The new Scout rankings were recently released and the Illinois basketball team has some current, former and prospective recruits in the top 100.
Let’s take a look at Trent Frazier and Da’Monte Williams, the two players who are currently committed for the class of 2017.
Frazier stayed in the top 100 as he checks in at No. 83 overall. He is still a four-star recruit and I can’t wait until he arrives in Champaign. He is going to be a special player.
Williams is the other recruit who is signed up for 2017. He was a four-star player just outside the top 100 before the new Scout rankings came out, but now he is a three-star. You have to go all the way to page seven to find him, but he is still listed as the No. 36 shooting guard in the nation and the No. 1 SG in the state of Illinois.
Scout hasn’t updated their team rankings yet because they still have Illinois as the No. 9 best class for 2017. They will drop out of the top 25 if they only end up with these two recruits. But, there is always the possibility of more players coming aboard.
The highly coveted Mark Smith checks in at No. 76 on this list. He is a player that Illinois needs to snag for 2017. There are so many great teams after his services, but if he ends up with the Illini they will end up with a top 25 class and the future will be extremely bright.
Taylor Bruninga and Francesco Badocchi are both officially on the board for Scout. They are both unranked and don’t have a star rating, but Illinois is still in hot pursuit of these two talented players.
So, if Illinois can land Smith and then one of the two unranked players, I think the class will still end up pretty solid.
Now let’s take a look at the player who decommitted from Illinois.
Jeremiah Tilmon dropped in the rankings. I believe he was a five-star before and now he is a four-star. He was also the No. 18 player in the nation but he has now dropped to No. 35 in the class of 2017.
Javon Pickett stayed about where he was the last time he was ranked. He is still a solid three-star player but now he has more scholarship offers since he decommitted.
Next: How to use the four remaining scholarships
I am interested to see how the class of 2017 finishes out for the Illinois basketball team. There are still some good options out there and I think we will have some news from the Smith camp on where he is going to commit to by the end of this weekend.