Illinois Basketball: 2019 Illini recruiting targets doing well in AAU

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LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 05: Basketballs are shown in a ball rack before a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament between the San Francisco Dons and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 5, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bulldogs won 88-60. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

The Illinois basketball team might be running out of options for the class of 2018.

They lost one of their last recruiting targets on Thursday night in Maurice Calloo. They have one more big target left in Francis Okoro, but some news outlets are reporting he might be heading to Oregon instead of Illinois. With that being said, if Illinois doesn’t sign another player for 2018, that leaves the program with three scholarships heading into a stacked class of 2019.

I really like what Brad Underwood has done with the class of 2018, though. Illinois has signed six players which include two top 100 recruits in Ayo Dosunmu and Tevian Jones. Dosunmu is a five-star guard who is the No. 27 player in the class of 2018. Jones is a four-star wing player who is the No. 95 player in the class of 2018.

These two players will be the foundation on which the Illini will build around in the future. They should do some great things this upcoming season. My expectation with them, the other recruits who signed up for 2018 and the Illinois roster right now is an NCAA tournament berth. It has been five years since we last went dancing, and I want that to change.

Illinois needs to build on the class of 2018 with the class of 2019, though. By doing this, the future of the program will be more stable. There are a tremendous amount of talented players the Illini are after as well. Some of these players are in the Nike EYBL AAU league.

Here is how the Illini recruiting targets are doing in the Nike EYBL.

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