Illinois Basketball: Key Hits and Misses From the Mac Irvin Fire
There were a few recruits that I thought Illinois was going to snag over the last few years that just didn’t come to fruition.
One of these recruits is talented point guard Marcus LoVett.
LoVett was a 4-star recruit from Chicago, Illinois. He was rated as the 95th best player in the class of 2015 and the 11th best player in the state of Illinois.
More from Writing Illini
- Illinois Football: 5 Illini players who need more snaps against FAU
- Illinois football vs. Florida Atlantic first half and game betting lines
- Bret Bielema has made Illinois football a nationally competitive program
- Illinois Football: Predicting how the Illini will finish the 2023 season
- Illinois Football: Illini quarterback controversy is on the horizon
The recruitment of LoVett was very back and forth, but I thought at multiple points Illinois was going to get this point guard. I thought they were going to stabilize the point guard position.
That didn’t happen and I think the tipping point for LoVett was when the St. John’s Red Storm hired head coach and former NBA player Chris Mullin.
I truly believe Illinois was in the lead for LoVett up until that point. LoVett then goes on to commit to the Red Storm on May 21 of 2015.
This would have been a nice pickup for the Illini. The injuries to Tracy Abrams wouldn’t have hurt the team nearly as much and Illinois could have made the NCAA Tournament.
But, much like Alexander, the situation around LoVett got a little sticky with the NCAA.
LoVett was behind on his high school credits so then he attempted to make up for them with night classes and summer classes.
The NCAA found something a little shady about that situation and he was ruled ineligible for his freshman season.
LoVett is going to get a chance at St. John’s but this might have been another bullet Illinois dodged. At the time when everything looked fine, though, Illinois was still left holding the bags.