Illinois Basketball: Top 5 recruiting priorities for Illini

No. 2 Carlton Bragg

Illinois needs more big bodies on the team for this season and heading into the future. One player to keep an eye on to help with this problem is Carlton Bragg.

Bragg is a 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward who has hit the transfer market. He is a name every Illini fan is familiar with because he picked Kansas over Illinois and Kentucky. This is a transfer I would love to snag.

Coming out of high school, Bragg was ranked as a five-star recruit who was the No. 24 player in the class of 2015 and the No. 2 player in the state of Ohio. He had scholarship offers from just about every power five conference program you could imagine.

Bragg ended up picking the Jayhawks, but since arriving, his situation hasn’t been good.

On the court this past season, Bragg only averaged 13.8 minutes per game. In that time he averaged 5.2 points and 4.1 rebounds and shot at an efficient clip of 50.8-percent.

Off the court, Bragg had to deal with a domestic violence charge that was dismissed due to video evidence that showed what really happened. He was also busted for possession drug paraphernalia and this got him suspended indefinitely.

That alone would usually make Bragg a risk, but this is a case where the NCAA transfer rules are a good thing. He is going to have to sit out a year before suiting up for the Illini. If he can make it a year without doing anything dumb then it shows he is progressing as a person. But, at least Illinois would have a year to see how he does without putting him on the court.

I would love for Bragg to come to Illinois. He is a big-time big man that could really help this team, as long as he stays out of trouble. The Illini need that size inside and I think Bragg could be the answer.