Fighting Illini enter the postseason as the No. 3 seed at the Stanford Regional in a strong field that includes 10 of 14 programs ranked inside the top-60 of the latest NCAA Division I team rankings. In addition to the No. 18-ranked and third-seeded Illini, the field will feature No. 6 Florida State, No. 7 Ole Miss, No. 19 Texas A&M and host and No. 27 Stanford to round out the top-five seeds. UCLA (31), SMU (42), Missouri (43), Fresno State (55) and UNLV (56) are seeded sixth through 10th, respectively, followed by Augusta (75), Liberty (84), Sacramento State (167) and Siena (224) to round out the 15-team field vying for five bids to the NCAA Championship, May 24-29 in Carlsbad, Calif., at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.

The 10 Individual qualifiers are: Enrique Dimayuga (63), Nevada; Ben Warian (148), Minnesota; Jakob Melin (155), San Francisco; Cole Rueck (445), Boise State; and Joe Sykes (975), Idaho.

FIGHTING ILLINI LINEUP
No. 1: Jackson Buchanan
No. 2: Max Herendeen
No. 3: Ryan Voois
No. 4: Tyler Goecke
No. 5: Piercen Hunt
Alt: Ethan Wilson

Transfer from Texas A&M.

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Oregon.

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I’ll have a full story later.

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James: “It went amazing. The staff , the facilities, the development plan. It’s everything you could want.”

Illinois is turning up the heat on this recruitment.

I’m out sick. Nothing serious but I’m a little limited in what I can do for a couple days. FYI.

Russian guard Egor Demin is the primary focus right now. I think other schools will begin to pop up as possible destinations for him, but Illinois is working it very hard. Sounds like Demin may prefer to play college ball rather than stay in the Real Madrid system.

There are backup plans to Demin should that fall through. There are a few names from the transfer portal, players withdrawing from the NBA draft, etc.

Former Samford and Chicago State guard Wesley Cardet Jr. signed a national letter of intent with Providence and is also an early entry candidate. He hasn't yet enrolled at Providence. If he wants to open things up, he would need to decide in the next few days.

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Florida State wing Jamir Watkins is another early entry in the Draft and he also entered the transfer portal at the deadline. He'll have a ton of interest should he withdraw from the draft and return to college basketball.

15.6 ppg and 6.0 rpg this year for Seminoles and shot 34.4% from three. He was invited to the NBA Draft Combine May 12-19 and has until May 29 to withdraw and retain his college eligibility.

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We have previously mentioned Chaz Lanier (North Florida), Arthur Kaluma (Kansas State) and Wooga Poplar (Miami) as wings available in the portal. They are all also going through the draft process.

Another possible to name to track is Miles Kelly from Georgia Teach. He hit the portal near the deadline and also entered the NBA Draft after averaging 13.9 ppg and 5.5 rpg for the Ramblin' Wreck.

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As reported by the News-Gazette:

Three-year contract worth $2.775 million total.

Antigua's new contract would run from May 17 this year through April 30, 2027.

The first year of the contract is worth $900,000, with Antigua set to receive $25,000 annual salary increases in the next two years.

Thx

Back into the B1G with the Washington Huskies. We will get to see him play.

Was one of the prized recruits in the class of 2024.

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Sounds like Croatian big man Tomislav Ivisic may be close to a done deal. Stand by…

Buffalos go down 56-14 to Washington State. They’ve managed to lose five straight in dropping to 4-7 on the year. They finish the season at #16 Utah and it looks like LOTS of creaning will be needed.

Wonder if Aflac will photoshop him out of their commercials now.