Top 5 Illinois basketball crucial transfer portal targets

2. Dante Maddox Jr. – Toledo Rockets

Illinois is looking to add high-volume scorers, and Dante Maddox Jr. would fit that bill. He is someone who could come into the program and give us a shot in the arm offensively.

Maddox recently cut his list down to just eight teams. The eight teams to make the list included Louisville, Creighton, Oklahoma, Xavier, TCU, Kansas, Michigan, and Illinois.

There is a trend with a lot of the transfers Brad Underwood and the Illini coaching staff are targeting. Most are originally from Illinois. Maddox is out of Chicago Heights. That makes bringing them home a selling point.

Maddox’s numbers jump off the page. This past season with Toledo, he averaged 15.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. What pops the most to me is the fact he took 5.6 three-point attempts per game and hit them at a clip of 40.2%. Give me that on the roster all day long.

Illinois’ roster would get pretty jumbled if Maddox joined. He would obviously start. With Illinois going after so many guards, I think the assumption is Marcus Domask won’t come back. Even though Maddox is a bit small, I would probably shift him over to the No. 2 guard spot, as Ty Rodgers would likely continue rolling at the No. 1 spot.

Maddox is someone who can create his own shot, which is missing in the Illinois lineup. If we land him, the offense immediately gets a boost.