HOUSTON — Brad Underwood turned the corner into the Illinois locker room after a win over VCU late Saturday in Greenville, S.C., and was bombarded.
The Illini players brought out the Super Soakers after securing the men’s basketball program’s second trip in three seasons to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, and Underwood was the target of the celebration.
As the Illinois coach bounced around in the streams of water, Tyler Underwood stood nearby, laughing and clapping. Brad’s son has been with him during his entire journey of reviving the Illinois program, first as a player and now as an assistant coach in charge of the Illini’s powerful offense.
When Brad thought about that partnership after the locker-room celebration, his hair wet and a towel hanging over his soaked orange quarter-zip, he fought off a different kind of waterworks.
“Doesn’t get any better,” he said. “Now you’re going to get me emotional. I’ve said this all along: He’s very, very good at his job. He’s much smarter than I am. He does a terrific job of communicating with players. He does a great job of putting a game plan together.
“That’s really cool as a coach to see, but it’s even better as a dad to see.”
The Sweet 16 games this week in Houston are a family affair for all four head coaches.
On the opposite bench from the Underwoods on Thursday night at the Toyota Center (9:05 p.m., TBS/truTV) will be Houston coach Kelvin Sampson and his son, Kellen, an assistant coach. Sampson’s daughter, Lauren, is his chief of staff.
The Nebraska-Iowa matchup in the first South Region game Thursday (6:30 p.m., TBS/truTV) will feature Cornhuskers coach Fred Hoiberg and his son Sam, a senior guard. Sam’s twin brother, Charlie, is a graduate manager. Iowa coach Ben McCollum’s son Peyton is on the Hawkeyes roster but suffered a season-ending foot injury in January.
For Tyler Underwood, this week is about helping his dad march toward the goal he has had since Illinois hired him in 2017: to win a national championship.
The third-seeded Illini have built up to Thursday’s game against No. 2 seed Houston, making their first NCAA Tournament appearance under Brad Underwood — and first overall in eight years — in 2021. They have made the tournament every year since, reaching the Elite Eight in 2024.
Their return trip to the Sweet 16 is a marker in their quest to be among the country’s top teams every year.
“There are certain pinch-me moments where I try to stay super present and just enjoy this time,” Tyler said. “I don’t think it can probably ever be topped in my life as a coach. These are some of the best moments.
“I grew up watching him, played for him, so just to be here for him in these moments, knowing how hard he has worked, to be a small piece of that and be next to his side is something I’ll forever cherish.”
‘He never wants status quo’
Tyler’s stint as an Illinois assistant isn’t the first time he has shared a bench with his father.
He spent six seasons as a player on his dad’s teams, first in a redshirt year at Stephen F. Austin, then at Oklahoma State during Brad’s one season there. He spent the final four years of his playing career at Illinois after athletic director Josh Whitman lured his dad to the open job with nearly triple his salary in Stillwater, Okla.
Tyler, who will turn 30 in August, totaled just 17 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists and four steals in 38 games over three active seasons in Champaign.
“Luckily I think I’m a better coach than I was a player,” he said.
He started on Brad’s staff in 2021-22 as director of recruiting and scouting and was elevated to assistant coach after two seasons. He has been Illinois’ offensive coordinator since July 2023.
Playing and coaching for his 62-year-old dad share some similarities, he said.
“Playing for him, it’s the competitive spirit he brings out in you,” Tyler said. “He’s going to challenge you as a player to make you uncomfortable.
“And honestly, it’s very similar as a coach. He’s going to challenge you. He wants new ideas. He never wants status quo. It’s always about getting 1% better, finding a new idea. He talks a lot about the process. The process for us is being consistent every single day as coaches and players.”
Illinois’ offenses, while continually evolving, have been some of the best in the nation with Tyler as the coordinator.
In 2023-24, the team that went to the Elite Eight behind Terrence Shannon Jr. and Marcus Domask, the Illini ranked third in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom. Last season’s team, which went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament behind freshmen Kasparas Jakučionis and Will Riley, had the 14th-ranked offense.
And this season’s offense is No. 2 behind only Purdue, led by a big, deep, versatile cast of players, including freshman guard Keaton Wagler and freshman forward David Mirković.
Tyler said he learned “so much” about running an offense from his dad while growing up, noting Brad had the best offense in the country at Oklahoma State during his one season there.
“He has always been somebody who has believed in shooting and spacing concepts, so I took a lot of that from him,” Tyler said. “He still has his hand in a lot of our day-to-day offensive stuff. He’s a brilliant mind and was ahead of his time with shooting bigs, so he’s definitely had an influential impact on my way of thinking.”
Both Underwoods have talked a lot this season about how their offense revolves around leveraging advantages.
They “matchup hunt” — comparing their top strengths against opponents’ biggest weaknesses and attacking them. Tyler told reporters earlier this season that someone watching the offense might say it looks like a lot of randomness. But it’s more a case of players understanding how they are supposed to operate and where they should be, depending on what happens with an opponent on the court.
They pull offensive inspiration from all over, with Tyler noting influences from and similarities to the Boston Celtics in the way they matchup hunt and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the way they manipulate spacing.
Mirković said Tyler knows all of the trends in basketball but also has a gift for understanding his players.
“He knows our personalities and knows what we want on the court,” Mirković said. “He gives us tasks and gives us freedom to play, and it just flows beautifully.
