Bruce Weber on Illinois' Grueling 2024-25 Basketball Schedule

Bruce Weber says Illini coach Brad Underwood has a challenge, 'but he's done it before'

Feb 1, 2020; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Kansas State Wildcats head coach Bruce Weber yells from the sideline during the second half against the West Virginia Mountaineers at WVU Coliseum. / Ben Queen-Imagn Images

ROSEMONT, Illinois – Bruce Weber, who coached nine seasons at Illinois, from 2003 through 2012, says he teased current Illini coach Brad Underwood when he ran into him at the Big Ten men's basketball media day on Thursday in suburban Chicago.

The source of the ribbing: the schedule – or, some might say, gauntlet – that Underwood will subject his overhauled squad to in 2024-25.

"I'm like, 'What are you doing with all these new guys?'" Weber said with a laugh. "Because last year they played some tough games, but they were at home for almost the whole beginning, and I think that helped them get ready – and then they went on a run."

Set a reminder and block your schedule 📅

The 2024-2025 nonconference schedule is here!#Illini | #HTTO | #EveryDayGuys pic.twitter.com/LNQO8JyFbk

— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) August 20, 2024

After a handful of relative light-touch non-conference opponents to open this season, Illinois will face, among others, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Duke. And, of course, that doesn't include a full slate of conference games in a new-look Big Ten that has added Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA.

"I talked to Tom Izzo about it, and he's the worst," Weber said of Michigan State's coach. "He always says, 'I'm dumb coach,' you know? And then I go, 'Yeah, why you do it?' But then he does it the next year again – it's just kind of his way. It's his belief that he wants to get his guys ready and tough."

The concept isn't completely foreign to Weber, though. In 2003, when he inherited a loaded roster from his predecessor, current Kansas coach Bill Self, Weber didn't hold back in pushing the Illini, who won back-to-back Big Ten championships and played in a national title game in his first two seasons in Champaign.

"When we had Deron Williams and all those guys, I wanted to schedule as tough as possible, because we knew we were good," Weber said. "And so that's the balance. But when you're new or young, you want to have some confidence. You've got to help them."

Still, Weber, who has worked as a Big Ten Network studio analyst since 2022, admits that Illinois' incoming transfers and freshmen aren't just any new group.

"I think it's going to be a challenge, for the new guys and [especially] the freshmen," Weber said. "But [Underwood] loves them. He said they're as talented as any guys he's had for freshmen.

"But when you throw the schedule in, that's a whole other thing that's gonna add to his challenge of getting that group to play together and be ready.

"So he's got a challenge, you know – but he's done it before,"