The daily pitch from Sports Editor : May 14, 2026

May 14—➜ .

➜ . Duke will then make its first trip to Champaign the following season and play Illinois on Dec. 4, 2027 at State Farm Center.

➜ — albeit an empy venue because of the COVID-19 pandemic — on Dec. 8, 2020. The two teams have played in Hawaii (twice), Chicago (twice), Durham, N.C. (twice), Greensboro, N.C., Atlanta and New York.

points scored in his high school career at Glenbrook North from 2002-06, the fifth-most in Illinois history. The two-time News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006 and former Illini recruiting target before he picked Duke will enter his fifth season as the Blue Devils' men's basketball coach. He'll coach in Champaign for the first time during the 2027-28 season when Duke visits State Farm Center.

➜ . The Illini (27-23, 13-14 Big Ten) can improve their seeding for next week's 12-team Big Ten tournament in Omaha, Neb., when the three-game series against the Hoosiers (21-30, 7-20) at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

➜ . Illinois will send 43 athletes — 21 men and 22 women — to Lincoln, Neb., for the event that starts Friday and concludes Sunday. The Illini men are vying for their first Big Ten outdoor title since 2015, while the Illinois women last won a Big Ten outdoor title in 2007.

➜ . Time to start making plans for Sundays in the fall when this happens at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

➜ Bergen Reilly, Caitlin Clark and Syndey McLaughlin-Levrone.

➜ "Gilmore Girls."

➜ loud chewing.