Maybe Illini basketball will play four guards/wings this season instead of just three?
Illinois made another “splash hire” today with the addition of Wright State graduate transfer Mark Alstork. The 6-foot-5 wing/two guard/off the ball guard averaged 19 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists last year. He also knocked down 39% of his 3-point attempts.
Here’s a neat little video of his decision:
? Mark Alstork transfers to Illinois ? pic.twitter.com/106I8yAGdH
— IllinoisLoyalty (@IllinoisLoyalty) May 24, 2017
Alstork, who will be immediately eligible via the NCAA “free agency” rule of graduate transfer eligibility, also considered LSU, Pittsburgh and South Carolina. He also gave visits to Georgetown and Louisville.
Here’s more, via Writing Illini, who also see the Rayvonte Rice analogy here.
Illinois is now receiving a good guard who will help this team tremendously. He has the abilities to be a special player for the Illini, and the thought of him playing with Mark Smith and company is exciting.
Alstork reminds me a lot of Rayvonte Rice when he transferred in from Drake. They have the same build but Alstork is a little more athletic and lean. They both can score at will, though.
Alstork was the #270 player in the class of 2013 and the #10 player in the state of Ohio when he committed to Ball State out of high school. Alstork scored in double figures in 27 of 32 games, with 17 outings of 20-plus points including three 30-point performances.
He registered a career-high 39 points vs. Toledo on Nov. 19. Alstork’s total of 608 points on the year ranks fifth on the Wright State single-season scoring list.
He also set a WSU school record with 176 made free throws, which ranked 20th nationally on the season.
So while Illini basketball replenishes its guard depth, there’s still major holes up front. The Illini still have three open scholarships for the upcoming season so it would be optimal for them if they could use those on someone who’s 6-8 or taller.
The only two players who could be considered “tall” or “big” on this team are the 6-7 Leron Black and 6-10 Michael Finke.
However, Illini basketball did make a big time acquisition this offseason when they signed four-star Edwardsville guard Mark Smith, the Mr. Basketball in Illinois this year, and the first eventual Illini to win that honor since Jereme Richmond in 2010.
That’s been the biggest highlight of what’s been a very eventful offseason for Illini basketball.
The highly rated recruit but hardly seeing the court D.J. Williams bolted. As did East St. Louis big man Jeremiah Tilmon, who vacillated on his commitment to the Illini three different times before finally making up his mind and defecting to Missouri.
Belleville East guard Javon Pickett also opted out after Athletic Director Josh Whitman enacted Illini basketball head coaching regime change, replacing John Groce with Brad Underwood.
You can be pretty sure that the offseason of major consequence for Illini basketball will continue, and that there’s a ton of news to come beyond Mark Alstork.
Today was very a newsworthy day for both Illini basketball and Illini football.
On the hoops side, the official announcement came today that Illinois will play DePaul for the first time in 60 years this season.
In gridiron developments, Lovie Smith kicked three players off the team today, the trio who were indefinitely suspended two weeks ago for committing alleged armed robbery and home invasion in Bromley Hall two weeks ago.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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