Illinois Basketball: Needs and Wants for the Class of 2017

PF Theo John

Next: Want No. 1

Illinois struggled to pull down rebounds last season and that is one of the many reasons they were not a very good team.

One way to fix the rebounding situation is to get bigger players who are extremely athletic.  That type of player is what I think about when I see Theo John.

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This one may be a bit of a stretch because it looks like Oklahoma is in the lead to secure his commitment but Illinois has been in on his recruitment for a while.

Right now John is more of a need and hopefully Groce can convince John to come to Illinois after the AAU season has concluded.

When you look at the Illinois roster is makes it clear that John is a need.  The Illini only have a couple of forwards that are going to be sharing time at both forward slots.

Leron Black is probably going to be back for his senior season in 2017.  In addition to Black, Illinois has Kipper Nichols and D.J. Williams who will both be juniors that year.

Besides for those three there really aren’t any more forwards on the team.  This makes John a need because he can fill a big void and be a dominate player for the Illini.