Illinois basketball targeting former 2023 top 60 recruit in transfer portal

Illinois basketball is eyeing a big-time transfer portal player to help bolster the frontcourt.

Just a couple of days ago, the Illini lost big man Dain Dainja to the chaos of the transfer portal. This was a sad departure but one that was expected given the young talent that was coming up in the frontcourt.

That young talent consists of Amani Hansberry, who is about to be a sophomore, and incoming big man Morez Johnson Jr. Both players were highly rated in their respective recruiting classes, and I have them both projected to start entering the 2024-25 campaign.

Illinois doesn’t seem to be done adding to the frontcourt, though. Brad Underwood and the Illini coaching staff are continuously checking what is out there, and one of the more recent connections has been with Carey Booth.

Coming out of Brewster Academy, Booth was a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 55 player in the class of 2023. He had plenty of college options, but he ended up landing with Notre Dame for the 2023-24 campaign.

After one season in South Bend, Booth decided to find a new home. On Monday, he announced that he was entering the transfer portal.

According to Luke Chaney of 247Sports, Booth has heard from numerous programs, one of which was indeed Illinois.

Landing Carey Booth out of the transfer portal would give Illinois basketball an athletic rotation in the frontcourt

The lone season with Notre Dame was pretty solid for Booth. While the team struggled to win 13 games, he did have a good freshman campaign. Booth played in 33 games and averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds in 19.9 minutes per contest.

Booth’s shooting metrics are a bit worrying. He is a great athlete who can really cause problems on the defensive end and sky for rebounds, but he only shot 39.1% from the field, 29.7% from three-point range, and 63.4% from the free throw line. There is offensive development needed with Booth, but he clearly wants to be an offensive threat. It wouldn’t shock me to see his shooting numbers skyrocket from year one to two.

I like Booth as an option for the 2024-25 season. He is someone who could play a lot of minutes for Illinois, and he would give us even more athletic ability in the paint. A trio of Booth, Hansberry, and Morez would be insane.