This was a wild offseason for the Illinois basketball team, as the roster was completely overhauled.
Two firsts occurred for the Illini this offseason. The first is that I don’t believe we have ever had that much talent leave a roster. Illinois had 11 scholarship players play, and nine of those 11 players departed the program.
The second thing was how much talent was brought into the program. Illinois has had great players sign on and play, but we have 10 newcomers on the roster for the 2024-25 campaign. All of these players are high-level athletes as well.
All of the newcomers are going to be important for the Illini to have success. There are five who I am singling out to be the most impactful this season, though.
It was honestly tough to figure out who was going to be No. 5 on this list. I think all newcomers are significant, but having the presence of Ben Humrichous will be key for the Illini to win in 2024-25.
Humrichous is coming into the program after making stops at NAIA Huntington University and then spending last season with the Evansville Aces. With Evansville, Humrichous averaged 14.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game.
I see Humrichous coming into the Illinois program and being a primary reserve and one of the first players to come off the bench. He has a ton of college playing experience, and having his 6-foot-9 size and shooting ability is going to be invaluable.
The biggest role I have for Humrichous is to be a bench sniper. Illinois is going to need his size and wisdom, but having bench scoring is going to be huge for the program.
Humrichous can come in at the No. 3 or No. 4 spot and give Illinois points off the bench. I project him to be in a similar role to that of Luke Goode. Humrichous attempted 5.3 three-point attempts last season and knocked them down at a clip of 41.4%. I fully expect that quality of shooting out of him in his lone season in Champaign.
