Good Morning, Illini Nation: More schedule thoughts

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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:

Most of the tip times and broadcast information for Illinois' 2024-25 slate of games was released Wednesday. As always, I have a couple thoughts. (And not just on the number of late games that are a tad detrimental to the only remaining writer on the beat with an actual deadline):

Streamers here to stay

The Big Ten further expanded into the streaming world last season with the addition of Peacock games to go with the nonconference games that had appeared on BTN Plus. That will continue this season. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti admitted as much last week at Big Ten Media Day when he said the conference had "an obligation as a league to make sure we're expanding out and we're putting our content where things might be moving." Notable on Illinois' schedule, though, is a single game on BTN Plus to go with four on Peacock. It wouldn't be surprising, though, if the Nov. 23 game against Maryland-Eastern Shore — on a football Saturday — also wound up on BTN Plus.

Network opportunities

At the other end of the broadcast spectrum for Illinois will be four games on CBS and four more on Fox. That's more on network TV in a single season than I can remember the Illini having in my previous nine seasons on the beat. It's a testament to where the program has risen in Brad Underwood's tenure as coach. Teams don't get network games — especially the CBS game on Thanksgiving Day after the Chicago Bears/Detroit Lions showdown — if they're not among the nation's best. Playing Arkansas in the first season of the John Calipari era helped sell that game, but Illinois' recent success was also part of the get-it-on-CBS equation.