With basketball season around the corner, it’s time to once again check in on where the players who left us are plying their trade. When it comes to defection, there is a right way and a wrong way to do
it, and how you go about it and where you end up going determines your place, and what kind of song you get in the Ex-Illini Hater Rankings.
Here’s a look from last year in case you forgot.
12. Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, Esq., South Carolina
I left my baby and it feels so bad
Guess my race is run
She’s the best girl that I ever had
I fought the law and the law won
Just kidding, Bosmans-Verdonk is 36 years old and is finally out of eligibility. As a law student at South Carolina after transferring, maybe BBV can represent Illinois in an inevitable future lawsuit defending the right to bring in professionals from Europe.
11. Paxten Warden, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
I wanna know (know), I wanna know (know) your name
Your name, your name, why you gotta be anonymous?
You didn’t think I’d forget little Pax did you? The Illini walk-on in 2022-23 broke out last year for Lewis University in Romeoville, averaging 14.2 points, 2.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. Apparently, even at the lower levels of college basketball the other side of the fence always looks better, and Paxton made the jump this offseason to UW-Parkside in Kenosha.
10. Niccolo Moretti, Florida Atlantic
Che bella cosa na jurnata ‘e sole
N’aria serena doppo na tempesta!
Pe’ ll’aria fresca pare già na festa
Che bella cosa na jurnata ‘e sole
Nico Moretti left Champaign last year for sunnier skies and more playing time in Boca Raton. The good news? He got to play 22 minutes a game and averaged six points and three rebounds a game. The bad news? Dusty May is gone, and FAU is back to toiling in anonymity in the middle of the American Conference. Moretti probably wasn’t big or athletic enough to play defense in the Big Ten, so I wish him nothing but the best in the Florida sole. He should be able to nearly double last year’s stats with a bigger role, next to Indiana castaway Kanaan Carlyle in the backcourt.
9. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, UNLV
I’m gonna keep on the run
I’m gonna have me some fun
If it costs me my very last dime
If I wind up broke up well
I’ll always remember that I had a swingin’ time
I’m gonna give it ev’rything I’ve got
Lady luck please let the dice stay hot
Let me shoot a seven with ev’ry shot
Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas
Viva, Viva Las Vegas
Dra is this year’s version of Nico Moretti. A fan favorite as a small guy who flashed athleticism and oozed intensity, DGL is moving down to the mid-major level to find starter’s minutes. Sometimes watching his jumper felt like praying for an inside straight to hit, so Las Vegas is a great landing spot for him. He finds himself on a decent team with an outside shot at an at-large bid.
8. Carey Booth, Colorado State
When I’m away from you
I’m happier than ever
Wish I could explain it better
I wish it wasn’t true
It just didn’t happen for Carey at Illinois, and him moving down a level closer to his parents in Denver happened quickly and predictably this offseason. Any hate directed towards Carey would only be out of bitterness if he somehow pulled a Brandin Podziemski and turned into an NBA player overnight at a lower level. Based on his limited minutes in Champaign, that seems unlikely to happen.
7. Amani Hansberry, Virginia Tech
I got, I got, I got, I got
Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA
Quarter piece, got war, and peace inside my DNA
I got power, poison, pain, and joy inside my DNA
I got hustle, though, ambition flow inside my DNA
Amani Hansberry is on the move again this offseason, but don’t say he isn’t loyal. Hansberry is tied to his recruiter and Baltimore brethren Chester Frazier through thick and thin and has now followed him back to Virginia Tech. Don’t be surprised if someday Amani ends up an assistant coach when Chester gets a head coaching gig. Amani has suffered with back problems through his first two years, but if he can stay healthy, he should be a top player for the Hokies, a team likely to find themselves sniffing around the NCAA bubble.
6. Sencire Harris, Cincinnati
I’m begging me don’t let me go
We vow like the letter “O”
To never go our separate ways
And spin-off into separate shows
Tired of all the wardrobe changin’
Playing all these extra roles
Two years ago, Sencire Harris chose to take a redshirt year to work on his offensive game. After uploading a well-curated practice highlights video, the hope for a new and improved Sencire Harris was real. However, when Chester Frazier left the program, Sencire chose to go with him and Hansberry to West Virginia to show off what he had been working on in the lab.
The result? Well, he was all-defensive team in the Big 12, and his free throw shooting improved from 20% as a freshman to 75% as a sophomore. On the other hand, he shot a woeful 11% from three, down from the 32% at Illinois, West Virginia missed the tourney, and he learned the other side of the wild wild west business of college basketball when his coach jumped ship for Indiana. Instead of following either DeVries to Indiana or Chester and Amani again to Virginia Tech, he chose to forge his own path and transfer to Cincinnati, close to home.