“When I have a coach that truly believes in me and gives me freedom to show all the talents I have, it’s just a great opportunity and I would just say we have a great connection.”
Brad credited the amount of time Tyler has put into developing the offense. He said he and his son “have our moments — and they stay in the office.” But he speaks with pride about Tyler’s work.
“He’s done a ton of studying and then matching it to personnel,” Brad said. “We’ve probably had as many conversations about, ‘Well, I like this,’ especially earlier in the year, and, ‘Well, it doesn’t quite fit us.’
“And then it’s developing that around Mirk and shifting two 7-footers into different roles. So it’s been some tweaking. It’s a lot of work. He’s very, very smart and understands that side of the ball at a very, very high level.”
That has helped Brad achieve a rejuvenation at Illinois he always believed was possible.
Buying in
When Brad was an assistant at Western Illinois early in his career from 1994-2003, he watched Illinois have success under the guidance of Lou Henson, Lon Kruger and Bill Self and believed there was something special in Champaign.
He can’t explain the lull that followed the Illini’s appearance in the 2005 national championship game under Bruce Weber, but he still thought it was a top-10 job even with the drop-off.
Now in his ninth season with the Illini, he still believes, touting his “incredible” staff and facilities, a fan base and student section that sells out the State Farm Center and his love of Whitman.
With his ability to draw top talent because of all of that, he said the goal every year should be making the Sweet 16 and beyond.
“It’s why I came here. It’s why I’m still doing it,” Brad said after Illinois’ win over VCU. “If I didn’t think we could have the ability to get to the Sweet 16, have the ability to win a national championship … it’s hard. But that’s what drives me.
“The first day I feel like we can’t win a national championship, they need to hire somebody else or I need to retire. We’re in that mix.”
The reasons for the success, of course, go beyond the facilities and fan base and into what Brad, Tyler and the rest of the Illini staff have been able to do with a unique collection of players this season.
When Tyler thought about his dad’s best traits as a coach, he pointed to Brad’s adaptability and compassion, noting how his players know that he cares for them. Both of those qualities, Tyler said, are critical in this era of college basketball.
“Ultimately what this is all about is getting 15 guys to play for one cause,” Tyler said. “In this transfer portal era, you’ve got guys in and out. That is the most important thing. Our guys believe in him. Our guys believe in each other. And he’s really good at fostering that belief and connectivity.”
Former Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, now at Penn, offered a similar explanation before his team’s 105-70 loss to Illinois in the NCAA Tournament’s first round. He said Underwood always has recruited consistently, finding players who are right for Illinois in both their skill and their mentality.
The Illini have stretched their recruiting across the globe to do that this season, bringing in five players with Balkan heritage.
“He gets pieces that fit,” McCaffery said. “He gets pieces that prioritize winning, and his teams continue to win because, as we know, some teams that build rosters now look good on paper, but they don’t win. His teams win, and there’s a reason for that.”
At the individual level, Tyler has watched Brad use different styles of motivation.
Tyler played with Ayo Dosunmu when Brad was constantly pushing Dosunmu, trying to help him find an edge. Current Illinois guard Kylan Boswell speaks of a similar dynamic, saying Brad often pushes him with “things I wouldn’t be able to say here.”
Tyler also sees his dad offer encouragement to other players, such as telling them to keep shooting, to boost their confidence.
Still, Brad demands everyone buy into their roles.
“He tells the truth, which I think guys appreciate,” Tyler said. “A lot of times you have coaches that beat around the bush, and they want to keep everyone happy. He’s very truthful.
“For him, everything is about winning and treating people the right way. If you respect your teammates and you keep winning the main thing, you’re going to get along. If you’re not living up to that standard, he’s going to hold you accountable. These guys want to be held accountable. It’s simple. They buy into it and they love each other and they love him.”
Getting the buy-in wasn’t necessarily an easy task on the offensive end this season with a team filled with talent. But it has been key to making the offense work.
Boswell, the team’s senior leader, has ceded time on the ball to Wagler during the freshman’s remarkable rise to being named a second-team All-American. Andrej Stojaković, who was the leading scorer at Cal last season, has been asked to be more than just a scorer and now comes off the bench. The Illini big men — twins Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivišić and Mirković — share the spotlight.
Senior forward Ben Humrichous said the Illini make it work because they understand how they all play off one another.
“We are elite when we are able to leverage off of one another, where for instance, Kylan’s ability to get downhill creates advantages for shooters, for a guy like Jake (Davis) and I to get great looks,” Humrichous said. “Or Keaton’s ability to attract off a ball screen, if he’s able to shoot off the bounce, might help the bigger guys with their roles and getting easy looks.
“As you’ve seen throughout the season, people have had their times and their moments where they’ve had incredible performances. It’s being confident and trusting a teammate that they’re going to make the right play for what the game presents. And some guys have nights where they go off because of that.”
The Illini will need everyone to be on their game Thursday against Houston’s fourth-ranked defense, according to KenPom. Wagler said he thinks it will be the most aggressive defense they have faced this season, noting the Cougars’ length and physicality and how hard they play.
At stake is a return to the Elite Eight and a matchup with either Iowa or Nebraska, another step toward Brad Underwood’s ultimate goal.
He told reporters Saturday that if the Illini win another, he plans to bring in his own giant Super Soaker, another experience for him and his son to relish together.
“It’s hard because I was gone a lot in my formative years of coaching,” Brad said. “So to have him sit there and be a part of this is pretty special.”
