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Illinois Basketball: Top 5 recruiting priorities for Illini

By Rees Woodcock

Feb 4, 2017; Morgantown, WV, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Brad Underwood celebrates with fans after beating the West Virginia Mountaineers at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 4, 2017; Morgantown, WV, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Brad Underwood celebrates with fans after beating the West Virginia Mountaineers at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 4, 2017; South Bend, IN, USA; Two basketballs are stuck in the net during warmups before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Louisville Cardinals at the Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame won 77-70. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 1 Mark Smith

The top priority for the Illinois basketball team right now is guard Mark Smith. He is the hot recruit that has exploded onto the scene and is now being recruited by the blue bloods of the basketball world.

Smith is ranked as a four-star recruit who is the No. 81 player in the class of 2017 and the No. 5 player in the state of Illinois. He also won the Illinois Mr. Basketball award this year as well.

At the beginning of 2017, Smith really wasn’t being recruited hard. Illinois was the first to jump on him in the recruiting game, but that was with the previous regime. Now that there has been a coaching change, Smith has really started to give other programs a harder look.

Smith is doing visits right now that include Ohio State, Kentucky and Michigan State among others. He has already visited with Underwood and the staff and I fully expect Illinois to be a contender still in his recruitment.

I really don’t want to lose Smith to another program. I mentioned earlier about players who I think could get Illinois back to national prominence and Smith is one of those guys. He is so talented and his body is already built for the college game.

Losing a player like Smith would hurt bad for the Illini program. That is one of the reasons why I put him as the top priority. The Illini need to have the Illinois Mr. Basketball’s stay in-state to really help continue rebuilding their presence in the recruiting world.

I would really like for Smith to come to Champaign. He would easily be at the No. 2 spot alongside Lucas who would be the main ball handler. This combination, with Frazier spelling minutes, would be incredible.

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If Underwood could pull this commitment off, it would be a huge boost for his coaching and for the program overall.

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