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Illinois Basketball: Illini scholarship count as of April 23, 2021

By Rees Woodcock

Nov 25, 2020; Champaign, Illinois, USA; A general view during the second half during a game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the North Carolina A&T Aggies at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 25, 2020; Champaign, Illinois, USA; A general view during the second half during a game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the North Carolina A&T Aggies at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /
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A lot has happened this offseason for the Illinois basketball program as far as additions and departures are concerned.

Some of the best players to come through Illinois have left the program. Ayo Dosunmu and, likely, Kofi Cockburn will be missed dearly. It will be hard to ever find a one-two punch like those two ever again.

Overall, though, the Illinois roster has endured a massive shake-up, with only 50.3% of the scholarship minutes from last season returning. That is a big change from the No. 1 seed NCAA tournament team we saw less than two months ago.

With big changes comes confusion about who the Illini have on the roster, who counts against the scholarship count and how many scholarships we have left to use for next season. So, I wanted to break it down for you.

Here is a breakdown of the Illinois basketball roster.

So, I want to layout who counts against the Illinois scholarship count of 13 scholarships for the upcoming 2021-22 campaign.

Players who count against the scholarship total include; Jacob Grandison (1), Andre Curbelo (2), Brandon Lieb (3), Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk (4), Austin Hutcherson (5), Coleman Hawkins (6), Luke Goode (7), RJ Melendez (8), Brandin Podziemski (9), Omar Payne (10) an Alfonso Plummer (11).

Illinois has 11 players who will count toward the scholarship count for the upcoming season. One player who is returning who doesn’t count against the count is Trent Frazier. He is still on scholarship, but per NCAA rules, he won’t count against the total.

That leaves Illinois with 11 players on scholarship and 13 total scholarships to fill. We will need to fill two more spots before the start of the 2021-22 campaign.

Next. Recruiting success unmatched in recent Illini history. dark

This is where we are as of April 23. There is still plenty of time remaining to land two more players. One option still is having Kofi Cockburn return, but I believe that is highly unlikely. There are new players entering the transfer portal every day. I wouldn’t be shocked to see a couple more transfers be added to the mix in the coming months.

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