The weekend in college hoops

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Good morning! College football did its soft launch over the weekend, which means school is actually starting. Also means the college hoops season is closer than ever.

Let’s get to the weekend’s news.

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1. Essential piece finally arrives for international Illini

One of the most important players for Illinois next season has officially arrived in Champaign. Serbian guard Mihailo Petrovic was an eagerly awaited piece of the Illini roster, both by the coaching staff and the fans.

The point guard is expected to be a starter this season and arrived a day before classes start. He’s coming to Illinois from KK Mega Basket, a club from the top league in Serbia, the Adriatic Basketball Association.

"Mihailo is the consummate point guard," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said in a statement last month. "He has a great understanding of how the game is played. He has tremendous speed, and, being a little bit older, also has a physicality about him which we like and is needed in the Big Ten.”

Petrovic was the last piece of the highly-touted foreign prospects for Illinois. The Illini also have Montenegrin forward David Mirkovic, the Ivisic twins and Cal transfer Andrej Stojaković — all Balkan based prospects with a ton of talent.

But as Rob Dauster and Mike LaTulip discussed during our Offseason Grades series, the returners might be even more important.

Ky Boswell, Ty Rogers and Ben Humrichous are all back and have had another offseason to improve. And while Rogers may be out for a while, those three will lead the Illini as far as they can take them.

The biggest question marks entering the season? Shooting, and how these international prospects mesh together. Last season, Illinois shot the fourth most 3-pointers in D-I, and not very efficiently (30.1%). The pieces suggest that number goes up, and if the foreign prospects perform, this is a team capable of making a very deep run in March.

2. Kansas State in ‘limbo’ after losing Tyreek Smith

Kansas State suffered a big loss over the weekend with transfer Tyreek Smith being denied his eligibility waiver by the NCAA. He won’t be suiting up for the Wildcats.

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