Can the No. 3 Illini men’s basketball team meet sky-high expectations?

When David Mirković thought back to the Illinois men’s basketball team’s postseason run in the spring, his favorite experience off the court was deboarding the plane at Willard Airport after the Elite Eight win over Iowa.

The Illini had just made their first Final Four in 21 years, and people came out en masse to celebrate the team led by the freshman duo of Keaton Wagler and Mirković.

“When we came back to the airport and I saw thousands of fans, that was pretty impressive,” Mirković said earlier this month during Big Ten media days. “It felt like a movie.”

Mirković and the Illini have spent the last seven months preparing for the sequel — with a partially altered cast. Wagler is in the NBA after an extraordinary All-America freshman season. Kylan Boswell and Ben Humrichous, whom coach Brad Underwood called “championship-level role players,” also are gone.

But Mirković, wing Andrej Stojaković, centers Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivišić and forward Jake Davis return to lead a team that looks the part of another contender as it enters Monday’s season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson ranked No. 3 in the AP poll.

That is, as long as the Illini can get and stay healthy.

Four of the five aforementioned players missed at least part of an exhibition loss to Baylor last week. Mirković was wearing a boot and riding a scooter before the game as he continues to recover from left foot surgery. He had been seen walking and practicing without both, but Underwood said the sophomore forward now is expected to miss some regular-season games.

Stojaković and Zvonimir Ivišić left the Baylor game after hitting their heads, and Tomislav Ivišić left with a knee issue.

As the Illini look to get their health back on track, they’re motivated after their experience last season, which ended with a loss to Connecticut in a national semifinal.

“The most difficult part about it is getting to the highest point in college basketball that weekend and having to wait a full year to try to get back to that point,” Stojaković said. “It’s going to take a lot of patience and maturity to get through the season without getting carried away at times.

“But understanding that if we take it one game at a time, like we did last year, we’ll eventually find our success. But we haven’t proved anything yet, so we’re waiting to go out there.”

The Illini’s returning core, led by preseason All-Big Ten selections Mirković and Stojaković and returning starters Tomislav Ivišić and Davis, is one of the best in the conference. But they need newcomers to step up if they’re going to build on the accomplishments of last season behind Wagler, who averaged 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists.

Freshman Quentin Coleman and Providence transfer Stefan Vaaks are the two biggest names tasked with rising.

The 6-foot-4 Coleman was the country’s No. 3 shooting guard and No. 18 recruit overall, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, coming out of the Principia School in St. Louis. He flipped his commitment to Illinois from Wake Forest one day before the Final Four, and now he’s being talked about as the next potential one-and-done Illini player.

Underwood called Coleman “a high-level competitor.” He said the freshman’s shooting has been better than billed and he also has gotten to a pretty good place defensively, though he’s maybe too aggressive at times.

“He’s got a great, great motor. I love that about him,” Underwood said. “He has been maybe better than advertised as a shooter. I’ve been very pleased with his ability to shoot off the bounce. He’s getting better every day. He’s gained weight. He’s gotten stronger.

“The next step for him is to see a different-colored jersey, put some people in the stands and see what comes of that. And then handle all of the emotional stuff that comes with the game of basketball when you have to compete against others.”

Coleman is one of a large, highly rated freshman class that also includes 6-4 guard Ethan Brown, who earned a pair of preseason starts.

Vaaks, a 6-7 guard from Estonia, comes to the Illini after a Big East all-freshman season at Providence, where he averaged 15.8 points and 3.2 assists with 91 3-pointers.

“He added a lot of shooting, a lot of versatility, facilitating, playmaking,” Mirković said. “But the biggest thing with him is his willingness to learn and to improve. I would say probably his defense, that was a big concern, but it got much better lately.”

The Illini expect to have a faster-paced offense than last season after they slowed down to fit Wagler’s playing style. Underwood said they’re bigger and more athletic.

But they have problems to solve, including how to pull out close games after losing four games in overtime in 2025-26. Underwood said they need to find the right role players to fill the holes of the departed Boswell and Humrichous. And the Illini need to show they can play standout defense to go with their high-powered offense.

Underwood expects the freshmen to have to grow up quickly with a schedule that includes nonconference games against No. 19 Texas Tech, No. 2 Duke and No. 4 UConn in the first month.

The veterans will have to carry the load while they do so.

“The biggest thing is taking our experiences as returners and bringing them to the table but understanding that it’s a clean slate,” Stojaković said. “Every team, no matter what their success looked like last year, is starting over to a certain extent.

“And just being there for the guys through adversity is probably going to be the biggest thing this year. Obviously there’s going to be really good moments and there’s going to be tough moments. So being there for them and keeping the team together is going to be very important for our success.”

Mirković, who averaged 13.3 points, eight rebounds and 2.6 assists, continues to recover after surgery Aug. 4. When asked about the return of the boot, Underwood said Mirković didn’t suffer a setback but doctors wanted to be sure his foot was healing the right way. Mirković and Underwood said he got in good work before the surgery, getting to a good playing weight and improving his ballhandling.

Underwood said Mirković’s versatility to play all five positions will be huge for Illinois this season. The confidence and leadership of Stojaković also will be key after he fueled the Illini in the NCAA Tournament last season with his elite slashing abilities and strong defense.

The senior wing, who averaged 13.5 points and 4.5 rebounds, said playing aggressively helped him find his groove. Underwood believes better shot selection also should help Stojaković this season.

“He’s a good shooter,” Underwood said. “He took a lot of really hard shots last year. He took a lot of off-the-bounce 3s that were contested. He probably took as many contested 3s at the end of a shot clock. We’ve got to get him taking the right shots.”

The role the 7-1 Tomislav Ivišić could play in his third season in Champaign also shouldn’t be understated. Underwood said he has seen great work ethic from Ivišić and better movement on the floor.

“He’s worked very, very hard on his face-up game, his ability to drive,” Underwood said. “So (he’s a) much better player. Now, hopefully with a little good luck, he stays extremely healthy and can be the guy that we saw at the end of last year, which was a dominant player.”

Illinois’ No. 3 preseason ranking is its second-highest behind the second-ranked 1984-85 team. The Illini also were ranked No. 3 before the 2001-02 season.

Underwood said they’re embracing the expectations as they pursue the program’s first national championship — they earned them, after all — but they also have to understand they have to prove themselves all over again.

“This group hasn’t done anything,” Underwood said. “Last year’s team did it. Keaton Wagler’s not coming back through the door. Ben’s not coming back through the door. Let’s make our own identity, and let’s make it a better one. And the only way we know to do that is work.

“This group’s really hungry. The veterans are hungry. A great feeling but a bad taste was left when we didn’t play very well (in the Final Four). Let’s go try to be better.”