Illinois Basketball: Could the Illini be close to landing two big-time recruits?
The Illinois basketball team might be getting close to making this past weekend one of the greatest in program history.
Michael O’Brien of the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting rumors about two of the big Illini targets who visited Champaign over the weekend. In his tweet on Sunday, O’Brien says that EJ Liddell is unlikely to pick Missouri, and Illinois and Ohio State look to be the front-runners. He then goes on to say Terrence Shannon and Illinois seem to be getting on quite nicely. I assume he means getting along.
This news, while rumors, makes the Illinois fan base so excited. Of course, I am speaking for the entire fan base there and probably shouldn’t be. There are some fans who could sign LeBron James tomorrow, somehow, and they would be upset because they want a true center. But, I digress.
The tweet by O’Brien involved two of the three big visitors this past weekend with the only one left out being Oscar Tshiebwe. There were not rumors about his recruitment released by O’Brien, probably because Tshiebwe is not from the state of Illinois.
If Illinois could snag two of the three from this weekend, it would make it an extremely successful official visit run for this Illini coaching staff. They need to sign some big names up for the class of 2019 and having Liddell and Shannon both come to Champaign would make massive waves through the recruiting landscape.
Liddell would be a top 50 get for the Illini. He is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound power forward who is rated as a four-star recruit and is ranked as the No. 48 player in the class of 2019. Shannon isn’t far behind Liddell in the rankings. He is a 6-foot-6, 185-pound small forward who is rated as a four-star recruit and is ranked as the No. 81 player in the class of 2019.
In one weekend, Illinois could possibly land two top 85 players in the class of 2019. Snagging Tshiebwe would be amazing too. But, even if we get Liddell and Shannon, that would be the start of a special class for the Illini. This would help validate everything Brad Underwood and the coaching staff have been working for during the past few years.