Illinois Basketball: Illini worst case scenario isn’t that bad
The Illinois basketball team lost another target for the class of 2018 on Thursday night.
Maurice Calloo, a player the Illini have been targeting for a while, decided to pick the Oklahoma State Cowboys instead of Illinois, among other teams. He is a 6-foot-8, 210-pound power forward from Huntington Prep in Huntington, West Virginia. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 292 player in the class of 2018 and the No. 49 power forward in the nation.
Calloo didn’t take many official visits. I believe he only went on two official visits, one to Illinois back on April 13 and the other to Oklahoma State this weekend. It looks like the pitch to Calloo was good enough to get him to pull the trigger on the Cowboys, though.
Where does this leaving the Illini? They still have six commitments for the class of 2018 which includes two players in the top 100. Their class is ranked No. 23 nationally and No. 5 in the Big Ten. If recruiting ended today, I would be happy with the haul Brad Underwood brought in. But, I still think we need another solid No. 4 to come in for at least 2018.
I think the saving grace for 2018 would be Francis Okoro right now. There are reports that he is likely to land with the Oregon Ducks, but he still has his top three as Purdue, Oregon and Illinois. The Illini aren’t out of this race until he says so. Hopefully, they can land him and he reclassifies for 2018. That would be the best case scenario.
The worst case scenario is that Illinois doesn’t land Okoro and he goes to another program. This still leaves the Illini with a top 25 class for 2018. What would they do with their other two scholarships, though?
You could always roll those over to 2019 where there is a stacked class coming in. Illinois is all over a lot of these players including Kahlil Whitney and EJ Liddell. These two would be game changers for the Illini program. Another option would be for the Illini to go after a graduate transfer for one season. There aren’t a lot of great options out there, but there are a few players who could help the team.
Next: Not landing Francis Okoro would hurt Illini
No matter what happens with the Illini, the worst case scenario is not that bad. They will have a solid class of 2018, but they will also struggle a bit in the paint. I hope the great guard play will overcome the lack of size in the middle.