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Illinois Basketball: Mark Smith getting attention from the Kentucky Wildcats

By Rees Woodcock

Mar 24, 2017; Memphis, TN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari speaks at a press conference after defeating the UCLA Bruins during the semifinals of the South Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at FedExForum. Kentucky won 86-75. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 24, 2017; Memphis, TN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari speaks at a press conference after defeating the UCLA Bruins during the semifinals of the South Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at FedExForum. Kentucky won 86-75. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports /
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The class of 2017 is pretty stout for the Illinois basketball team.

This class for the Illini consists of five-star Jeremiah Tilmon, four-star Trent Frazier, four-star Da’Monte Williams and three-star Javon Pickett. The team rankings on Scout have this group of players as the No. 9 best class in 2017.

All four of these players will play a key role in the future of this program, but adding another player would elevate the team even higher. Having someone like Mark Smith commit would give the Illini the best recruiting class in the history of the program.

Smith is a late blooming four-star recruit who didn’t have much attention in the recruiting game until about six months ago. Illinois was one of the first to jump on his talents and they offered him a scholarship back in early January.

Since that time, Smith has received scholarships from a wide variety of schools including Indiana and Kansas State and he has also garnered attention from some of the other blue bloods as well.

Over the past few months, Kansas has started to give Smith some attention and now it looks like Kentucky is coming aboard as well.

The Wildcats reportedly communicated with Smith last night. The extent of the communication is unknown but the fact that Kentucky is now contacting him is a little scary. He is a talented player who is realizing his potential and now other programs are as well.

But, when it comes down to it, I think Smith is a homegrown talent that wants to stay around the state. He wants to represent the area and potentially start in year one. Those things can’t happen at Kentucky but would be able to happen at Illinois. This is all an opinion, though.

If Smith does decide to come to Illinois it would form a top five recruiting class in the nation. This group would make the NCAA tournament the next four years and would also have a legit shot at a national championship.

Next: 5 transfers that would help the Illini

No matter what, though, the future is bright for Smith wherever he goes. He will be a great player and while he succeeds, so will the Illini. Both have a bright future and I just hope that future pairs the two of them with each other.

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