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Illinois Basketball: Ranking the last 10 recruiting classes

By Rees Woodcock

Dec 21, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; The Illinois Fighting Illini cheerleaders run on the court before a basketball game against the Missouri Tigers at Scottrade Center. Illinois won 75-66. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 21, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; The Illinois Fighting Illini cheerleaders run on the court before a basketball game against the Missouri Tigers at Scottrade Center. Illinois won 75-66. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 18, 2017; Iowa City, IA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Malcolm Hill (21) celebrates after the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Illinois won 70-66. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 5 Class of 2013

The Illinois basketball team was coming off some turnover at the head coach position and a successful run to the NCAA tournament in John Groce’s first season.

The class of 2013 was supposed to build on that success but it couldn’t manage to do that. Despite the lack of success, this class still had some talented players.

Illinois had five players come in from the class of 2013. The leader of this class was four-star Kendrick Nunn. He was ranked as the No. 52 player in the class of 2013 from Simeon High School.

Nunn had a few good years with the Illini but was kicked off the team after a domestic violence arrest.

Malcolm Hill was the next highest rated player. He was a four-star recruit who was the No. 72 player in the class of 2013. He was also from Belleville, Illinois.

Hill would go on to be a special player for the Illini. His final season in Champaign had a stat line of 17.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

Illinois also had three players in this class who were three-star recruits.

Austin Colbert ended up transferring out of the program a few years ago and never really panned out. Jaylon Tate was also from Simeon, like Nunn, but he couldn’t get acclimated to the college game.

Maverick Morgan was really the only three-star who did well for Illinois. He developed into a nice player and averaged 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game his senior season.

This class came in with a ton of potential but just had a few players that ended up being pretty good. It ranks No. 5 because it did originally have depth and two top 75 players.

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