THREAD: After his first couple of seasons taking over a major rebuild at Illinois, I thought the best comp for Brad Underwood's potential trajectory with the Illini was that of John Beilein's slow start at Michigan. /1

As we approaching he stretch run of Underwood's fourth season in Champaign, I was curious how he's comparing to Beilein's record through his fourth season in Ann Arbor. So, I took a look. /2

19 games into his 4th season, Underwood's Illini record stands at 61-54 (.530), 34-37 (.479). After four seasons with Michigan, Beilein was 67-67 (.500), 30-42 (.417). /3

Notably, in Seasons 3 & 4, Underwood is 35-15 (.700), 23-10 (.697), whereas Beilein was only 36-31 (.537), 16-20 (.444) in this third and fourth seasons. /4

After his fourth season at Michigan, however, Beilein went 211-83 (.718), 96-50 (.658) over the next 8 seasons with two B1G championships, three Elite Eights, two Final Fours, and two national runner-up finishes. /5

We'll have to see how the rest of Underwood's fourth season goes, and the ensuing seasons after this one. But after a slow start to his tenure at Illinois, Brad is faring quite favorably when compared to Beilein's stellar career at UM, which included its own slow start. /End