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Illinois Basketball: Illini recruiting targets shine at shootout

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 22: Illinois Fighting Illini cheerleaders perform during the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Michigan State Spartans on January 22, 2018 at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 22: Illinois Fighting Illini cheerleaders perform during the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Michigan State Spartans on January 22, 2018 at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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As the high school basketball season starts to come to an end, the Illinois basketball team continues to keep tabs on some of the biggest recruits for the class of 2018 and 2019.

This weekend, the Bank of O’Fallon Shootout featured some of the best high school programs in the Midwest. Teams like Normal West, Chaminade, Belleville West and Webster Groves all took the court so their players could show off their skills to the rest of the nation.

Illinois had a handful of recruits in this tournament. The most immediate recruit for the Illini is Courtney Ramey. He is a four-star guard from Website Groves High School who is ranked as the No. 40 player in the class of 2018 and the No. 1 player in the state of Missouri.

Ramey – who backed away from his commitment to Louisville due to the FBI probe – is now on the market and looking for a new home. Since then, Ramey has had a plethora of programs enter the picture pitching their game plan for the future. According to his recruiting profile, Ramey has already taken an official visit to Oklahoma State and Texas and has two other official visits set up to Villanova and UCLA. That means he only has one official visit remaining.

Illinois continues to push to build a relationship with Ramey. They have a good pitch with their location, and he would be a starter year one most likely. Getting in on the Ramey sweepstakes would be huge. He is a talented player who tore up the O’Fallon Shootout.

The final game of the tournament, Ramey and his Webster Groves team played Belleville West, and he ended up dropping 24 points and six assists. He is a super talented player the Illini could use in 2018. But, he wasn’t the only big-time player the Illini were keeping an eye on.

Class of 2019 recruits EJ Liddell and Francis Okoro were both in action. Liddell’s Belleville West team took down Webster Groves in the final game of the tournament. He finished the game with 33 points and 10 rebounds. This great performance doesn’t come as a surprise to many fans who have seen what this kid can do.

Liddell is one of the top targets for Brad Underwood and the Illini in 2019. He is a 6-foot-7 forward who is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 50 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 2 player in the state of Illinois. The only player Liddell is behind in the 2019 state of Illinois rankings is Francis Okoro.

Okoro played well in the tournament too. He finished the final game Normal West played with 24 points and 12 rebounds to take down O’Fallon. His production is consistently great and that is why he is rated so highly.

Okoro is a 6-foot-9, 225-pound big man who is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 34 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 1 player in the state of Illinois. He is a part of the talented group Illinois could be pulling in.

Next: Illini in recruitment plans of Luis Rodriguez

It really is amazing how many top-level recruits are in and around the state of Illinois right now. The Illini are on track for some of these players who should help the program in the near future. With all of this talent out there for Illinois, there should be a resurgence in Champaign soon.

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