The Illinois basketball team has a few top recruits signed up for the class of 2019.
Let’s see where the Illini recruiting commits and targets stack up in the new Rivals150 rankings released on Monday afternoon.
The top Illinois commitment right now is Kofi Cockburn. He pledged his commitment to the Illini back on January 6. Heading into Monday, Cockburn was ranked as the No. 31 player in the class of 2019, according to Rivals. In the new rankings, Rivals now has him as the No. 38 player in the class, so he dropped seven spots.
Advice: I wouldn’t worry too much about this drop by Cockburn. It looks like quite a few players dropped in ranking because of some other players moving up a lot. There have been some trendy names out there that skyrocketed up the recruiting rankings. Cockburn was just an innocent bystander. He hasn’t done anything to negatively affect his recruiting stock.
The other Illini commit is Antwan January. He committed to Brad Underwood and the Illinois basketball team back on November 13, 2018. He isn’t ranked by Rivals in the top 150. Their ranking has me confused, though.
Advice: It is hard to put too much stock in these rankings sometimes. January is still listed as a four-star recruit for the class of 2019, according to Rivals. But, when you look at their top 150, the bottom of the list includes three-star recruits. So, considering January isn’t on the list, something has to be off here. This kid still has a lot of talent. I wouldn’t worry too much about him not showing up in the top 150.
As far as targets go for the class of 2019, the Illini still have a few left on the board. Christian Brown checks in as a four-star recruit who is the No. 61 player in the class of 2019, according to Rivals. He was No. 65 before the most recent list was updated. He moved up four spots.
Brown seems to find Illinois as an intriguing landing spot. He wants to come out for a visit as well. He is the teammate of Illini commit, Kofi Cockburn. These two coming to Champaign would be huge for the program.
The last I have heard, Illinois isn’t out of the Terrence Shannon race either. He comes in at the No. 57 spot on the updated top 150 list. He was No. 45 before Monday, but Rivals dropped him 12 spots. The recruitment of Shannon has been up and down. I am pretty sure no one, including himself, knows where he is going.
There are a few big fish left out there. Illinois has a chance to put together a great class of 2019. Hopefully, we can finish with another top 150 player.