Good Morning, Illini Nation: Early portal winners

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Apr. 6—Illinois currently has three open scholarships for the 2024-25 season even after landing Mercer transfer Jake Davis. So there’s still, clearly, more work to do for Brad Underwood and Co. in the portal. In Davis, the Illini landed a shooter with three years of eligibility remaining. Think two more guards and a big man with those remaining spots (if they’re all filled).

But who’s made a splash in the first few weeks of the portal? I’d say these five programs, in the order they came to me, are doing OK …

UCLA

Mick Cronin couldn’t get transfers to Westwood last offseason — hence all those freshmen on the Bruins’ roster — so landing any is a step in the right direction. UCLA has been backcourt-centric in its addition of former Illini Skyy Clark (Louisville) and Kobe Johnson (USC). Clark averaged 13.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and three assists for the Cardinals, so we’ll see if that was a “good stats, bad team” situation. Johnson will give the Bruins a legit two-way wing after earning All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honors the past two seasons. He averaged 10.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists for the Trojans in 2023-24.

Memphis

It was a busy week for Memphis coach Penny Hardaway, who landed one of the best guards in the portal in Tulsa’s PJ Haggerty and former Illinois big man Dain Dainja in the past two days. Haggerty didn’t shoot it all that well for the Golden Hurricane last season — just 28.9 percent from three — but did average 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists. Meanwhile, Dainja might cook in the American Athletic Conference. As a side note, Hardaway’s son, Ashton, entered the portal Friday, so there’s that happening, too.

Louisville

New coach Pat Kelsey got a pair of his players to follow him from Charleston, including his leading scorer Reyna Smith, who averaged 12.8 points and shot 39 percent from three this past season. Young big man James Scott could boost the Cardinals’ frontcourt. Kelsey’s big move, however, was landing James Madison transfer…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/good-morning-illini-nation-early-144800638.html

Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Publish date : 2024-04-06 14:48:00

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