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Brad Underwood & Illinois Postgame Press Conference - Final Four | March Madness 2026 · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Coach will ask for an opening statement from you and
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: then we'll take questions.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of credit to Yukon. They fight, they compete,
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: very very good basketball team. Seemed like we were we
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: were fighting uphill all day. I felt really good at
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: half being down eight. Uh, they were forty on twos.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: They banked one end. I liked our looks even though
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: we were three or fourteen from three. I liked every
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: one of our looks. I thought defensively, it was it
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: was the tempo that we that we wanted. And I
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: thought we I thought we were. I thought we were
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: really solid, and we were down eight, and you know,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: we fought, we fought, we fought, and uh, I had
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: a very tough shooting night it especially at the rim.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: You know, we missed some shots that we normally don't miss.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: It's part of this game. The ball has to go
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: in and and you hold a team to thirty five
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: percent from the field and and uh and and we've
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: had the number one offense in the country all year.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: And again, give you con credit. They forced some of
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: those misses. But again, I thought our looks were really
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: good and and I wouldn't wouldn't do anything on that
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: side over again, but couldn't be prouder. I'm really bad
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: at the end of seasons. Guys, I'm terrible. Been doing
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: this a long time and I've I've never been around
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: a group of guys who've given me more joy.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: We didn't have it bad practices. They played for the
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: name on the front. Andre came here with the intent
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: of being around winning and and being a part of that,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: and this young man's grown to a whole new level.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Couldn't be prouder of him. I think our fans I
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: can't say enough about the Alani nation. They were here strong,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: they have been everywhere strong. I think they fell in
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: love with this group because of who they are as people.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: It's just an extremely high character locker room and ending stink.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: The year Keaton had, the year Tommy had. I go
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: right on down the list. A huge thank you to
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Ben Hu Marikous, Kylin Boswell, a j Red who who
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: I should mention was the obviously the scholar athlete of
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the final four. Speaks volumes to who those people are
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: and and Kylon and Ben and and and that group
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: will be revered in in Illinois, Illinois Lord will hang banners.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: But today was not our day. I want them to
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: all hold their head high and uh feel proud of
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: of the jersey they wore. And I'm I'm selfish here
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: when I say this. The joy that that that they
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: gave me this year was was very very meaningful.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: Thank you, coach.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: We're looking for questions for the Illinois student athletes first,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Andre Keaton or Thomas Love. If you have a question,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: please raise your hand. Microphone attendant will head in your direction.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Questions for the Illinois student athletes, we'll go up front
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: and center.
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: It's Tyler Cottingham from a line onboard dot com.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: It's for Keaton. Keaton.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I know it's a tough.
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: Locker room scene right now. Can you share what it
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: was like to, even though with a losing effort, share
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: that those last moments with your with your fellow teammates
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: in the locker room.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot of emotions, No, a lot of tears.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: I think it's just as I say on how hard
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: we worked this whole year, and you know, you never
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: want the season to end. So I mean that's what
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: it was. But you know, I think we had a
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: really great season, a special season, making history. I love
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: it each and every one of my teammates, and I
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: wouldn't have want to do it with anyone else.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: The Ukutt locker room closes at nine and eighteen. The
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Illinois locker room closes at nine twenty three, and we're
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: looking for questions for Andre, Thomas Love or Keaton. If
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: there is one, please raise your hand. We'll send the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: microphone a tenant in your direction. Let's go to the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: center of the room towards the back.
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: Tommy feels like you guys played your heart out tonight.
• 4:27
  Speaker 7: Coming into tonight, you knew you had to take care
• 4:29
  Speaker 7: of Tarris Reid. You guys won the points in the
• 4:30
  Speaker 7: paint battle, you won the rebound battle.
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: You feel like it just came down to bad luck
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: with the Rims.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: I feel like we missed a lot of shots at
• 4:40
  Speaker 6: the rim They were usually make and I don't know
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: how other way to call it than bad luck, but
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: they were definitely more They used their opportunities better than
• 4:54
  Speaker 6: we did.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: And Yeah, continuing with questions for the student athletes from Illinois,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: if you have one, please raise your hand with no
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: more questions. You want to thank Andre, Thomas Love and Keaton.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: They're going to head back to the locker room and
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: join their teammates. That locker room again is open until
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: nine twenty three. Congratulations fellows on your run to the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: final four.
