Latest news with #IllinoisMr.Basketball
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Peoria native leaves Arizona State and returns to NCAA basketball transfer portal: Report
Adam Miller is back in the transfer portal. The Peoria native and former Manual basketball player will transfer after two seasons at Arizona State, according to a Sunday report from Sam Kayser of League Ready. Advertisement Miller, 23, also played one season at Illinois and another at LSU. He has one season of eligibility because his freshman season was affected by the COVID pandemic. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 9.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists for the 2024-25 Sun Devils, who went 13-20 and lost in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament. He shot 42.9 percent (57-for-133) from 3-point range. Miller began his college career at Illinois, averaging 8.3 points in 29 games his freshman season in 2020-21. He then transferred to LSU of the SEC, but missed his sophomore season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. In his return, Miller averaged 11.5 points in 33 games in the 2022-23 season with LSU. Advertisement Miller committed to Illinois from Chicago Morgan Park, where he played his final three seasons of high school basketball and earned 2020 Illinois Mr. Basketball. He played at Manual his freshman season. After his freshman season in Champaign, Miller played for the United States in the 2021 FIBA Under-19 World Cup in Latvia. He then transferred to LSU after fielding offers from programs like Kentucky and Michigan. This is Miller's fourth trip into the NCAA transfer portal. In 2022, he removed his name and returned to LSU. This article originally appeared on Journal Star: NCAA transfer portal: Adam Miller of Arizona State in portal
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Richey Didn't see this one coming
Mar. 29—CHAMPAIGN — Morez Johnson Jr. was an anomaly in a college basketball world where commitments can be fleeting. Where prospective recruits can and regularly do change their minds about their basketball futures before ever winding up on a college campus. That wasn't Johnson's path. Advertisement Johnson committed to Illinois just a few months into his sophomore year at St. Rita. Way back in November 2022. A full 1,096 days before he'd ever suit up in an Illini jersey and play on Lou Henson Court. Two years to change his mind before signing and another six-plus months where the ink on that national letter of intent could have been reversed. Johnson was all-in on Illinois. Until he wasn't. The Friday news dumps of all Friday news dumps hit like a hammer when multiple national outlets reported Johnson had entered the transfer portal on Friday afternoon. The second Illinois player to do so in less than 24 hours after Carey Booth's late Thursday night entry into the portal. But losing a part-time starter and what appeared to be a foundational piece for Illinois' future in Johnson was a bit more jarring than the loss of another forward in Booth who couldn't break into the rotation at any point during the season. Advertisement That's what made Friday afternoon's news so stunning. Johnson spent two years committed. One year signed. Then just 30 games with Illinois before opting to move on for a different opportunity. Welcome to college basketball in 2025. Johnson was noncommittal about his future in the aftermath of Illinois' second-round exit in the NCAA tournament last Sunday night after the Illini's 84-75 loss to Kentucky. While teammates like Kylan Boswell, Tre White and Tomislav Ivisic spoke about the Illini's potential in the 2025-26 season as if they'd at least strongly considered they'd be a part of it, Johnson said he was "just taking it day by day." Five days as it turns out for Johnson to do what he didn't in high school. Leave Illinois. Advertisement While Johnson left St. Rita after three seasons, he didn't play his senior year at a prep school that would have offered him a broader national platform. It was a path three of his St. Rita teammates did take, though, with James Brown landing at Link Academy in Missouri, Nojus Indrusaitis leaving for Brewster Academy in New Hampshire and Melvin Bell transferring to La Lumiere in Indiana. Johnson actually wound up closer to home at Thornton, where he delivered a senior season that yielded The News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year and Illinois Mr. Basketball honors in 2024. Staying home — and staying committed to Illinois — endeared him to the Illini fan base. "A lot of players can't say they still stayed in Illinois and had the success I had in Illinois on a national standpoint," Johnson told The News-Gazette last April. "They feel like they have to leave the state to go do things. Personally, I think I did a great job these four years. I stayed. I didn't get too worried about other people. I kept working, kept my head in the right place and focused on my game and got better." Johnson showed the fruits of those labors during what turned out to be his lone season at Illinois. Advertisement The 6-foot-9, 255-pound forward notched his first double-double just 19 days into his college basketball career with 10 points and 13 rebounds in a blowout win against Maryland Eastern Shore. Johnson's playing time off the bench fluctuated a bit in the first 21/2 months of the season before he was inserted into the starting lineup when Ivisic was sidelined with mononucleosis. Johnson wound up starting eight games before breaking his left wrist on Feb. 15 against Michigan State — a stretch where he averaged 9.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while shooting 69 percent from the field. His return for postseason play saw him come off the bench again, and he finished his freshman season averaging seven points and 6.7 rebounds. "In most years Morez, as a freshmen in the Big Ten, the year he had would have had him up for All-Big Ten honors," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said last week in Milwaukee. "This year's freshman class was spectacular in the league, and yet he's had his moments. He's been a consistent rebounder. He's been an elite defender. He's a guy that is not delusional. He's a guy that loves to listen and play, and he's gotten so much better. His impact on our team was very, very evident when we didn't have him." And that was just when Johnson missed a month letting his broken wrist recover. Now, Illinois has to move forward without him for good. Any plans made in the last 10 months — let alone the three years since he committed — are now for naught. Advertisement It makes the Illini's own recruiting and roster building efforts that much more important. Especially when it comes to shaping the frontcourt given Ivisic's status on various NBA draft boards. Johnson's exit puts even more emphasis on getting the 7-foot-1 Croatian Ivisic back to Champaign for a second season. Losing Johnson and Booth also opens the door to adding a new frontcourt piece. That could happen through international recruiting (France's Jonas Boulefaa and Serbia's Aleksa Dimitrijevic both visited this past season) or the portal (Santa Clara' 7-footer Christoph Tilly is the name to know at the moment). It's just more moves and machinations Illinois likely didn't expect to have to make. Not with Johnson's long-term commitment and prominent role as a freshman. But that's college basketball in 2025. Anything is possible, however unlikely it might once seem.
