The men’s basketball rebuild is in full swing this season.

Since taking over in March 2012, head coach John Groce has added 11 new players to the Illinois men’s basketball team, which returns just three scholarship players from last year’s squad. A flurry of new faces, including four transfers and five freshmen, may require some time to mesh in Groce’s second season.

After exceeding expectations in his first year as head coach, it would make sense for the new-look team to take a step back, but Groce may have put Illinois in a place to compete with two returning starters, the team’s sixth man, and three transfer players ready to contribute.

Last year, the Illini started off hot, beginning the season 12-0 and winning the Maui Invitational behind the nation’s best 3-point shooting.

Once the long balls stopped dropping, Illinois hit a rough spot, starting Big Ten play 2-7, including a loss to a mediocre Purdue team and a home blowout loss to a hobbled Northwestern squad.

The Illini’s season turned around in 0.7 seconds, when Tyler Griffey’s last-second layup to beat No. 1 Indiana jumpstarted the Illini, who finished conference play 6-3, and earned a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, defeating Colorado before falling to No. 2-seed Miami in a tight game.

The senior-heavy team relied greatly on Brandon Paul, D.J. Richardson, Tyler Griffey and Sam McLaurin, and three-point shooting, two large differences in this year’s squad.

While you were out                             

In addition to losing the seniors, four Illini transferred to different schools, meaning that the only returning scholarship players are senior Joseph Bertrand and juniors Tracy Abrams and Nnanna Egwu.

With the huge turnover, the Illini added five new freshmen (Malcolm Hill, Kendrick Nunn, Maverick Morgan, Austin Colbert and Jaylon Tate) and four new transfers (John Ekey, Ahmad Starks, Aaron Cosby and Darius Paul), in addition to Rayvonte Rice, who transferred in 2012 and sat out last season.

Of the transfers, Ekey, a fifth-year senior and graduate student, will be eligible to play immediately. Senior Ahmad Starks has a pending waiver, so he would not have to sit out a year. Starks, who played at Oregon State for the past three seasons, transferred closer to his hometown of Chicago because of an ailing grandmother. Paul and Cosby will not be eligible until 2014-2015.

What to watch for

If Ahmad Starks gets his waiver, he could improve Illinois hopes heading into the season. Starks averaged 10.4 points per game behind 40 percent 3-point shooting at Oregon State, and the 5-foot-9 point guard could be relied on for a team with a lack of long-range shooters.

Champaign native Rayvonte Rice transferred to Illinois after playing two seasons at Drake University. The big-bodied guard averaged 16.8 points per game for the Bulldogs during his sophomore season, and he had an entire season to become familiar with Groce’s system and trim down his weight. Rice’s ability to score may come in handy for an Illini team with no proven scorers.

Keep an eye out for the future of the program. John Groce has added 11 players since taking over in March 2012, and he seems to have the Illini competing for commitments from some of the nation’s top seniors. Illinois has plans to have three top recruits, five-star center Cliff Alexander, four-star power forward Leron Black and four-star point guard Quentin Snider, on campus this fall.

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.