Illinois Basketball: The turmoil in 2017 was well worth it

Big-time recruits commit to the Illinois basketball team every once in a while and when they do, it is great for the program and fan base.

The last top 50 recruit to commit to the Illini was big man Jeremiah Tilmon. He was a great get – ranked as the No. 45 player in the class of 2017 – and Illinois was on top of the world. But, nothing is official until two things happen. The first being pen to paper. There needs to be a signature on a National Letter of Intent. The second thing is getting to the start of the season with the current head coach and having the recruit enroll in classes.

Tilmon never made it to the finish line with the Illini. He put pen to paper but John Groce was fired and then he asked for his release from his NLI. Tilmon never had a chance to suit up in the Orange and Blue and now he is down at rival program, Missouri.

Illinois is a different team now, though. They needed to let Groce go as a coach and move onto a new leader of these young men. Tilmon and some other recruits were casualties for the Illini fan base along the way. But the pain Illinois fans felt when we lost those talented recruits was only minor. Brad Underwood is now the head coach and he is building this program back up, starting with recruiting.

Underwood ended up patching together a pretty solid class of 2017 that included 2017 Illinois Mr. Basketball Mark Smith, Class 9A Player of the Year in the state of Florida Trent Frazier and local Peoria talent Da’Monte Williams. He also added in a few big men to help in the paint for the Illini.

What Underwood secured in the class of 2017 will be the foundation for future success for the Illini. But, the class of 2018 is where he has impressed the fan base. While there have been a few talented players slip through the cracks, Underwood has secured the highest rated player since Dee Brown. Ayo Dosunmu committed to Illinois back on October 13.

Dosunmu is a five-star recruit who is the No. 20 player in the class of 2018. The commitment on that Thursday in October was the biggest get since the Bill Self era, and on Wednesday at 2:15 CT, Dosunmu will make it official and sign with the Illini during the early signing period for recruits.

Next: Previewing the first five games for the Illini

With pen to paper being completed and Underwood likely not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, the Illini are looking at starting a five-star guard on the team in 2018. So, while 2017 has brought a lot of turmoil to a great program like Illinois, it was all worth it. We have a competent coach, recruiting is on the rise and the product on the court is about to get better as well.