Illinois Basketball: Recruiting update on the class of 2018

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CHAMPAIGN, IL – DECEMBER 03: A general view of the Assembly Hall as the Illinois Fighting Illini take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs on December 3, 2011 in Champaign, Illinois. Illinois defeated Gonzaga 82-75. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

The Illinois basketball team had a handful of recruits scattered among the new Rivals Top 150 player rankings for the class of 2018.

Here is a recruiting update on the class of 2018.

20. Ayo Dosunmu

The prized recruit from the class of 2018 for the Illinois basketball team would be Ayo Dosunmu. He is a 6-foot-4, 185-pound guard from Morgan Park High School in Chicago, Illinois. The new Rivals rankings have Dosunmu rated as a five-star guard who is the No. 20 player in the class of 2018.

Dosunmu had a ton of scholarship offers but recently cut his list down to his top 11 programs he will be choosing from. That list included Creighton, Kansas, Memphis, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, UConn, USC, NC State, Wake Forest, Xavier and Illinois. He then announced his first two official visits would be to USC on September 15 and Wake Forest on September 29.

The other three official visits are up in the air right now. I can’t count Illinois in as an official just yet because he hasn’t announced it. This makes me extremely nervous about the possibilities of Dosunmu not coming to Champaign.

In addition to Dosunmu not including Illinois in his official visits, yet, Illinois hasn’t had a great track record with Morgan Park High School and the Mac Irvin Fire AAU team. Players from these two programs have been heading elsewhere lately and I am afraid Dosunmu will fall in line.

I don’t have a great feeling about Dosunmu and the Illini but I still hold out hope. Nothing is off the table yet and he would be a great get for Underwood and this Illinois program. Hopefully, they can land Dosunmu and continue building a great stable of guards.

Update: September 8

I continue not having a great feeling about Dosunmu to Illinois. He did release his in-home visit schedule and the Illini are the first up on September 11. I hope I am wrong but this feels like a courtesy visit to the in-state program.

Dosunmu has two officials setup – USC and Wake Forest – and he also included the Demon Deacons in his in-home visits as well. They are putting on a big-time recruiting pitch in full force right now and that is the team that worries me.

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