Illinois Basketball: Charlie Moore would add to the best backcourt in the Big Ten

The Illinois basketball team has many scholarships to fill for the class of 2017 and 2018. Filling these spots with key players is going to be important for the future.

One player that is officially back on the recruiting market is California point guard Charlie Moore. He announced that he will be transferring from the Golden Bears program yesterday.

Moore was a part of the class of 2016. He was a four-star recruit who was the No. 65 player in the class of 2016 and the No. 17 point guard. He has now been released from his scholarship and I assume a multitude of programs will be after him.

In one season with Cal, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound freshman received 28.8 minutes per game. In the time he did receive he was quite impressive. He averaged 12.2 points, 2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. He will now take those talents to a new team. After sitting out next season he will still have three years of eligibility remaining.

Moore transferring from the Golden Bears is intriguing for an Illinois basketball fan. The Illini were in the running for him when he was originally being recruited but he decided to go elsewhere. I believe one of the reasons was the coaching staff as well.

Now, the Illini have a different coaching staff. Brad Underwood has a guard-oriented offense that Moore could thrive in and that has to be attractive.

Illinois also hired Ron Coleman to be an assistant to Underwood a few days ago. Coleman has coaching experience with the University of Illinois-Chicago, Bradley and Colorado State. He also coached the Mac Irvin Fire for seven years before entering the college ranks. This is the same AAU team that Moore played for, so there are some ties there as well.

There is also the fact that one of the main recruiting specialists in the country, Evan Daniels of Scout, tweeted out last night that you would have to think Illinois is going to be a player in the Moore sweepstakes.

All of these pieces could form a puzzle in the shape of a top 100 point guard coming to the Illini. This begs the question, though, what happens with the current talent and those coming in?

Illinois already has Te’Jon Lucas on the roster who I think is going to be a special player. He had a good freshman campaign under a head coach who wasn’t known for developing players. The Illini also have top 100 point guard Trent Frazier coming in as well from the class of 2017.

Frazier is going to be another great point guard like Lucas. He has the ability to distribute as well as get to the hoop for points. I can’t wait to see what he can do on the court.

Where does that leave Moore, though? Let me tell you, I think this would be a brilliant move by Underwood and the coaching staff. If they could get Moore to come into the program then Illinois would add to the best backcourt in the Big Ten.

Here is what I am envisioning. When 2018 rolls around and Illinois needs to do something with three point guards, assuming Moore comes to Champaign, then let’s play a three guard set. With Moore coming in, it would open this door.

Lucas would be the starting point guard and then Frazier would play the No. 2. This would leave Moore to spell minutes for each player. While he wouldn’t start, he would still get just as many minutes as the other two subbing in. Illinois would be so good if this happened.

The combination of Lucas and Frazier will have a year to gel and that is why Moore would be the backup to both of those players. The Illinois lineup would look something like this; Lucas, Frazier, Jalen Coleman-Lands, Leron Black and insert center here. I love that lineup. Moore would then come off the bench with the likes of Kipper Nichols, Michael Finke, DJ Williams, Aaron Jordan and whoever we bring in for 2017 and 2018.

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The option of bringing in Moore excites me. I thought this kid was going to be special back when Illinois was originally recruiting him, and I hope we can snag him the second time around.