LSU Basketball Was Recently in the Mix for Another Illinois Transfer

One of the premier players in the Big 10, Kofi Cockburn, announced he'd be pulling his name from the 2021 NBA Draft and returning to college for another year. The only question is where will he be going?

After averaging 17.7 points and 9.5 rebounds for Illinois during its run to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, not only did Cockburn enter the NBA Draft but also the NCAA Transfer Portal. The leaders in the clubhouse for his services now that he's back in the portal will be Illinois and Kentucky according to a report from Orange and Blue News.

Included in that report, was recent steam on LSU making a push for Cockburn to come to Baton Rouge.

"Other recent buzz for Cockburn has surrounded LSU, but that died down and this does appear to be a fight between Illinois and Kentucky," Doug Bucshon wrote.

Cockburn was teammates with guard Adam Miller a season ago, who transferred to the Tigers this offseason and is likely where the LSU connection stemmed from. That interest likely died down significantly when LSU officially learned it would be getting Darius Days back into the fold.

But it also points to the fact that Will Wade may not be done tinkering with this roster. He's even said as much since the Days announcement became official, though it does appear that the major acquisitions could be just about done.

In past seasons, a well balanced team has been one of the inconsistencies with this roster, leading Wade to play just eight or rarely nine guys throughout the course of a game. There will be no such issues in 2021-22 as the Tigers could go 11 deep this season with contributors from last season and the new talent the program has brought in.

LSU will get back to work at the end of the month for a second summer session before school starts. In the meantime, Miller is currently competing with Team USA and incorporating such a big piece back into the rotation like Days will take some time.

"Let's get everybody here and start forming a team first then we'll get going. I certainly think with Days you've got a veteran leader, a first team All-SEC player," Wade said. "Somebody that's been in the fights so I think it certainly increases our chances of competing at the top of the league. There's no doubt about that."