Since arriving, things have already gotten off to a rocky start, as their star player Jizzle James was dismissed from the team for “personal issues” and then traded words with Harris on Instagram. I can’t help but assume that one of Jizzle’s “personal issues” was trying to score on Harris in practice. Sencire is a flawed player, but his lockdown defense can provide value to just about any team in the country.
5. Adam Miller, Gonzaga
I remember when we broke up the first time
Saying, “This is it, I’ve had enough,” ’cause like
We hadn’t seen each other in a month
When you said you needed space. (What?)
Then you come around again and say
“Baby, I miss you and I swear I’m gonna change, trust me.”
Remember how that lasted for a day?
We finally arrive to where the hater rankings find their inner Sith Lord. Everyone above gets at most minimal animosity here. If they break out and are fantastic elsewhere, I may be a little bitter that they aren’t at Illinois, but in general I wish them well.
In Miller’s case, after a freshman year in which he started almost every game for a one-seed, he chose to leave supposedly so he could have the opportunity to have the ball in his hands more than he would playing with Andre Curbelo and Trent Frazier. That didn’t pan out so well for him, as four years, three conferences, two teams and zero NCAA tournament bids have come and gone since he left Champaign, and he is very close to the same player he was when he left.
This summer, as he looked for a fourth school to complete his college journey, there appeared to be mutual interest in bringing him back. However, Underwood & Co. quickly remembered how difficult it can be to deal with Miller’s camp and backed out as the ransom for a veteran role player grew out of control. This isn’t one of Gonzaga’s strongest teams, but Miller should at least have the chance to finally experience winning again.
4. Jayden Epps, Mississippi State
‘Cause this is bullshit (Bullshit)
It’s finally coming into focus (Focus)
You’re lying and I think you know it
But you’re too afraid to face the storm you helped create
Despite playing a ton as a freshman at Illinois, Jayden Epps decided to transfer down to power conference laughingstock Georgetown. As a sophomore, he shot the ball enough to score 18 points a game even though he only shot 39% from the field and 30% from three, and managed an inefficient 4.2 assists/3.4 turnovers a game. Georgetown went 2-18 in the Big East. Last year, his coach Ed Cooley decided to take unwarranted shots at Illinois, calling it a “bullshit school”. Georgetown improved to being just bad instead of historically horrific, but to do so Cooley had to take the ball out of Epps’ hands, as his scoring, usage rate, and playing time were all cut. Apparently, Epps’ camp didn’t like playing less, and decided to leave that bull shit school. Following in RJ Melendez’s footsteps, Epps chose StarkVegas as his final collegiate resting spot. While certainly a step up from Georgetown, Epps joins a backcourt with Josh Hubbard, another undersized, defensively challenged, inefficient scorer, so if his goal is playing on a good team or shooting the ball a lot, he might have a hard time doing either at Mississippi State.
3. Tre White, Kansas
I’ve been everywhere, man.
I’ve been everywhere, man.
Crossed the desert’s bare, man.
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man.
Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man.
I’ve been everywhere.
Tre White is the poster boy for the modern NCAA, completing the transfer grand slam. In four years, he has played in the Pac-12, the ACC, the Big Ten, and now heads to the Big 12. The grass is always greener for Tre. A useful role player who would have been nice to have back, he goes to a blue blood which automatically puts you high on the hater rankings.
2. Skyy Clark, UCLA
It’s the edge of the world and all of Western civilization
The sun may rise in the East, at least it settled in a final location
It’s understood that Hollywood sells Californication
Skyy Clark has finally found a home, staying for a second year at UCLA. Now a senior, he never really delivered on his five-star promise, but under Mick Cronin has become a strong defender and solid role player. After having a rude welcome back to the State Farm Center last year, I really have moved on from how Skyy left the program so long ago. However, he still plays for a conference opponent, and one who should be fighting with us near the top of the standings, so that automatically puts you near the top of the hater rankings.
1. Morez Johnson, Fichigan
Used to have friends now I got enemies (damn)
Used to keep ’em close now they dead to me (ooh)
Money tend to show all they tendencies (damn)
Enemies, yeah it’s so sad
Could it be anyone else at the top? After reportedly agreeing to an NIL deal with Illinois, through some backchanneling Johnson found out he could make more cash with a despised rival and flew the coop, with his dad firing some shots on the way out. Supposedly, he wants to avoid turning out like Kofi (who would want to be an All-American?) and wanted to go somewhere where he can explore his offensive range more. Well, Michigan also brought in perhaps the best stretch big in the country in Yaxel Lendeborg, so Morez should probably prepare to continue working as a roll man and cleaning the glass, at least for this season. Michigan will be good and so will Morez, and I don’t blame the guy for getting paid as much as he can. But you go to the enemy, prepare to get treated like one of them.
