Illinois basketball trying to rekindle old fling through the transfer portal

It has been an interesting offseason for the Illinois basketball team, as most of the team is coming back.

I am not going to lie, I am a little scarred from what happened to the Illini after the Elite 8 run two seasons ago. We lost nearly every player from the roster, and Brad Underwood had to build from the ground up.

That isn’t going to be the case this offseason, though. Key players like Kylan Boswell and Tomislav Ivisic are back in the fold. We have also added some big-time players. Underwood isn’t done adding either.

Deep into Monday night, Jon Rothstein of CBS reported that Illinois is one of many programs reaching out to Arizona State transfer portal player Adam Miller.

Does that name sound familiar? It should. It is the same Adam Miller Illinois fans experienced back in 2020. Miller spent that freshman season helping Illinois to a Big Ten Tournament crown and the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Since that season, things have gone off the rails for Miller. He transferred and committed to LSU. Miller was injured in year one with the Tigers, and then played well in year two. He then transferred out to Arizona State, where he has spent the last two seasons.

For his career, Miller has averaged 10.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. He is now looking for a new home with his final year of eligibility.

Adam Miller reuniting with Illinois basketball in the transfer portal would give us a nice scoring option

It is extremely rare to see a player leave a program only to come back and play for the same team and the same coach. But in this case, there seems to be a legitimate chance Illinois can welcome Miller back with open arms.

This would be a unique opportunity for both sides. For Miller, reuniting with Illinois would give him a chance to have success at the college level. After that first season of winning, Miller hasn’t had a winning season since. This would get him back on track.

On Illinois’ side of things, Miller would give us more scoring. He spent last season shooting 4.4 three-pointers per game and hitting them at a clip of 42.9%. That is an eye-popping number that could help the Illini tremendously. I also believe we have a starting job waiting for Miller.

Sometimes you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone. I think that works for Miller. He went out into the world, got to experience the world, and now it is time to bring him back home. I like this possibility.