Illinois Basketball: Tomas Woldetensae eyeing the Illini as possible destination

The transfer marketing hasn’t been great to the Illinois basketball team over the last decade or so.

There have been some players come through the program that was less than impressive, to say the least, from the transfer market. But, under Brad Underwood, the transfer route hasn’t been a bad thing. Graduate transfers haven’t been great, but regular transfers from the junior college ranks have done well.

You can make an argument that Mark Alstork and Adonis De La Rosa were two players who didn’t live up to the, probably too high, expectations during their time with the Illini. But, Andres Feliz has been sensational from the JUCO ranks. This kid came in and dominated from the get-go. He is an extremely talented point guard. Illinois is now looking into another player who could help this team from the JUCO ranks.

On Tuesday night, Matthew Bain of the Des Moines Register tweeted out a list of Indiana Hills Community College transfers and what teams each player was considering. Tomas Woldetensae was on this list and he included Oregon, Maryland, Colorado State, UCF, Southern Illinois and Illinois on his list of teams.

Woldetensae is a 6-foot-5, 195-pound guard from Indian Hills Community College in Centerville, Iowa. He is currently a sophomore with the program, so he would have two years left to play for whatever team he decides to pick. He did pretty well during his sophomore season too.

The numbers Woldetensae put up this past season are impressive. He finished the year averaging 17.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He was 46.7-percent from the field and 47.6-percent from three-point land. That three-point percent isn’t skewed either. This kid shot a lot of balls from deep. He averaged shooting 7.5 three-pointers per game. That is, actually, an incredible number.

There have been a lot of players that I wanted Illinois to land since the season ended. I like a lot of the talent that is out there. But, please basketball Gods, please let the Illini land this kid. Illinois would shoot teams out of the building every night if they had someone line Woldetensae on the court.

Woldetensae would start from day one as well. I would have Ayo Dosunmu, Trent Frazier, Woldetensae, Giorgi Bezhanishvili and Kofi Cockburn as my starting five. That would give the Illini serious three-point range, and they would also have a few big men in the paint. This lineup would be top four in the Big Ten, no doubt about it.

I want all resources put into landing Woldetensae. He is going to be someone that is going to make a team better by leaps and bounds. I just hope he is wearing Orange and Blue.