Transfers are either plaguing the sport or offering the greatest gift to college basketball, depending on who you ask.

Regardless of opinion, many of the top teams in college basketball are taking advantage of players’ continually decreasing patience when it comes to playing time, as current national title contenders Gonzaga, North Carolina, Michigan and Kentucky all feature at least one transfer player in their starting lineups.

As Brad Underwood’s second full season as Illinois men’s basketball’s head coach is nearly complete, the roster at the end of the 2018-19 season looks drastically different to the one in his first season.

Those who do not follow the national landscape of college and non-NBA professional basketball may not have kept up on how those former Illini are doing. While some are still sitting out, others have hit the court with relative success.

Mark Smith

Touted by some as the “savior of Illini basketball” when he committed, the 2017 Illinois Mr. Basketball arrived on campus with high expectations as the crown jewel of Underwood’s first recruiting class.

Simply put, Trent Frazier outplayed Smith. The then-freshman was inserted into the starting lineup straight out the gate and had promising performances, such as a 21 point effort against DePaul on Nov. 17, 2017 and 17 points at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Dec. 10. However, after rotating in and out of the starting five, Smith was permanently usurped by Frazier by the end of January.

He officially announced his transfer to Missouri on April 14. Interestingly enough, although he played 31 games for Illinois, Smith was granted immediate eligibility prior to this season. Battling through injuries, Smith is averaging 11.4 points per game for the Tigers, who are 13-15 but defeated the Illini 79-63 on Dec. 22.

While losing a player of Smith’s talent was tough in the moment, Illinois coaches and players are probably not losing sleep over it, given the play of freshman Ayo Dosunmu.

Michael Finke

A solid role player in his time at Illinois, local product Michael Finke decided to join his brother, Tim, at Grand Canyon in 2018-19 as a graduate transfer.

Finke’s offensive touches have certainly increased since arriving in Phoenix, averaging 12.3 points and 5.2 rebounds after never averaging double figures in scoring as an Illini. He’s even had a few offensive explosions, going for 36 points, nine rebounds and five assists at the University of Missouri, Kansas City on Feb. 14 and putting up 38 points, eight rebounds and six assists versus Eastern New Mexico on Feb. 27.

Finke’s production as an Illini has been replaced and expanded on by Giorgi Bezhanishvili, but there is no doubt this season’s Illini could use another big-bodied offensive threat to spell the Georgian freshman, who often deals with foul trouble.

Te’Jon Lucas

Lucas is currently sitting out at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee after two seasons at Illinois, where he averaged 5.2 points per game.

Lucas’ minutes dwindled down the stretch during his sophomore year, only to go back up in the final three games. However, when considering the impending arrivals of the highly rated Dosunmu and sought-after junior college prospect Andres Feliz, as well as the ascension of Frazier, it was probably the right call for Lucas to return to his hometown if playing time was his top priority.

Greg Eboigbodin

Eboigbodin was a longshot blocker needing to add lots of muscle who only recently arrived to the U.S. Sound familiar?

No, not current Illini Samba Kane. Few may remember Eboigbodin’s (or Spicy G’s) one year in Champaign, where he averaged 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds a game, but it is a bit puzzling why he never worked in Underwood’s system which thrives with an energetic big man who runs the floor.

Nevertheless, Eboigbodin is currently sitting out at Northeastern.

Matic Vesel

Slovenian basketball may have one of, if not the most, promising NBA talents in their ranks in Luka Doncic, but unfortunately for Illinois, Vesel could not replicate the same level of impact Doncic has had in his rookie year with the Dallas Mavericks.

Possessing the shooting touch of a guard with the body of a power forward, it was going to be interesting to see where Underwood fit Vesel in. However, the heavy reliance on Leron Black at the four spot kept Vesel mostly on the bench, and the freshman chose to return home to Slovenia in search of other basketball opportunities.

Mark Alstork

Alstork came to Illinois as a graduate transfer after a highly successful career at Wright State and was considered a key get for Underwood, considering he had just two months to put together a class before signing day. The veteran served as the Illini’s glue guy in 2017-18, starting every game but averaged just 5.8 points per game, a far cry from the 19.8 he averaged at Wright State in 2016-17.

Alstork is currently pursuing a professional basketball career in Luxembourg, according to his Twitter account.

Leron Black

Of all the departures from 2017-18, Black’s undoubtedly hurts the most in retrospect, given what he could have done for this year’s team.

Black’s role steadily increased under John Groce but took off once Underwood arrived. The redshirt junior averaged 15.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game last season and was named an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection by the coaches and media.

Though his body type and style of play screamed four-year college player, Black surprisingly decided to enter the 2018 NBA draft rather than return for his senior season. After not getting chosen, he bounced around Israel and the G-League and is currently playing for Argentino de Junin in Argentina’s Liga Nacional de Basquet. Given the inconsistency of Kipper Nichols this season, the presence of a senior with Black’s skill at the power forward spot would have certainly swung a few more games the Illini’s way this year.

@MilesP_H

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