5 thoughts before men's hoops season starts

UI Men's Basketball vs. Lewis» moreIllinois managed to win both of its exhibition games. Now, beat writer SCOTT RICHEY shares his five takeaways heading into Friday’s regular-season opener against Southeast Missouri State:

Age before beauty

Forgive Tracy Abrams if he had a little rust to shake off. Going 31 months and 67 games in between starts was bound to slow the sixth-year point guard down a bit — regardless of how he looked this offseason. He shook off some of that rust against Washington University (a couple forced shots) before settling into a rhythm and finding his teammates in position to score.

Bigger man on campus

Teams started to figure out Michael Finke down the stretch last year.…