Ty Rodgers wants the locker room to buy in. That’s good.

Greetings and salutations, Illinois Land!

It’s refreshing to see Illinois basketball back where it belongs — embroiled in social media controversy yet again. This time it feels different.

The difference this time is the feverish extrapolation of the impact on the Illinois program stems from comments made by a particular player — Ty Rodgers — rather than head coach Brad Underwood.

BU isn’t afraid to speak his mind during press conferences, or in general.

When a college basketball player makes the decision to give his honest opinion on other human beings, the truth revealed from that honesty is particularly hard from some to stomach.

I’ve seen some link Rodgers’ comments to a systemic problem of Illinois “trashing guys on the way way out of the program.”

This is neither a fair critique, nor accurate.

Illinois has made its bed of controversy over the past several years. It now must lie in it, whether it’s legitimate or not.

This Sunday column is going to be…