Is Illinois Basketball Still Trying To Recruit A Transfer For The 2020-21 Season?
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois reportedly has not allowed the idea of potentially being without a scholarship to hinder their recruitment of transfer portal candidates.
According ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, Illinois is in the mix for the services of 6-foot-6 forward Ben Stanley, who has in the last few days put his name in the NCAA’s transfer portal database after spending two seasons at Hampton.
Before the coronavirus epidemic shut down the 2019-20 season in early March, Stanley, a 6-foot-6 stretch power forward, was the ninth-leading scorer in Division 1 college basketball by averaging 22 points per game. According to Borzello, Illinois has immediately reached out to acquire him via a transfer along with Oregon, Maryland, Xavier, Providence and Georgetown.
Throughout the entire spring, head coach Brad Underwood’s staff at Illinois has been diligently trying to scour the transfer market for a possible forward to play valuable minutes alongside Giorgi Bezhanishvili at the ‘4’ position of the Illini’s system. Illinois missed on the opportunity of securing Indiana transfer Justin Smith as the Buffalo Grove, Ill., native elected to spend his graduate transfer season playing at Arkansas under head coach Eric Musselman.
Stanley has two years of eligibility remaining after transferring but unless he’s able to graduate from Hampton or get a waiver from the NCAA, the Baltimore native would have to sit out the upcoming 2020-21 season. However, Underwood has on several times expressed his love and interest for acquiring sit-out transfers to not only restock the depth at a position but also utilize strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher during the year the transfer is ineligible to play.
“We get so consumed with grad-transfers and our recruiting classes we forget about the No.1 team in the country most of the year was Baylor and their roster was all sit-out guys for the most part,” Underwood said in March. “We forget about those guys. If we had a sit-out guy, it could be anything from a big to a point guard so we’re evaluating everybody (at) all positions, and if a stretch-four was the right fit, potentially, with the right body type and the right skill-set that’s one that we would maybe move on.”
Underwood and the Illini got a live look at Stanley last season and would have their own film to evaluate the 6-foot-6 and 225-pound forward. In a 120-71 victory at State Farm Center on Nov. 23, Stanley had 20 points and five rebounds against the Illini.
Ben Stanley, a 6-foot-6 forward who averaged 22 points per game last season, has reportedly put his name in the NCAA's transfer portal database.
Photo provided by Hampton University athletics department
The problem for the Illini coaching staff is according to the official numbers, they don’t have a scholarship to offer Stanley or any other transfer or unsigned prospect/player for the upcoming 2020-21 season. With the signing of 7-foot center Brandon Lieb, the Illini are currently at the NCAA’s maximum of 13 allotted scholarships but are, of course, still awaiting the draft decisions of two star players.
Illini Now/Sports Illustrated has already previous reported that both Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn continue to wait on word for a possible prospects draft combine date to be announced before the NCAA’s Aug. 3 deadline. Cockburn is back in Champaign-Urbana for COVID-19 safety reasons but has yet to checked in for voluntary on-campus workouts. Dosunmu continues to work privately with his father in Chicago as he continue to evaluate his draft options.