We need Storr badly. But even with him, this transfer portal puts us in position to recognize honestly that we are rebuilding, not reloading.
I continue to find the concept creep around these terms strange.
And I'm in a weird spot because I hated the way last year's team was constructed and still on some level do in a vacuum. We just got a 99.999th percentile outcome. We have the good fortune of a coaching staff capable of delivering high percentile outcome and essentially hit a runner-runner inside straight draw at the most important position on the floor.
Is this team going to be ranked as high in the next AP poll as it was in the last one? No. Is it going to be a better basketball team? That's going to be very difficult considering how excellent we were last year.
Does the roster construction we're doing make more sense in my head than last year? Absolutely. Maybe that's the kiss of death, who knows.
But adding Boswell, White, Booth and Morez is a no joke injection of a level of raw talent last year's team did not have especially beyond TSJ. The sky is the limit for this group and we still have significant additions to come.
It's all pretty gross in terms of what the portal is doing to the sport, but as far as Illinois winning future games is concerned, we're doing the nice job everybody was hoping for and expecting.