Illinois center Kofi Cockburn will make an announcement on July 16, presumably related to where he will be playing college basketball next season.

Here’s his statement:

Cockburn surprisingly entered the transfer portal on July 1 and withdrew from the NBA Draft. He previously implied that he would remain in the draft and sign with an agent, but ultimately reversed course.

Despite entering the portal, a return to Illinois is believed to still be possible.

He was one of Illinois’ best players last season en route to a No. 1 seed and Big Ten Tournament championship. He averaged 17.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per contest.

Cockburn is one of the most productive players in college basketball and was a second-team All American last season.

Cockburn hasn’t released a list of final schools he’s considering, but the talented big man has been linked to Kentucky. The Wildcats hired away two of Illinois’ assistant coaches earlier this offseason.

Illinois is losing Ayo Dosunmu (NBA Draft) and Adam Miller (transfer), amongst others, from last year’s historic team. However, Brad Underwood has added three 4-star prospects and two high-major transfers this offseason.

Illinois is currently projected to be a No. 7-seed for the 2022 NCAA Tournament, according to Joe Lunardi’s way-too-early bracketology.