CHAMPAIGN — During his first 11 years as a Division-I head coach, Brad Underwood never had a player earn a green room invitation to the NBA Draft — despite having three All-Americans in a four-year span at Illinois.
But Underwood and members of his Illin staff will make a flight to Brooklyn next week for the June 25-26 NBA Draft as Illini freshman stars Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley are two of 19 players who have so far earned a green room invitation to the NBA Draft at Barclays Center.
Riley was one of six players to receive invitations this week, and the 19-year-old Canada native will now join Jakucionis, a 19-year-old Lithuanian native who was one of the first 13 prospects to receive an invitation to Brooklyn last week.
While the invitations don't guarantee where players are drafted, it's a very positive sign that both Illini freshmen are expected to be selected in the first round. The NBA selects green room invitations based on a vote by NBA team executives of who they think will be among the top 25 players drafted. Though last season, two of the 20 players who earned green room invitations fell out of the first round: Johnny Furphy and Kyle Filipowski.
Jakucionis and Riley will each will have access to a table, which can sit six guests, in front of the NBA Draft podium and in sight of the television broadcast cameras. Underwood will be in the arena to celebrate both his players and provide great promotion for his Illini program, which has never previously had a single one-and-done draft pick and now is projected to have two.
Illinois is one of just three programs with multiple green room invites so far, joining Duke (Cooper Flagg, Khaman Maluach and Kon Knueppel) and Rutgers (Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey).
"Excited about the prospects for Will and KJ. We'll head to the draft next week. Hopefully, we're only there a day," Underwood said. "That means they're first-round draft picks, and hearing a lot of really positive things from teams and about their workouts. As always, the draft is a little uncertain as there's a lot of trade rumors going around and trades can affect what teams do."
Underwood and his staff have had consistent contact with NBA general managers throughout the process, giving feedback on their strengths, areas of growth and, as important, their mental makeup.
Jakucionis — a 6-foot-6, 205-pound guard who averaged 15.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists — is a consensus top-15 prospect with CBS Sports ranking him No. 9 in the draft, ESPN ranking him No. 10, The Ringer ranking him No. 14 and Yahoo! Sports ranking him No. 15.
Riley — a 6-foot-9, 186-pound wing who averaged 12.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists last season — has a wider range of evaluations. ESPN ranks him No. 17, Yahoo! Sports ranks him No. 26, The Ringer ranks him No. 30 and CBS Sports ranks him No. 31.
Regardless, Underwood thinks the draft process has improved the Illini duo's stock in the minds of NBA executives, and the invitations to Brooklyn would back that up.
"I think both of those guys are really young, and I think that is very exciting to everybody," Underwood said. "I think they've laid witness to how competitive both of them are. It's at a very, very high level. I think that in Kasparas' case, I think that they all bought into the fact that he can do both, play on and off the ball. We played him primarily on it. I think the fact that he can make every pass, has proven very well in ball screens, and his IQ, teams have seen that. I think he's shown that he's a better shooter than what maybe he was perceived to be in college. I think everybody's found out with Will a little bit of what we've seen. Just as he physically continues to grow, his skill and his shotmaking ability will give him a long and pretty productive career in the NBA because of his ability to score.
"I think they've both had great workouts. We've heard a lot of positives. I think in KJ's case, physically he's ready and that he could fill in or step into a roster right now and be a productive player. I think everybody's seen that. But they're both great people. I'm very proud that they've represented our program in a great way because of terrific young men and very excited for them on next Wednesday."
When and where Jakucionis and Riley ultimately are drafted is a mystery for another eight (or nine) days, and their destinations likely could be impacted by trades, which happen aplenty during draft night.
But the invitations to the NBA Draft green room are a sign that odds are in favor of them going in the first round and that the pair will be the first one-and-done draft picks in Illinois history. And it's not out of the question that either or both could be lottery picks, which Illinois hasn't had since Meyers Leonard was selected No. 11 in the 2012 NBA Draft.
Whenever and wherever they go, Underwood will be with the Illini stars in Brooklyn to celebrate a big moment for their futures — and promote the present and future of Illini basketball.
"There's no doubt it's a source of achievement [for the program]," Underwood said. "We don't set out to have one-and-dones and do all of that. But to have guys elevated, I think the style of play, I think the status of this program put guys in those situations. It can be impactful for future recruits that want to come and know they're in the style that fits and their development and everything else is going to happen at a very, very high level. Obviously something that we haven't had happen here, but now we're not going to have one, but probably more than likely two, one-and-dones."