Illinois Basketball: Illini extend offer to forward Maurice Calloo

There are still a few options left out there for the Illinois basketball team in the class of 2018.

Illinois offered a scholarship to big man Florent Thamba a few days ago, and yesterday they extended another offer out to forward Maurice Calloo, according to Corey Evans of Rivals.

Calloo is a 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward from Oak Hill Academy. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 236 player in the class of 2018 and the No. 8 player in the state of West Virginia. He currently sits with six scholarship offers which include Florida, Kansas State, Mississippi State, Providence, South Florida and Illinois.

For the Illini, Calloo would be a player to fill some depth that is needed in and around the paint. He is by no means a polished basketball player and that is why the move to Oak Hill Academy could be a good thing for his development over the next year.

Calloo played for the Atlanta Celtics AAU team this past summer. They were part of the Adidas Uprising league and there were some things that stuck out to me about Calloo’s game.

I want to start with the negatives first and end on a good note. The first thing I am worried about is Calloo’s scoring ability. He only averaged 6 points per game but was 16-of-61 shooting, which comes out to 26.2-percent from the field. He was also 5-of-27 from the three-point line which is 18.5-percent.

A player with Calloo’s size needs to be around the rim more often. I like his willingness to shoot from distance but it will be a while before he gets to that level. He needs to master some touch before he can start expanding his shooting game.

I do like the fact he is a monster on the boards, though. Despite his shooting struggles this summer, Calloo was able to pull down 7.4 rebounds per game. One of Illinois’ bugaboos over the last decade has been rebounding, and to get someone into the program who can go up and get the ball would be huge.

Next: It’s about the competition this year Illini fans

Illinois only has two scholarships remaining for 2018 and using one on Calloo wouldn’t be a bad idea. He is someone who would need some work but, down the road, he could be a very valuable player.