Top 10 most painful Illinois basketball transfer portal departures of all time

2. Adam Miller

It is always fun seeing Peoria, Illinois, players go to Illinois. I always root for local talent to rise with the program. That is why I wanted Adam Miller to be great for the Illini.

Miller was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school. He started at Peoria Manual but finished his high school career at Morgan Park in Chicago. Miller was a four-star recruit who was ranked as the No. 33 player in the class of 2020. He was also the No. 6 shooting guard in the country and the No. 2 player coming out of Illinois.

The Illini were able to land Miller out of high school. In year one, Miller started every game for an Illinois team that won the Big Ten Tournament and was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. He averaged 8.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. The future was so bright for this kid and the program.

In a shocking move, Miller entered the transfer portal after his freshman season. He ended up picking LSU as his next stop. An injury kept him out of the 2021-22 campaign, but he averaged 11.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game as a sophomore.

Despite the good year, Miller hit the transfer portal once again. He is now with Arizona State. Miller averaged 12.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game with the Sun Devils in 2023-24.

Illinois hasn’t missed an NCAA tournament post-COVID, but I would have loved to have seen what this program could have been with Miller remaining in Champaign. He was going to be a star here at Illinois.