Illinois Basketball: Where Pat Andree would fit in the Illini rotation

The transfer market is huge for the upcoming offseason, and the Illinois basketball team needs to get a piece of the action.

Pat Andree is a transfer that is wanted by many including the Illini. Back on March 19, Evan Daniels of 247Sports reported that Andree had already been contacted by the Illini along with other programs like Northwestern, Seton Hall, Xavier and Vanderbilt, just to name a few.

That was a little over a week ago, though. On Tuesday, Daniels tweeted out a new list that might be more up-to-date as far as interest goes. He tweeted Andree has heard from teams like Boston College, NC State, Kansas State and Rutgers, to name a few. Illinois was still included on this list. I take this list more as these are the teams Andree is looking at moving forward.

I welcome any addition to that team that will help us win in the future. I already think the Illini are going to be exponentially better next season, but adding a solid piece for depth would help this program as well. That leaves the question; where would Andree fit in on the Illini roster?

Andree is a 6-foot-8, 225-pound player who averaged 12.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game last season for the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. One of the attributes that stands out the most about Andree’s game is his ability to shoot the three-pointer. He was putting up almost six three-pointers per game last season and made them at a clip of 41.9-percent. That is just as good as or better than anything we had on our roster.

Illinois is pretty set at the No. 1 and No. 2 guard roles. Ayo Dosunmu and Trent Frazier are starting at those positions. I believe the No. 4 and No. 5 sports are also set with Giorgi Bezhanishvili taking over at the No. 4 while Kofi Cockburn will step in at the No. 5. The No. 3 spot is the big question for the Illini.

Here is how I see Andree fitting in with this Illini team. I would have a starting lineup of Ayo, Frazier, Andree, Giorgi and Kofi. This would be the best starting lineup we could put on the floor. I also think there would be times where Andree could move over to the No. 4 spot and Giorgi to the No. 5 when Kofi gets tired. That would put a smaller lineup on the court but one that is more dangerous offensively.

I am not sure what the starting rotations would be entering next season with Andree on the team. But, I do think he would get the starting nod. I would put him as the starting No. 3. We would have a big, dangerous, lineup on the floor. This team would do some damage in the Big Dance.