Illinois Basketball: Illini add frontcourt depth via the transfer portal

After a great season that saw the women’s Illinois basketball team rise to a national level once again, Shauna Green and her coaching staff are hitting the transfer portal hard.

The Illini were able to finish Green’s inaugural season with a 22-10 record overall and 11-7 in the Big Ten, which was one win shy of the previous six seasons combined.

Green’s coaching and style impacted the players who were already with the program, but she also brought in a few transfers to help give the Illini a shot in the arm. Players like Genesis Bryant, Makira Cook, and Brynn Shoup-Hill all boosted the program and gave Illinois exactly what we needed on the court.

Now that season one has concluded, Green has a chance to continue molding the roster she already has her fingerprints all over. One of the first additions to the team for next season comes in the form of Camille Hobby.

Hobby is a 6-foot-3 center who has spent the last four seasons with North Carolina State. Back on March 23, Hobby announced her intentions to enter the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. On Wednesday, she ended her time in the portal, as Hobby would commit to Green and the Illini.

Illinois basketball landing Camille Hobby from the transfer portal is big for the frontcourt

In the four seasons Hobby spent with the Wolfpack, she improved every year. As a senior, she would start in all 32 games and would average 8.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per contest. Hobby also shot 51.8% from the field and 84% from the free throw line, which were both career highs.

The addition of Hobby is big for the Illinois program. Last season, when our starter at the No. 5 spot, Kendall Bostic, would get into foul trouble or would need a breather, there wasn’t a ton of depth behind her. This was an issue, and teams would take advantage of this weakness.

Bostic is now entering her senior year, and she should be in that starting No. 5 spot once again. Now that Geovana Lopes had departed the program, the Illini don’t have a solid backup to Bostic.

That is where Hobby comes into play. I think she comes in and is the primary backup to Bostic from day one. That doesn’t mean she is only going to get a few minutes, though. I think Hobby could see 20-23 minutes per game. She could fill in at the No. 4 or No. 5 spot. Could you imagine Bostic and Hobby in at the same time? That would give me Twin Tower vibes of Tim Duncan and David Robinson.

Illinois was able to secure a solid transfer portal center in Hobby. She will help stabilize the paint behind Bostic for the upcoming season. Green continues to make the right moves to put Illinois in the best position to contend for a Big Ten title in 2023-24.