Report: Niccolo Moretti enters transfer portal
WCIA — Illinois redshirt freshman Niccolo Moretti is entering the transfer portal, according to DraftExpress.
NEWS: Illinois' Niccolo Moretti will enter the transfer portal, a source told ESPN. The 6'2 Italian point guard and NBA Global Academy graduate has three years of eligibility remaining. Will have a good market due to his pace, feel and pick and roll creativity. pic.twitter.com/i7pZPjPuNJ
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 29, 2024
The guard missed ten games this past season with a foot injury, but had moments of flash coming off the bench. The Italian international averaged 1.5 points per game in nearly six minutes a contest. Moretti arrived in Spring 2023, but did not appear in a game until this past season. Moretti recapped his first year on the court after the Illini won the Big Ten Tournament Championship in Minneapolis.
“I feel like it was more seasons in one,” Moretti said in March. “I got to start playing a little bit and then I got hurt and then come back and then win something, it’s a nice achievement. My minutes were going up, but my role was staying the same. I knew I still needed to bring energy on the court, give a spark to the team and it’s always been like that the whole year.”
That makes just two scholarship players remaining on the roster from last year’s team. After finally breaking into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood’s squad is going to look unrecognizable next season. That is not something he is particularly concerned about.
“Sometimes continuity can be, you know you can have too much,” Underwood said. “I think there’s a certain excitement that comes with with the newness. I was very comfortable, obviously, with Coleman and Terrence. I knew what we had in those guys. On the other hand, there’s just a tremendous sense of excitement because I think the guys we’ve got and the guys I know we’re going to get are really talented and can do some some different things. So I’m excited to see how that all comes together.”
Ty Rodgers and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn are now the only scholarship players left from that Elite Eight team. With transfer additions in Kylan Boswell, Carey Booth, Tre White, and Jake Davis, plus incoming freshmen Morez Johnson and Jason Jakstys, Illinois has only eight scholarship players.
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