Illinois Basketball: Illini finds next superstar big man in Dain Dainja

The future at the center position for the Illinois basketball team got some stability on Saturday night.

I think most Illini fans realize that this is the final season for Kofi Cockburn. Honestly, we were all lucky that the big man returned for one more campaign. He had the opportunity to go to the G-League or even transfer to Kentucky. But Illinois managed to pull Kofi back into the fold.

With this being Kofi’s final season, Illinois needed to find a replacement for him. It was good we landed Omar Payne, but I think it is pretty evident he isn’t a starting-caliber center. On Saturday night, Brad Underwood was able to land one of the premier transfers in the portal.

Illinois basketball is set at the center position with the commitment of Dain Dainja.

Via his Twitter account, Dain Dainja announced he was committing to play basketball for the Illini. He entered the transfer portal just a week prior to his commitment on Saturday, so this was a quick recruitment for Underwood and his coaching staff. It was also a massive addition to the program.

Coming out of Park Center High School in Minnesota last year, Dainja was a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 91 player in the class of 2020. He was also the No. 18 center in the nation and the No. 3 player coming out of Minnesota.

Dainja picked Baylor, but things didn’t go well for the big man. He redshirted his first season, and he wasn’t receiving minutes in the current campaign. Dainja was averaging three minutes per game and putting up two points and one rebound in each contest.

What would have been the main recruiting pitch for the Illini to Dainja? Playing time, obviously.

With Kofi departing and no other real option behind him, Dainja has the starting No. 5 spot next season and for the foreseeable future. If he can score at all and be a dominating physical presence, then there is no doubt the transition from Kofi to Dainja will be seamless.

If this doesn’t get you excited about the future of Illinois basketball, then I am not sure what will get you excited. Illinois needed a center and they got that in the former Baylor big man. Now we just need a backup point guard. This team is looking great.