Illinois Basketball: Illini big man situation is murky after Kofi Cockburn

The efforts to find more depth at the No. 5 spot for the Illinois basketball team remain strong, but the options are dwindling for 2022.

As an Illini fan, I am thankful Kofi Cockburn decided to return for one more season. But, let’s be honest, this will likely be his last stint with the program. The fact we got him back for one more year was a miracle.

Building a program isn’t just about the micro, though. It is also about the macro and what the Illini will look like one, two, or even three years down the line. The realistic outlook is massive uncertainty, at best, for the center position.

Illinois basketball is going to miss Kofi Cockburn when he eventually departs.

The run with Kofi has been something special. He would have made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances if it wasn’t for a once-in-a-century pandemic. And, come March 2022, I fully expect to see Kofi back in the postseason trying to lead Illinois to a national title.

After this season, though, there are so many questions about the No. 5 spot on the team. Who is going to fill those massive shoes, figuratively and literally, left by Kofi?

As of right now, the question cannot be answered by the current roster. The backup to Kofi this season should be Omar Payne. While Payne was with Florida, he didn’t put up big numbers. He wasn’t living up to the four-star potential recruiting sites put on him coming out of high school.

Another option is Coleman Hawkins. He isn’t a center, though. His style of play fits much better with a No. 4 than a No. 5. But, in a pinch, I think Hawkins is skilled enough to fill in at times. He doesn’t seem to be a full-time center, though.

The last option on the team right now is Brandon Lieb. The size Lieb brings to the table is solid at 7-foot, but there is a reason he hasn’t played much with the Illini. If he was a suitable option at the No. 5 spot, then he would have received more minutes.

Here are the career averages of Kofi’s backups entering the 2021-22 campaign.

Omar Payne: 3.8 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 0.3 APG, 1.2 BPG
Coleman Hawkins: 1.4 PPG, 0.8 RPG, 0.4 APG, 0.4 BPG
Brandon Lieb: 0.8 PPG, 1.2 RPG, 0.2 APG, 0.2 BPG

So, clearly, there is massive uncertainty about what is going to happen with the No. 5 spot in the post-Kofi era of Illinois basketball. The next solution in finding a center is via recruiting.

The class of 2022 is bearing fruit for the backcourt, but I can’t say the same for the frontcourt. There have been a few big man targets who have had Illinois as one of their top teams but would ultimately pick another program.

Overall, though, the 2022 class is not great for the center position. It is highly unlikely that Illinois will find their future No. 5 in this class, and as the days go on, this fact is getting stronger and stronger.

If there isn’t a high-level big man coming in from the class of 2022, that means the Illini will have to ride with one of the three mentioned above as the center for the 2022-23 campaign. This would then move us to the class of 2023.

It is way too early to tell who is going to emerge as a serious candidate for Illinois in 2023. There are quite a few big men in this bunch. Some of the talented centers to keep an eye on would be Austin Parks, Assane Diop, Owen Freeman, and Xavier Booker, just to name a few.

At the end of the day, Illinois finds themselves in a pretty sticky situation when it comes to the center position. There is massive uncertainty after Kofi leaves the program. Can one of the big men on the roster emerge as a viable option? Can Illinois pull in a solid No. 5 from the recruiting ranks? Those are two questions that will get answered within the next year.