No. 2 Te’Jon Lucas
The Illinois basketball team only signed one player from the class of 2016 and that was Te’Jon Lucas. He was a great point guard and someone who will lead this team into the future.
Lucas spent a lot of time on the bench to start last season. He should have been playing more early on but the coaching staff didn’t realize what they had until it was too late. The season had slipped away and the Illini once again missed the NCAA tournament.
By the end of the year, Lucas had shown the Illini fan base he is the real starting point guard on this team. He has the ability to lead this program into the future and to get them to the postseason on a consistent basis.
Lucas ended up averaging 20.7 minutes per game last season, and in that time averaged 4.8 points and 3.1 rebounds as well. The stats he put up were in an offense that wasn’t fast paced and had troubles producing. Lucas now has a head coach in Brad Underwood who will have the offense running more and moving the ball.
With the new offense coming in and Lucas’ abilities to distribute, look for him to really put up some great numbers this year. We will see how he can grow in the next few seasons and, realistically, I could see Lucas having the potential to be drafted in the late first round, early second round if he lives up to his abilities.