Illinois Basketball: Decision coming for Illini target Terrence Shannon

The Illinois basketball program might end up building on their class of 2019 here in the next few weeks.

On Tuesday afternoon, Terrence Shannon broke the news that he is going to announce his commitment on November 1. This is some big news to drop after the recruitment process he has gone through over the last couple of months.

Shannon is a 6-foot-6, 185-pound small forward from Lincoln Park High School in Chicago, Illinois. He is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 81 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 23 small forward in the nation. This upcoming season, Shannon will be playing for IMG Academy down in Bradenton, Florida.

The timeline of Shannon’s recruitment is interesting. He took official visits to both Florida State and DePaul during the summer. Three days after his DePaul visit, Shannon announced his top four as Florida State, DePaul, Maryland and Illinois.

Just two days after naming his top four, Shannon decided to commit to DePaul. The school that he committed to wasn’t a surprise but the timing was. This commitment didn’t last long. Just a week after his commitment to DePaul, he decided to back away from it and reopen his recruitment.

Since Shannon reopened his recruitment there have been many teams come forward and offer him a scholarship. Shannon then decided to take his final three official visits. He visited Texas Tech on September 15, Illinois on September 21 and Georgetown this past weekend on October 5.

It is still hard to predict this recruitment. I don’t think Shannon picks DePaul because he backed away from his commitment there and there is a lot of negative news about their head coach and paying players.

I think Florida State and Georgetown are two big threats to Illinois for Shannon’s commitment. I think the Illini likely have a solid lead here, but Shannon is playing his final year of high school basketball down in Florida. This gives Florida State some power. Georgetown is an interesting fit for Shannon and has the power of a legendary NBA player as a head coach in Patrick Ewing. That is always a big draw.

At the end of the day, I want Shannon to go where he is happy. I really hope that is Illinois. We could use another top 100 player who can do multiple things on the basketball court. Shannon is a really good player, and I want him in the Orange and Blue.