Illinois once again will have to retool a majority of its roster following transfer portal exits and expected NBA Draft defections
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CHAMPAIGN — Brad Underwood and his staff have a lot of work to do.
That's not unlike most college basketball coaching staffs right now, but the Illini are looking at another massive roster retooling as they lost two of their top contributors to the transfer portal — post Morez Johnson Jr. and wing Tre White — and are expected to lose their top two playmakers, freshmen Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley, to the NBA Draft. Plus, the Illini have plenty of other rotation retention questions, particularly Ty Rodgers, Ben Humrichous and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn.
If Tomislav Ivisic, Kylan Boswell and Jake Davis return, Illinois would return just 31.8% of its minutes from the 2024-25 season. So, yeah, that's a lot of production to replace.
But the Illini staff has been busy wading into the portal and even hosting multiple transfer prospects already.
Derek Piper continues to give frequent updates on the Illini's latest movements on the Premium Fan Forum. But we'll also provide updates here on the Illini's transfer targets on our latest Transfer Portal Big Board.
Let's dive in.
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