Syracuse Basketball: Illinois big man, former SU 4-star recruit, hits transfer portal

Dain Dainja, a big man at Big Ten Conference member Illinois who held a scholarship offer from Syracuse basketball while in high school, has entered the transfer portal.

News of his decision to go portaling came via his X page as well as various media reports. In the 2023-24 season, the 6-foot-9, 255-pound Dainja was a redshirt junior with the Fighting Illini.

Illinois had a terrific most recent term. The Fighting Illini (29-9 overall) won the Big Ten Conference Tournament and as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament reached the Elite Eight, falling to defending national champion and No. 1 overall seed Connecticut in the East Regional final.

Dainja, who is from Brooklyn Park, Minn., started off his collegiate career at Big 12 Conference school Baylor before transferring to Illinois. According to his X page, he picked up a scholarship offer from the 'Cuse in March of 2019.

Former Syracuse basketball 4-star big-man target Dain Dainja has entered the transfer portal.

In 2023-24, Dainja appeared in all 38 games for Illinois, although he saw his minutes drop from the prior stanza. This past season, he averaged 10.7 minutes, 6.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per contest, while connecting on 66.9 percent from the field but just 47.7 percent from the free-throw line, according to ESPN data.

As a member of the 2020 recruiting cycle, he was a four-star prospect who starred for Park Center Senior High School in Brooklyn Park. In that class, Dainja was rated a top-100 national prospect and a top-20 power forward/center, according to both the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking. ESPN had him at No. 52 nationwide and No. 9 at power forward.

The current transfer-portal cycle opened on Monday, March 18, and it will run for 45 days. To date, at least four players on the Syracuse basketball 2023-24 roster have entered the portal, and they are sophomore center Peter Carey, sophomore guard/wing Quadir Copeland, sophomore guard/wing Justin Taylor and junior forward Benny Williams.

I've stated a couple of times lately that I believe one of the biggest needs for the Orange this off-season is to grab an experienced big man via the portal, along with a veteran point guard, assuming sophomore Judah Mintz moves on to the professional ranks.

Since the portal opened, I'm aware of at least six college transfers who have heard from Syracuse basketball coaches, per analysts. They are Hofstra junior wing Darlinstone Dubar, Hofstra junior point guard Jaquan Carlos, Minnesota sophomore forward Pharrel Payne, Milwaukee junior wing BJ Freeman, Mount St. Mary's senior guard Dakota Leffew and UNC Greensboro senior forward Mikeal Brown-Jones.