Will ‘Booty Ball’ Make a Triumphant Comeback for Illinois Basketball?

In March of 2023, Illinois coach Brad Underwood was fed up.

With his Illini having just been knocked out of the Big Ten tournament, and fresh off a third loss of the season to Penn State, Underwood had had enough of the Nittany Lions – or, more specifically, PSU’s 6-foot-2, 200-something-pound guard Jalen Pickett.

Pickett (now thumping away for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets) had lit up the Illini all season, including a 41-point, eight-assist performance in a mid-February game. Much of Pickett’s scoring and facilitating had come out of post-ups – though not the typical, run-to-the-low-block-feed-the-big-man variety. Pickett’s post-ups began on the 3-point line, from where he would slowly work his way into the lane.

Brad Underwood on Jalen Pickett’s “booty ball” style of play pic.twitter.com/fwD43g0ZWp

— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) March 10, 2023

Following the Penn State defeat in the Big Ten tournament, Underwood spoke to the media, saying Pickett “literally takes the ball and pounds nails until he gets it where he wants.”

“Booty Ball” is what Underwood dubbed it, and he was clearly not a fan.

Until he was.

Underwood, though aggravated by the losses, recognized that with no five-second count on post-ups in college, Pickett was violating no rules. He thought it was time for that to change, so he suggested that the NCAA should consider adopting the NBA rule.

Spoiler alert: It didn’t.

And so Underwood, with a grudging “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” shrug, decided that Booty Ball’s time had come at Illinois.

His first move:

Bring in Southern Illinois transfer Marcus Domask.

Pickett, a thickly built but otherwise average-sized guard, had been practically unstoppable for the Nittany Lions against Illinois. Just imagine, the thinking was, the load that Domask, at 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds, would be as the Illini fully embraced Booty Ball.

Fortunately for Underwood, no imagination was necessary.

Domask, throwing around his weight and considerable bag of tricks, averaged 15.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists over the 2023-34 season, often serving as the go-to late-game option for an Illinois team that also featured Terrence Shannon Jr., a future first-round pick.

Nineteen months and an Elite Eight run later, it’s safe to say that Underwood is ever so grateful that the NCAA didn’t make adjustments to that back-to-the-basket rule.

Our next speaker is Brad Underwood (Illinois) presenting on Booty Ball: Offensive Spacing and Mismatches! @CoachUnderwood @IlliniMBB pic.twitter.com/8a4MQlH9Yk

— Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (@ibcacoaches) September 22, 2024

And yet, with Domask gone, a question arises: Is Booty Ball at Illinois dead?

Here’s why we say the answer is a decisive “no”:

Underwood loves big guards.

Ty Rodgers, Tre White and freshman Kasparas Jakucionis each stand 6-foot-6 or taller. All three have the size to play Booty Ball – it just comes down to whether or not the approach suits their style of play.

Rodgers figures to be the likeliest to go full Booty. Weighing in at 210 pounds and with an offensive skill set that becomes exponentially more effective around the rim, Rodgers already has a fairly established history of working inside and posting up as an Illini.

Jakucionis, an NBA lottery-pick-level talent who often operates out of ball screens and finishes around the rim with finesse instead of power, may not be a butt-in-Spanx fit for Booty Ball. But if opposing defenses settle for switching in screen situations, Jakucionis will get plenty of chances to target smaller or mismatched defenders around the paint if he so chooses.

White, a Louisville transfer, is a high-level athlete who loves to attack the rim. When he does get cut off, he often turns his drives into post-ups, making him a prime Booty Ball candidate. With White’s offensive arsenal, he won’t play primarily in that mode, but he has the potential to take advantage of his size at any point in back-to-the-basket situations.

With this Illinois roster seemingly lacking a Booty Ball savant in the mold of Domask, Underwood probably will rely on it as a wrinkle rather than an identity – at least early in the season. That said, given last season’s success with it, don’t be surprised if Illinois turns back to Booty more often as the season wears on – particularly if one of the aforementioned guards takes a shine to it.