It was announced today that AJ Storr would be entering the transfer portal after one season at Wisconsin. In his lone year, Storr made the All-Conference second team and the Big Ten’s All-Tournament team. After only being in the portal for a couple of hours, Storr is already linked to another Big Ten team.
AJ Storr Linked To Rival Big Ten Team
Despite only being in the transfer portal for a short time, Storr has received a Crystal Ball prediction to Illinois on 247 Sports. Storr is a native of Rockford, Illinois, and started his high school career there. But he is a journeyman, he played at four different high schools and two colleges. He was the Big East Freshman of the Year at St. John’s before he transferred to Wisconsin last year. In only his season at Wisconsin, he scored 16.8 points per game and led the Badgers to a 22-14 record. Illinois will be losing its two top scorers after this season, Marcus Domask and Terrence Shannon Jr., so there will be a need for a primary ball-handler. Storr will likely be a replacement for Shannon. They are both combo-guard-type players who can create with the ball in their hands. Shannon was a slightly better shooter this year, but both have similar career numbers.
Implications For Wisconsin
It is easy to see how this impacts Illinois, but it may be more important to see how this impacts Wisconsin. The Badgers had a successful season before losing to James Madison in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. However, the bigger issue isn’t just the loss of Storr, but the overall exodus of players from Madison. Four-star freshman, Gus Yalden also announced his intent to transfer today and Connor Essegian announced the same a few days ago. Neither of the two transfers is particularly surprising as Yalden red-shirted this season despite his high ranking and Essegian did not see much playing time despite a promising freshman year. The Badgers could also lose Steven Crowl, but he could come back to use his COVID year.
Wisconsin is in a tough spot. They are losing a lot of talent and production which may be hard to replace. They do return point guard Chucky Hepburn and forward Tyler Wahl, but this will likely not be enough for next season. Greg Gard has not been an elite recruiter in the transfer portal, but will likely have to make a few splashes if he wants to compete in the Big Ten next season.
The Last Word
While nothing is official yet, do not be surprised if Storr ends up in Illinois. He will still likely take a visit or two before deciding and Illinois is currently still in the NCAA Tournament. But, when you hear rumors so quickly after an announcement, they tend to be true. If he doesn’t end up with Illinois, look for one of the Blue Bloods. Storr was one of the best guards in all of college basketball last season and will be a hot commodity in the portal.