• 5:19
  Speaker 8: Thank your name.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: If you have a question for coach Underwood, please raise
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: your hand. We'll start in the third row on the right.
• 5:36
  Speaker 9: Audie Joseph, CBS Sports Brad, what does this game tell
• 5:40
  Speaker 9: you about the thinnest of margins, especially at this level
• 5:43
  Speaker 9: of a sport.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: That's all we talk about all year long. It's margins,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: and they're so small. Winning's really hard. Getting here is
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: really hard do winning is really hard and great. It's
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: why I have so much appreciation for Caravan. Been to
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: three of them. Uh, that's freaky, but it's uh, it's
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: a rebound, it's a loose ball, it's a ball rolling in.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: It's a banked three in a one possession game, and
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: you know, and and it's just it's it's what that is.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: And and uh uh no possessions off, no, no, no
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: time to you know, you can't afford turnovers or whatever
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: it is. It's it's it's a margin. It's very small.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: Third row, center, right.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: This is Tyler Conning from my lineboard dot com after
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: the game against Yukon in New York, you'd mentioned that
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: you got a high volume of what you call gold
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: medal shots in that game as well. But over the
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: last three times you've played Yukon three three seasons twenty four,
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: twenty twenty six, the season, your your total in those games.
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: This is your lowest scoring output as a team in
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: those three.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Games over the last three seasons.
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: What's specifically about Yukon makes it tough for you guys
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: to score?
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe it's uniforms. I don't know. I
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: I we make those shots against everybody else. Yeah, I
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: don't know. I think it was I felt so good
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: about the shots, and you know when when you miss
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: some easy ones, then it stresses your defense. I could
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: have been happier with our defense, and I just thought that,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: uh again, you know, we're at the rim and some
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: of those were you know, with those are point blank
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: shots that we missed, and then it's, uh, you know,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: wide open threes, and so it's just part of the breaks.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: I don't make too much of it against one team,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: but give them a lot of credit, and they are
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: very good defensively, their top ten defense. But we've seen
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: those all year and still made.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: Shots in the center of the room all the way back.
• 7:55
  Speaker 7: Coach Ratt Frenzi from B to BN China, sorry for
• 7:58
  Speaker 7: the loss for tonight's game. You have offered Chinese prospect
• 8:02
  Speaker 7: boy You're in John earlier this year. I know he
• 8:05
  Speaker 7: hasn't made his decision to join the team, and it
• 8:08
  Speaker 7: might be a bit earlier to ask, but I just
• 8:11
  Speaker 7: wondering if he joins the Illinois the team for next season,
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: do you think he can help the team to take
• 8:16
  Speaker 7: next step for next season.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't think we would be recruiting anybody, and
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to get into specific prospects, but I
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: don't think we're recruiting anybody that we feel like can't
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: play for us. So I'll leave it at that.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: We're going to go all the way up front.
