Illinois basketball lands Crystal Ball Prediction for transfer portal big man

Buckle up Illinois basketball fans, the program just landed another Crystal Ball Prediction in the transfer portal.

So far, the Illini have lost two players to the transfer portal and brought in three new faces. These three players – Kylan Boswell, Tre White, Jake Davis – will help build what could be a pretty special team in 2024-25.

But Illinois is far from done adding via the transfer portal. There are plenty of talented players out there, and a few of them are the biggest targets left. One of those big targets is Carey Booth.

Booth is a 6-foot-10, 203-pound forward from Englewood, Colorado. He was a top-60 recruit coming out of high school and landed with Notre Dame. Last season, Booth averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest. On April 1, he decided to enter the transfer portal.

Illinois had Booth in for a visit this past weekend. While the Illini managed to land Boswell from the weekend visits, nothing has come from Booth. But on Monday, Derek Piper of 247Sports’ Illinois page entered a Crystal Ball Prediction. He has Illinois as the favorite to land the talented frontcourt athlete.

Illinois basketball needs more frontcourt help, and landing Carey Booth out of the transfer portal would do the trick

Booth has great size at 6-foot-10, but he isn’t a lumbering big man. He is someone who can run the court well and use his length to help on the defensive end of the court. I also like Booth’s willingness to shoot from anywhere on the court. I think he can develop into a nice player who can stretch the floor.

Illinois needs someone like Booth in the lineup. I think incoming freshman Morez Johnson Jr. will start at the No. 5 spot. You can’t bring in a top-40 player and not start him.

With the Illini landing Boswell, I believe that moves Ty Rodgers over to the starting No. 4 spot. That gives Illinois a solid frontcourt. Behind those two, I have the combination of Amani Hansberry and Booth dominating on the second unit. Each player would log 17-22 minutes per game.

That is how I see the Illinois lineup if Booth comes into play. We seem to be pretty close to landing him. Let’s close the deal.