Illinois Basketball: Illini foundation still strong despite Zacharie Perrin departure

Just when we needed a pick-me-up, things seem to go from bad to worse for the Illinois basketball program.

Back in June 2022, the Illini were able to land Zacharie Perrin, a talented young forward out of France. Perrin was expected to arrive in Champaign in August, but he decided to join Sunrise Christian Prep instead. He spent a semester there before officially joining the Illinois program in late December.

Perrin was able to see action in the 15-point loss to Indiana on January 19. He only played two minutes in that contest, but it was supposed to be the beginning of a nice career at Illinois. Well, it looks like that career has now ended.

Less than an hour before the game on Tuesday, a press release was published that Perrin had left the Illinois program and returned back to France. On Wednesday, it seemed that everything was confirmed when agent Guillermo Bermejo of You First Sports announced the signing of Perrin to his agency.

What does losing Zacharie Perrin mean to the Illinois basketball program?

Honestly, I am kind of shocked by the news that has broken in the past 24 hours. On February 8, Perrin retweeted a video of him talking about the process and how easy Illinois and his teammates have made things. He talked about getting his body ready for the physicality of the Big Ten as well.

Just some speculation here, but it sure feels like someone got in Perrin’s ear and now he is onto a different path moving forward.

As far as Illinois is concerned, this doesn’t really affect the program too much. It would have been nice to have more depth on the team, but there are bigger priorities right now, like getting this program into the NCAA tournament and finishing the season strong.

Perrin was likely going to be a redshirt this season anyways, I believe. I think Amani Hansberry was going to take more of Perrin’s minutes as well. Hansberry is a forward and a top-60 recruit, which I believe is pretty underrated.

On a micro level, Perrin’s departure doesn’t affect Illinois at all. On a macro level, it is a slight depth hit at worst. I don’t put too much stock into him leaving the program. We know what we have as freshmen now, we know what is coming in, and we know that the future is bright.