Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team:

I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Giorgi Bezhanishvili on Friday morning. We hit on several topics. You can read all about the Illini forward in today’s College Basketball Extra (and again next week most likely). 

What you really need to do, though, is watch this behind the scenes video from Illinois’ team photoshoot at Ubben Basketball Complex.

Pose. #Illini | #EveryDayGuys pic.twitter.com/VUWKiQ1yit

— Illinois Basketball (@IlliniMBB) October 3, 2020

Having done so, you’ll understand why what Bezhanishvili said about the vibe around the team this year makes a lot of sense.

“A lot of confidence and a lot of fun,” he said. “We have a lot of hard workers, this group. A lot of very, very talented guys. Guys that love to have fun, love to compete. I feel like we have what they call the swagger. Everybody is really confident in themselves and in our team. It’s just a very, very great vibe.”