Illinois Basketball: Illini in top 4 for one of the top transfers

Some big news has come down the Illinois basketball pipeline when it comes to the transfer portal.

Illinois is still looking to fill a couple of spots for the upcoming season. With the scholarships available and players being allowed to transfer one time without sitting out a season, the transfer portal has become extremely important.

With that being said, on Wednesday afternoon, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported that Syracuse transfer Quincy Guerrier has cut his list to four programs and kept Arizona State, Memphis, Oregon and Illinois alive for his commitment.

Coming out of Thetford Academy in Quebec, Guerrier was rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 72 player in the class of 2019. He had a number of teams vying for his commitment, including the Illini at the time.  He took three official visits, one of which was to Champaign. But, ultimately, Guerrier picked Syracuse as his landing spot.

Guerrier spent two productive years with the Orange. He averaged 6.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game as a freshman. He then followed that up with 13.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game this past season. He also started to elevate his three-point game a little bit. Guerrier is now taking 2.6 three-pointers per game and hitting them at a clip of 31.1-percent. That is a massive improvement from his freshman campaign.

How would Guerrier fit in with the Illinois basketball program?

Well, if Guerrier picks the Illini, I will publish a projected lineup with the kid in it. But I think he would obviously be a starter from day one. You don’t bring in this talented of a player to ride the pine. Just as his teammate, Alan Griffin.

I would imagine Guerrier would provide so much depth at the No. 3 or No. 4 spot. He can play both roles, but being 6-foot-7, I imagine the No. 4 spot might be the best option. But, honestly, it doesn’t matter in Brad Underwood’s system.

The starting lineup might look something like Andre Curbelo, Alfonso Plummer, Trent Frazier, Guerrier and Omar Payne. That would be an extremely dangerous lineup that could do some damage in the postseason. Guerrier would be a huge addition to the Illini roster.