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Illinois Basketball: Thoughts on the Talen Horton-Tucker situation

By Rees Woodcock

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 18: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks reacts in the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 18: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks reacts in the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 06: Basketballs are shown in a ball rack before a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament between the Santa Clara Broncos and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gonzaga won 77-68. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

Talen Horton-Tucker

The Iowa State Cyclones are putting together a pretty good program under Steve Prohm. He took over a team that hit great heights under Fred Hoiberg and then continued that momentum on the court and in the recruiting game.

Prohm secured a four-star and five-star recruit last year which included a top 25 player in Lindell Wigginton. He has continued to recruit well for 2018 too. But, this time he decided to focus on the state of Illinois and he has dominated.

Iowa State had Zion Griffin, four-star, and George Conditt, three-star, committed before last night. Those two are from Illinois. They also had Tyrese Haliburton committed as well, who is from Wisconsin. Prohm added another talented player last night in Talen Horton-Tucker.

Horton-Tucker is the highest rated player for the Iowa State class of 2018. He is the second highest rated player in the state of Illinois and the No. 54 player in the nation. There were reports that Illinois was the landing spot for Horton-Tucker but there were other driving forces behind the commitment last night.

This left the door wide open for Iowa State to swoop in and snag a top 60 player with ease. Good for them too. Illinois really screwed this one up and the Cyclones took advantage of the situation, just like they should have. They are going to be a much-improved team as well.

I am going to watch to see what Horton-Tucker does with Iowa State in 2018 and beyond. He is going to be a sensational player and I really hope he does well with the Cyclones. I feel bad for what happened during his recruitment, and there would be nothing better than him doing well at Iowa State and knocking Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks off their pedestal.

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