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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:
The first mocks for the 2026 NBA Draft came immediately in the aftermath of this year’s two-night event in Brooklyn, N.Y. Too early? You bet. Here’s a few thoughts I’ve been percolating on:
— Let’s get to Illinois off the jump. After seeing two players selected in the first round of this year’s draft with Kasparas Jakucionis going No. 20 overall to the Miami Heat and Will Riley a pick later to the Washington Wizards, the year-out projections aren’t at that level for the Illini.
Only the ESPN duo of Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo had any Illinois players among their top draft prospects next summer. But there were three of them, with Andrej Stojakovic, Tomislav Ivisic and Zvonimir Ivisic checking in Nos. 45, 48 and 60, respectively.
Both Ivisic twins were viewed as potential second-round picks for the 2025 draft before they opted to return to college basketball for the 2025-26 season. Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin O’Connor evaluated Tomislav Ivisic as “a stretch-big lefty who rains 3s and carves up the post with crafty hook shots. But his plodding feet make him a defensive liability unless he makes dramatic progress at the next level.”
— Jakucionis and Riley became Illinois’ first, and then second, one-and-done NBA draft picks last month. Ever. The Illini were involved in the recruitment for several players that might have kept the streak going had they not wound up elsewhere.
The full list is impressive and includes potential lottery picks in Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, BYU forward A.J. Dybantsa, Tennessee guard Nate Ament, Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr., Duke wing Dame Sarr, Houston center Chris Cenac Jr. and Duke forward Nikolas Khamenia. Not to mention Arizona forward Koa Peat, who is currently projected just outside the lottery.
— Another major takeaway from the bulk of the 2026 mock drafts? Not nearly enough international players. Particularly of the straight-from-overseas group. Most mocks only have Karim Lopez and Dash Daniels, who will both play in Australia’s NBL next season, projected as first-round picks in 2026.
There are several international players who will be on college rosters next season on early draft boards. That group includes, per ESPN, Sarr (Italy), Michigan’s Aday Mara (Spain), Baylor’s Tounde Yessoufou (Benin), Kansas State’s Andrej Kostic (Serbia), Washington’s Hannes Steinbach (Germany), Arizona’s Motiejus Krivas (Lithuania) and Florida’s Alex Condon (Australia) in the first round.