NCAA Basketball: 8 teams that should target top JUCO center Sydney Curry

Florida State Seminoles

Head coach Leonard Hamilton has a history of landing JUCO transfers, including current Seminoles Naheem McLeod and Rayquan Gray. The familiarity could help the program with this target and Curry would be joining another preseason top-15 team as he was at with the Jayhawks.

Florida State does have some frontcourt depth currently but it’s not at the same level as Kansas. There isn’t much proven production among McLeod, Tanor Ngom, and incoming freshman John Butler. With the big bodies that Duke and North Carolina have, having Curry could be a difference-maker for FSU.

Illinois Fighting Illini

Curry is originally from Indiana but since they just landed South Florida transfer Michael Durr, they likely won’t be part of this sweepstakes. The next “local” option would be the Illini, who won’t have star big man Kofi Cockburn once he officially enters the NBA Draft soon.

Illinois’ frontcourt currently consists of Florida transfer Omar Payne and Brandon Lieb. Payne is a former top-50 prospect but he never had a big role. At bare minimum, Curry could get 20 mpg off the bench behind Payne at the center position. But he could also beat him out as a starter and get to showcase his skills in the Big Ten. And the Illini, which has a strong backcourt already, can have the balance needed to have a really good team again after losing so much production this offseason.