Illinois is out of the John Blackwell sweepstakes. On Sunday, a report said the high-level scorer from the Badgers is down to UCLA, Duke and Louisville, leaving the Illini on the outside as the transfer race tightens.
The timing matters because Illinois Basketball already had five key contributors announcing they will return for the 2026-27 year. With those pieces back, the program had committed plenty of its resources to Mirk, Andrej, the Ivisi and Jake Davis before Blackwell’s market narrowed to three schools.
Blackwell has been described as one of the gems of the transfer portal, which helps explain why his list drew so much attention. But Illinois had already put major energy into its returnees and other players, and Sunday’s update made clear that the school was no longer part of the finish line.
That leaves UCLA, Duke and Louisville as the schools still in the hunt, while Illinois moves on with a roster plan that now has a little more room and one fewer elite name to chase. For the Illini, the bigger story may be that the work already done on the 2026-27 roster is starting to define what comes next.