• 8:32
  Speaker 10: The NBN New Sporting News brat. First off, congratulations on
• 8:35
  Speaker 10: an unbelievable season despite the loss. My question is you
• 8:39
  Speaker 10: had told me a year ago in Milwaukee that your goal,
• 8:41
  Speaker 10: of course is to steal and will continue to always be,
• 8:44
  Speaker 10: to win a national championship. You came up two games
• 8:47
  Speaker 10: shorter that tonight. What would be your overall biggest tolls
• 8:50
  Speaker 10: to take away from the season, and can you just
• 8:52
  Speaker 10: kind of talk about how proud you are this group
• 8:55
  Speaker 10: and how proud this group made out of you as
• 8:58
  Speaker 10: a coach.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: You know, I told our coaches, I said, you know
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: when when when they beat us in the Elite eight,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: we were we were we were right there. That was
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: a bad feeling. This is even worse. I thought that
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: team was a Final four team, but just lost to
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: them in the Elite eight. I thought we were a
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: national championship caliber team. And and I'll say what I
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: always say, and it sounds redundant, but I apologize. You
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: just have to keep knocking on the door. And this team,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: like I said, gave me joy because they were about
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: all the right things. And if you want to put
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: a contest together about good human beings, we'll win. And
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: and and you there's no question what this group will
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: be in life. And as a coach, that's why I
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: got it in this am I competitive do to does
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: today's stink. It hurts Mike got hurts so bad right
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: now that I feel for all of them, But I'm
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: also excited about the joy that we brought a lot
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: of people in this run. And we've got Illinois back
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: to a level that they're in final fours again, and
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: and and I got as long as I'm the ball coach,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: I better not take twenty one damn years to get
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: back there. And we've got great people, we've got great support,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: and for that, I'll reflect and at some time. Today's
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: not a very good time to ask me that, but
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: I'll reflect on what we're doing. I feel sad. I'm sad.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: If you want to know the truth, I'm sad. But
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I'll reflect on some of the other stuff later seasons
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: coming to an end, stinct because I'm gonna steal a
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: quote from Kelvin saying, and they may not be the
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: biggest part of I may not be as big a
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: part of their life, but they are my life. And
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: and I'm sad. I'm sad.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: Coach will take our next one on the left side.
• 11:13
  Speaker 8: Brad on your left, Steve Greenberg, sometimes, Hi, as long
• 11:18
  Speaker 8: as you banged away at this career, and more recently
• 11:22
  Speaker 8: you've talked about, you know, explicitly talked about wanting to
• 11:26
  Speaker 8: get to the final four. Now that you have and
• 11:28
  Speaker 8: and have lost and and you're sad, you know, and
• 11:32
  Speaker 8: all that, like the experience has it changed. Has it
• 11:37
  Speaker 8: informed any nuance to the way you feel now that
• 11:41
  Speaker 8: you can only feel having been here?
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: You know the beauty of this thing because I've I've
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: had some some some unbelievable stops along the way in
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Dodge City, Kansas, Macomb, Illinois, Daytona Beach, Florida, Kansas State,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: South Carolina, Nakadocia's ex's Stillwater, Oklahoma in here. And the
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: one thing that this did is see, if you guys
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: don't know me, I'm about relationships. If anybody remembers me
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: for wins and losses, then I didn't do a very
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: good job as a human being. Because the one thing
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: this did for me was bring a lot of people
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: who I haven't talked to reached out. And there's a
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: lot of people here supporting me and my family. And
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: that's what this experience is about for me. For that
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: group of guys in there, that's a lifetime memory and
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I couldn't be more excited about that. And if you
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: want to criticize me for as a coach, criticized me,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: but as a human being, this was one of the
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: most joyful and unbelievable events of all time. And my
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: hat's off to Indianapolis. My hat's off to the city
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: in the NCAA for the job they do, because they
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: make this a special experience. Even though we lost today.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: Coach, we're going to take one last question. On the
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: right side, third row.
• 13:02
  Speaker 9: Thomas Laval talked about what it was like seeing some
• 13:06
  Speaker 9: shots that they make all season not go in today.
• 13:09
  Speaker 9: I'm curious as a coach, what do you tell them
• 13:12
  Speaker 9: in those moments when you're seeing like the sequence where
• 13:14
  Speaker 9: Soyakovic missus olea if he sits grabs it puts it
• 13:18
  Speaker 9: right back up and both of them just rim out,
• 13:21
  Speaker 9: like you, what can you tell them in that moment?
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Keep doing it. You can't get better shots than that.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Just keep doing it. It's what took It was my
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: message at halftime. Keep shooting those shots. We couldn't get
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: better shots. We can't get I mean, you can't get
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: point blank layups. And yet everything we do in our
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: program is to try to fight. And I thought we fought.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: We held them to thirty five percent. They just made
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: more threason we did and just keep fighting and I
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: loved it. Like I said, I love the shots we're getting.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I love the opportunities today for whatever the reason the
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: lid was on it and my hat's off to them.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: They made theirs.
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: We want to thank coach Underwood.