The Illinois basketball team currently has zero players signed up for the class of 2018. That number will change, though, and it could be from two recent visitors.
Speculation has been rampant about who will commit to Brad Underwood and the Illini first for 2018. Many names have been dropped but the hot players right now are George Conditt and Landers Nolley.
Stephen Rodgers of Basketball Society and D1Vision says Conditt is on the board for the Illini to land, and Illinois is also in the top two for Nolley as well. These are two big names that would be great in the Illini lineup for 2018 and beyond.
Conditt is the big man the Illini have been looking for the past few seasons. He named his top three – Iowa State, New Mexico, Illinois – on September 4 and just finished his official visit to Champaign this past weekend. This was a big visit for the Illini and, hopefully, they made a big impact on him because Iowa State is starting to put the full-court press on Conditt.
It looks like Iowa State is doing an in-home visit with Conditt today right after his visit to Illinois. That means the Cyclones are nervous about losing him. It will be interesting to see how Conidtt’s recruitment plays out over the next few weeks.
Nolley has a few more teams still alive in his recruitment. In the interview with Rodgers, he mentions the official visits he will be taking are to Georgia State, Virginia Tech, Georgia, Illinois and a recent addition to the mix is Wichita State.
The Illini already had their official visit with Nolley last week and his other visits are scheduled as follows; Virginia Tech September 29, Georgia State October 6, Georgia October 13 and Wichita State October 20. He then has a commitment date of October 31.
The fact Rodgers thinks Nolley has the Illini in his top two right now is good news. Illinois needs another wing who can play right away and become a great player for this program. They would be getting a top 100 player in the class of 2018 and someone who can help lift the Illini back up to being a contender in the Big Ten once again.
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So, just imagine these two in the Orange and Blue. These two will hopefully be the first dominos to drop. Everything will fall into place after they commit.