Marcus Hill joins Final Four team; Sincere Parker, AJ Storr also have new basketball homes

Rockford had its first true Big Ten men's basketball star in 30 years last year. Now it may have stars in the ACC and Big 12.

Former Rockford Christian star Marcus Hill became the last local domino to fall after entering the transfer portal. The Toledo Blade reported Thursday that Hill will join North Carolina State for his final year of eligibility. Hill follows Rockford natives AJ Storr and Sincere Parker as high-profile players who switched teams this offseason.

Storr was second-team All-Big Ten at Wisconsin last year before leaving for Kansas. Storr began his high school career at Rockford Lutheran before his family moved to Kankakee. Parker led East to its first conference title in 37 years and helped the E-Rabs finish fourth in the state before moving to an Arizona prep school for his senior year. He had three consecutive 30-point games this winter for St. Louis University and recently signed with McNeese State.

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All three players are joining highly successful teams. McNeese State was 30-4 this year and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Gonzaga. North Carolina State reached the Final Four. Kansas is being ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation next year after Storr joined the Jayhawks.

Hill, like Parker, had kept a low profile for several years, in part because both started out in junior college. But Hill exploded this winter. He scored 698 points for Bowling Green, fifth-most in school history.

The 6-foot-3 guard was named first-team All-Mid-American Conference after leading the MAC in scoring (20.5 points), averaging 5.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Another Bowling Green player is moving to USC. At one point, he topped 20 points nine games in a row.

More: 3 Rockford basketball greats enter transfer portal. Could they pick the Illini?

Hill also led the nation in scoring at the JUCO level two years ago, scoring 780 points and shooting 49.7 percent.

Hill had been linked as a possible Illini recruit. Both Storr and Parker also originally drew speculation they could sign with Illinois.

Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: All 3 Rockford college basketball stars have picked their new schools