Illinois Basketball: Underwood In On Notre Dame Forward

Originally posted on Armchair Illini
By Kirkland Chappell | Last updated 4/2/24

Illinois Basketball: Underwood In On Notre Dame Forward

The transfer portal giveth and the transfer portal taketh away. On Monday, the Illini were able to lock down and entice Mercer sharp shooter Jake Davis to Champaign. A much needed pickup, as the Illini lose 80% of their scoring productivity from 2023-24. To add, on the same day, Illinois Basketball lost Forward Dain Dainja to the Portal. Dain is a heck of a player, who saw a major decrease in his playing time from 2022 to 2023-24. Mostly due to lack of fit within the system. When post season came around, Dain found some comfortability in Underwoods offense, and started to flourish. However, with the incoming Freshman approaching, and minuets reducing, Dain decided that he would take his many talents elsewhere to be “the guy.”

A replacement will be needed for the 6’9 270 pound 5-man. As well as for the graduation losses of Coleman Hawkins and Quincy Guerrier. The Illinois Basketball staff has been hard at work, and a few names in the forward market have recently caught the eye of Brad Underwood. Most recently, Notre Dame transfer portal entry Carey Booth. See his list of interest as well as stats below, via Luke Chaney of 247 sports.

Via @LukeChaney247 on “X”

Notre Dame transfer forward Carey Booth tells me that the following schools have reached out to him:

Alabama
South Carolina
Michigan
Texas
Illinois
Colorado State
Florida
Stanford
Virginia Tech
Texas Tech
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Dayton
Boston College

Booth is a former top-60… pic.twitter.com/84W1Qx9dsD

— Luke Chaney (@lukechaney247) April 2, 2024

Carey Booth Breakdown

Carey, was the 49th overall recruit in the class of 2023 for Cherry Creek High School in Colorado, as well as Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. The Englewood Colorado native stands in at 6’10 and 203 lbs. A ton of upside with his size, but certainly, Booth will need to get into the Fletch (Adam Fletcher) weight room to add weight and strength. The big man averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, as well averaging shooting 30% from deep for the Fighting Irish in 2023-24. Averaging about 19 minuets per game. He is young, and there will be some strength work to do to prepare for the Big Ten. However, Carey may be a stretch forward option for Brad Underwood and Illinois Basketball.