NCAA Basketball: 10 biggest position battles to watch for 2023-24 season

2. Illinois Fighting Illini

Position battle: PG – Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn vs Ty Rodgers vs Terrence Shannon Jr.

Last season, the point guard experiment didn’t work as well as Illinois wanted. Freshmen Skyy Clark and Jayden Epps ultimately transferred out, while leading scorer Shannon was the defacto lead guard that ran the offense. He’s back, along with forward Coleman Hawkins, who led the team in passing for most of the year.

At this point in the offseason, the Illini may be running back the same playbook. After missing out on some transfer targets, they could be going with another freshman to run the offense in Gibbs-Lawhorn. He’s a former Purdue commit and top-40 prospect and is a good scorer overall. Rodgers is a returning guard that’s incredibly versatile at 6’8 and can play and guard four positions.

There’s also the chance that Shannon simply takes over once again. There’s depth on the wings to make this happen, thanks to incoming transfers, Justin Harmon and Marcus Domask, along with returning sharpshooting guard, Luke Goode. There’s more shooting around Shannon and with a year of experience playing on-ball, could be an effective lead guard and playmaker for himself and others.

How Illinois handles the PG position is one of the biggest questions in all of NCAA Basketball next season. Because they have some high-level talent everywhere else on the roster. But missing out on a true ball-handler could prove to be their downfall if those on the current roster aren’t able to succeed at a high level.