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Welcome to Good Morning, Illini Nation, your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini sportswriter and AP Top 25 pick Scott Richey. Each morning he shares insight on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball in general:

Illinois released its full non-conference schedule on Tuesday. Here’s a closer look at the seven teams coming to State Farm Center in November and December:

Eastern Illinois

Last year’s record: 14-18, 8-10 Ohio Valley Conference

Best returning player: Nakyel Shelton averaged 11 points and 4.4 rebounds per game in 2023-24. The 6-foot-3 guard will likely have to take on an even more important role now that Tiger Booker (last year’s leading scorer) has exhausted his eligibility.

Of note: EIU has a wild schedule in November with games at Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern and DePaul. There’s also a date at Butler in December. Keep up the good work, Panthers.

SIU-Edwardsville

Last year’s record: 17-16, 9-9 OVC

Best returning player: Ray’Sean Taylor has been an impact player for the Cougars from Day 1. Now a senior, the 6-foot-1 guard has averaged 15.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and three assists in his career, but is coming off his least productive season in 2023-24.

Notable: Like EIU, SIUE will play Illinois and Indiana back to back in the first week of the season, but will play the Hoosiers first.

Oakland

Last year’s record: 24-12, 15-5 Horizon League

Best returning player: The Golden Grizzlies are in a tough spot with Trey Townsend transferring to Arizona and Jack Gohlke (who made 10 threes against Kentucky) finishing his college career last season. Not to mention a couple more graduates and Chris Conway transferring to Washington. That leaves DQ Cole, with his 8.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last season, as Oakland’s best option.

Noteworthy: Greg Kampe was obviously not happy with the return to Champaign. The Oakland coach also put Kansas, Michigan State and Arkansas on his team’s schedule.

Maryland East Coast

Last year’s record: 9-20, 4-10 MEAC

Best returning player: Coach Cleo Hill Jr., hired on June 1, had to rebuild his roster from scratch. The Hawks literally don’t have a single returning player.

Notable: Ketron “KC” Shaw followed Hill from Winston Salem State, where he averaged 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game last season.

Small stone

Last year’s record: 21-14, 14-4 OVC

Best returning player: KK Robinson, who started at Arkansas and also played at Texas A&M, is back for his second season with the Trojans. The 6-foot-1 guard averaged 15.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists in the 2023-24 season.

Noteworthy: Robinson is not the only player from Little Rock with experience in a power conference. The Trojans also have Johnathan Lawson (Memphis/Creighton) on the roster.

Tennessee

Last year’s record: 27-9, 14-4 SEC

Best returning player: Zakai Zeigler bounced back from tearing his ACL in February 2023 to post 11.8 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game last season. The three-time SEC All-Defense pick may need to add more points with Dalton Knecht, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi missing from the backcourt.

Notable: The Vols made a lot of transfers in the offseason, signing guard Chaz Lanier from North Florida, forward Darlinstone Dubar from Hofstra, forward Igor Milicic Jr. from Charlotte and center Felix Okpara from Ohio State.

Chicago State

Last year’s record: 13-19

Best returning player: The Cougars’ top three scorers from last season all transferred, with Wesley Cardet Jr. landing at Providence, Jahsean Corbett at Duquesne and Brent Davis transferring to LIU. That leaves Noble Crawford as the best option after averaging 7.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 2023-24.

Notable: After two seasons as an independent, Chicago State will join the Northeast Conference in 2024-25, which makes as much sense as it did when the Cougars were in the Western Athletic Conference (which is very little).