Illinois Basketball: Illini snag official visit for Kofi Cockburn

The Illinois basketball team received some huge recruiting news on Monday night.

According to Andrew Slater of The Athletic, big man Kofi Cockburn will be taking one of his official visits to come to Champaign. He is slated to visit Illinois from December 28-30, according to the tweet.

Cockburn is one of the few prized recruits left on the market. He is a 6-foot-10, 255-pound center from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth Of Wilson, Virginia. He is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 33 player in the class of 2019 and the No.  9 center in the nation. He is also the No. 2 player in the state of Virginia.

Getting one of Cockburn’s official visits is big for the Illini program. They need another big man for 2019, and he would be a great addition. So far, Cockburn has only been on one official visit and that was to Connecticut back on October 26. Illinois now gets his second of five official visits.

The list continues to narrow for Cockburn, which is exciting. Before he started his official visits, he had cut his list down to just eight programs. His top eight included Syracuse, St. John’s, Florida State, LSU, Kansas, Pittsburgh, UConn and Illinois. The Illini and Huskies have emerged from this top eight. The other three are still unknown.

It has been well-documented this season, and really in years past, how much the Illini have struggled in the paint. A solid paint presence hasn’t been there since Meyers Leonard. But, with the addition of Cockburn to go along with the lone commitment so far for the Illini, Antwan January, I think the program will finally have stability in the paint.

If Cockburn would pick Illinois, we would see a new version of the twin towers of Tim Duncan and David Robinson. The combination of January and Cockburn would be tremendous for the program. I would put January at the No. 4 because he is a little more mobile. I would then put Cockburn at the No. 5 because he is more of a traditional big man. These two would dominate in the Big Ten.

The roster for the Illini would be insane if they could land Cockburn. The starting lineup would look something like Trent Frazier, Ayo Dosunmu, Alan Griffin, Antwan January and Kofi Cockburn. That is a team that could go deep in the NCAA tournament. Please let this happen.