While this offseason has been far quieter than in 2024, the Illinois basketball team still has done some impressive work in the transfer portal.
Brad Underwood has embraced the transfer portal better than just about any head coach. He had to completely rebuild the Illini roster last season, and with some players coming back, he has been able to avoid the complete rebuild this time around.
Illinois managed to add some big-time talent in recent months, though. We have pulled in David Mirkovic and Mihailo Petrovic from overseas. The Illini then added Andrej Stojakvoic from Cal and Zvonimir Ivisic from Arkansas.
After you add in the two incoming freshmen, Illinois has 11 scholarship players on the roster. That means we can add two more, and one of the intriguing options still out there is Puff Johnson.
On Friday, Pete Nakos of On3.com reported that Johnson, who entered the transfer portal in late April, has heard from a handful of schools. One of the teams mentioned was Illinois.
Coming out of Hillcrest Prep in Arizona, Johnson was a four-star recruit who was ranked as the No. 69 player in the class of 2020.
North Carolina was able to land Johnson out of high school. He spent three seasons with the Tar Heels, with his best season coming in 2022-23 when he averaged 4.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.
After three seasons in Chapel Hill, Johnson transferred out and has spent the last two seasons with Penn State. This past season, Johnson averaged 10.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game.
Depth and money is the only thing Illinois can offer Puff Johnson in the transfer portal
Honestly, in today’ game, the first thing I look at with a transfer portal player is three-point shooting. Johnson hasn’t shot over 33.3% in a season during his career. In 2024-25, he attempted 2.5 three-pointers per game and hit them at a clip of 30.2%.
If Johnson did land with Illinois, the best I believe Underwood could do is offer him money and a backup role. We have a lot of talent right now, and the frontcourt is pretty stacked. As a 6-foot-8 forward who can’t shoot well from the outside, I would imagine Johnson gets something like 8-10 minutes per game.
I don’t mind Illinois exploring potentially adding some depth in Johnson. He would be a good piece off the bench. Let’s see if he is okay with that as he enters his sixth season in college basketball.