The beauty of the Illinois-Iowa Elite Eight matchup is the paths the players and coaches took to get there.

HOUSTON – Brad Underwood wore colorful shoes – more than just the usual orange and blue – at his team’s practice this week before Illinois’ Sweet 16 win over Houston at the Toyota Center.

He explained that they carried the flags of the countries his players came from, including the United States, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Puerto Rico and Greece. The nine-year Illinois coach said he wants to have fun and thank his players.

“That’s what this team is about: a group of guys from all over the world,” Underwood said.

If Iowa coach Ben McCollum had a representative of his team on his shoes, it would usually be the flags of the Midwest countries – or maybe the logos of Drake and Iowa together to represent the six players who followed their coach from one state university to another last year.

That’s a nice, surprising difference between the No. 3 Illinois and No. 9 seed Iowa as they prepare for their Elite Eight game, which will end at 5:09 pm Saturday (TBS).

How Illinois’ ‘Balkan Five’ came together – and gave No. 17 Illini new sound

Illinois coaches traveled 5,000 miles to the Balkans to help recruit their international players, including Croatian twin centers Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivišić and freshman David Mirković, who hails from Montenegro.

Underwood said his assistants’ years of service resulted in a team, which he believes fits the university and his style. All three of those players have European professional experience.

“Basketball-wise, it’s very good for me, and I like to coach them,” he said. “The way we play and shoot, it’s a good marriage, and we’re very similar. So we’ll continue. I think others will continue to move there and still try to recruit those guys.”

Meanwhile, when McCollum took over at Iowa last March, he looked at his roster from his one season in the Missouri Valley Conference Drake – a runner-up in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2025 for the first time since 1971 – and brought six players on the short trip from Des Moines to Iowa City.

That included star guard Bennett Strtz, who began his career with McCollum at Division II Northwest Missouri State before transferring with him to Drake. Iowa’s roster is mostly from the Midwest, though the Hawkeyes have 6-foot-10 junior forward Alvaro Folgueiras from Spain.

“In 20 years, it’s going to be a crazy story,” McCollum said of the D-II promotion after Iowa’s win over Nebraska in the Sweet 16.

However, there are plenty of storylines to match in the match between the two teams who have played 172 times before Saturday. It’s Illinois-Iowa, after that.

Two Big Ten schools, separated by 3½ hours, whose participation in the Sweet 16 in Houston this week along with Nebraska has generated plenty of cornrows and emojis on social media.

Two revived programs that want to end the drought Last – Illinois since it last appeared in 2005, Iowa since 1980.

Two unrecruited guards from the Kansas City, Mo., area, Strtz and Illinois’ Keaton Wagler, emerged as among the best in the Big Ten — and the nation — this season.

The two coaches from Kansas and Missouri humbled themselves to work their way up the ranks until they finally reached their First Division Four. Underwood, 62, went step by step in the DI process after a junior college career. McCollum, 44, started in D-II and rose to prominence over the past two DI seasons.

Both Underwood and McCollum started their careers in places in Kansas many will have to Google to find. Emporia State before Northwest Missouri State for McCollum. Dodge City for Underwood before going to Western Illinois and Daytona Beach.

Brad Underwood had his son Tyler by his side during the rebuilding of Illinois – now as a high-level criminal coordinator.

As they prepare for the Sweet 16 games, both reminisce about their first days at those schools. Underwood talked about driving a 16-passenger van to games and at one point making the trip from Dodge City to Mesa, Ariz., for a game.

Now after Division I stops at Stephen F. Austin and Oklahoma State, Underwood is leading Illinois to its second Elite Eight in three years, joining Lou Henson as the only Illini coaches in modern times to reach that stage twice.

Underwood said before facing Houston in the Sweet 16: “If you had told me back then that I would be a basketball coach in the Sweet 16 and play in Houston, I would have signed up for it. I would have crawled to get there.”

McCollum won four national titles at the D-II level with Northwest Missouri State. But he called the Division I tournament “bougie,” given the airfare, meals and hotel accommodations provided.

Adjusting to the Big Ten and his big transfer squad wasn’t easy. The Hawkeyes went 10-10 in Big Ten play, including losing their only game against Illinois 75-69, to finish ninth in the conference.

But the Hawkeyes weathered the storm to play their best basketball in March, upsetting top-seeded and defending champion Florida in the NCAA Tournament second round and fourth-seeded Nebraska in the Sweet 16. That helped McCollum become the second Iowa coach along with Tom Davis to make the Elite Eight in their first year.

“I think everybody doubted us before the Drake season, and it felt the same way at Iowa this spring, this summer,” Strtz said. “Just knowing that we brought six guys from Drake, the middle level, it’s really a different league from the Missouri Valley to the Big Ten, guys that are more talented, more athletic.

“We knew that not everything was going to go well. Sometimes we had strong plays, and we hit, which we needed. But we responded well in every game, and I thought we brought it in every game this year, and it really prepared us for this game in March.”

Underwood said it helped the quick turnaround McCollum was able to bring his players with him to Iowa, including Strtz, who did not receive a DI offer in high school.

Strtz, an All-Big Ten selection, has been a driving force, averaging 19.7 points, 4.4 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game.

“The world has changed,” Underwood said. “When I took over, players had to stay and the transfer world was different. Now you can bring your own culture and you can create that. I think you are obviously very smart. He brought the boys with him. It helps that Bennett is one of them. So you can create your culture very quickly.

“This is a credit to him. His teams have always won because they keep getting better. They don’t stay there.”

Meanwhile, Underwood has built his culture over the years but has been particularly successful this season with a unique team that includes Wagler, who has ties to McCollum, Strtz and many Iowa players from the Kansas City area.

When Wagler was still an undrafted high school player from Shawnee, Kan., McCollum recruited him to Drake.