Illinois Basketball: Luke Goode makes it official and signs with Illini

It is official, the Illinois basketball team has a player from northeast Indiana signed for the class of 2021.

I will be the first to say that it blew my mind Illinois was able to build a foundation with Homestead High School star, Luke Goode. The kid was talented coming out of northeast Indiana, rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 96 player in the class of 2021.

Being a top 100 player, I would have thought someone like Purdue, who just signed the No. 1 player in the state of Indiana in Caleb Furst, would have landed Goode.

Indiana has a special place in the heart of many players coming up in the Hoosier State ranks. They couldn’t land Goode.

Even someone like Michigan State couldn’t manage to land Goode. They have been known to snag players out of Fort Wayne, and the Spartans have former IPFW head coach Dane Fife on their coaching staff.

On April 17, the team to get a verbal commitment from the talented shooting guard was the Illinois Fighting Illini. That is right, Brad Underwood and the Illinois coaching staff pulled in a talented player from the state of Indiana.

But the thought had always crossed my mind about teams sneaking in and potentially flipping Goode. All of those bad thoughts can come to rest, though, as Goode has put pen to paper.

On Wednesday morning, Goode officially signed with the Illini, making him the first signature for the Illinois class of 2021. The young shooting guard expressed his excitement to the Writing Illini.

“I’m super excited for the process to be completed. I’m ready to prove to everyone that I can compete at the highest level possible.”

Illinois is getting a great player on paper, but Goode let Illini fans know what they should expect out of him when he arrives in Champaign.

“Fans should expect a hard worker who puts his team first and can shoot a little bit too.”

Goode is being a little coy about his shooting abilities. In the three years at Homestead, he has shot over 450 three-pointers and made them at a clip of 35-percent. His overall shooting was even better, with a three-year average of 41-percent from the field.

Illinois is getting a special player who will make an impact early on in his career. Look for Goode to get playing time in year one and then blossom into a starter for the program by his sophomore season. The sky is the limit for the Red Rocket.