Well, Illinois basketball fans, it is the morning after one of the biggest recruiting clusters we have ever seen.
Illinois was oh so close to landing a top 60 player in Talen Horton-Tucker but they couldn’t close the deal. In fact, according to Michael O’Brien of the Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois actually pulled the scholarship from Horton-Tucker. There was a reason for this but I am not going to talk about that right now. Those opinions will be in the next article.
I want to talk about the future of the Illinois basketball program right now. The Illini just lost out on a top 60 recruit who would have been amazing for the program out on the wing. He has an edge that I wanted in Champaign but now Iowa State fans get to enjoy watching this kid for the duration of his collegiate career.
Illinois still has a top 25 guard committed, though. Ayo Dosunmu is an extremely talented player who will be sensational for the Illini for the one or two years he is with the program. Brad Underwood will start him every year he is in the Orange and Blue and that is an exciting thought.
The Illini still have two more scholarships to fill as well. Dosunmu is the only player committed right now. I would fully expect Underwood and the coaching staff to crank up the recruitment of Tim Finke now, especially since Horton-Tucker is gone. Finke is in their backyard and he was once a top 100 player before a rough run in summer ball.
Hopefully, the staff can pull in Finke, but who would the other addition be to the team? Some say Bryan Penn-Johnson is an option but I just don’t see him coming to Champaign. Hopefully, I am wrong but, if I had to bet, I would say he goes to the west coast.
Could Illinois possibly flip Tamell Pearson from UAB? He is a 6-foot-10, 200-pound big man who played with Dosunmu on the Mac Irvin Fire AAU squad and Morgan Park High School. That would be a nice third piece to the puzzle for the Illini.
Next: Excitement at Illinois as the Brad Underwood era begins
Right now, I am kind of at a loss on where Illinois will go with the rest of the class of 2018. There are a few options but they are dwindling. I am just glad we go Dosunmu to commit. The rest will just be gravy.