The injury bug that's decimated the Illini over the past two seasons has reached into the future.
Te'Jon Lucas, the Milwaukee point guard who is signed up to play at Illinois next season, has a fractured foot after taking a fall during a game Saturday night.
Lucas was actually playing in Champaign, with Illinois head coach John Groce looking on, when he suffered a fate all too familiar to the fourth-year Illini coach.
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Sunday, with Lucas in attendance for Illinois' game against Big Ten-leading Iowa, reports emerged of the severity of the injury.
After Groce missed out on some big-name point-guard recruits in recent seasons, Lucas is finally the one Groce was able to bring to Champaign. Lucas is ranked as a three-star recruit by Rivals and picked Illinois over offers from Memphis, Purdue and USC, among others.
It can't help but feel like a continuation of the never-ending stroke of bad luck the Illinois basketball program has experienced in recent seasons. And now it's stretching into a season that hasn't even started yet.