Highly-coveted transfer Kofi Cockburn on Kentucky: ‘It’s a serious option’
By Adam Spencer
Published:
The Kentucky Wildcats have a big man heading into the 2021-22 season. That would be West Virginia transfer Oscar Tshiebwe.
But, depth is always important, so adding another star in the post would be something coach John Calipari would welcome.
Well, he could end up doing just that. On Tuesday, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reported that Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn was withdrawing from the 2021 NBA Draft.
That’s significant because Cockburn is also in the NCAA transfer portal. Since Kentucky hired assistant coach Orlando Antigua away from Illinois this offseason, Cockburn is giving Kentucky a long look:
“He’s the reason I went to Illinois,” Cockburn said of Antigua. “When he left along with Chin Coleman, I decided to go in the portal to leave my options open.
“Kentucky? It’s a serious option. Antigua is my guy. I’m going to consider them, but there [are] a lot of schools. I wasn’t really focused on that while I was in the NBA draft. Now I can take my time and evaluate it better.”
Cockburn was a first-team All-Big Ten player last season, averaging 17.7 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.
Where he ends up playing this coming year remains to be seen, but plenty of schools will be interested in the 7-1 big man.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
