Illinois State Basketball: 2021-22 season preview and outlook for Redbirds

ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 4: Head coach Dan Muller of the Illinois State Redbirds directs his team against the Loyola Ramblers during the Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Tournament Championship at the Scottrade Center on March 4, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

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Illinois State Basketball (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images) /

Illinois State basketball coach Dan Muller has been to the mountain top and to the valleys of college basketball. He’s hoping this season starts to trend in that upward direction once again. Muller was an all-league player at ISU that dominated the Missouri Valley Conference in the late 1990s.

He is now entering his tenth season as the Redbirds’ head coach and just four years ago led them to a 17-1 league mark and a co-regular season title with Wichita State. Fortunes have not been kind to Illinois State since then. Their total wins have dropped every season since.

Last year’s 7-18 mark was rock bottom for Muller’s team. During his playing days, Muller was named the Valley’s top defender, but his team was the league’s worst defensive unit last season (74.8 ppg).

Illinois State Redbirds basketball is rebuilding.

With nine returners and some talented newcomers the talent base in Normal, Illinois should be the best it’s been in at least three years. Muller is now the second longest-tenured coach in the Valley (Ben Jacobson UNI has been there longer) and he knows the program has to regain some of its former glory.

The return of leading scorer Antonio Reeves and the addition of Mark Freeman are encouraging signs for the ISU faithful. Illinois State will be taller, more talented, and a bit more athletic than last season and Muller vows that they will play better defense.