Illinois Basketball: Did the Illini just make top 2 for Damari Monsanto?
It looks like the Illinois basketball team has, potentially, made another top list for a class of 2019 recruit.
Damari Monsanto was tagged in an Instagram post that had what is depicted as his top two teams he will be choosing from. The teams shown on the post are Illinois and East Tennessee State. The post also includes the words “Top 2” at the bottom as well. This post was first brought to my attention by Tajh (@Recru1t1ng_Guru) on Twitter.
Now, none of this is confirmed by the recruiting sites. I haven’t seen anyone post about the supposed top two. Monsanto hasn’t posted anything on Twitter either. So, as of right now, nothing is confirmed besides this one Instagram post he was tagged in. He is a solid player with a lot of recruiting attention, though.
Monsanto is a 6-foot-5, 200-pound shooting guard from Western High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 316 player in the class of 2019 and the No. 55 shooting guard in the nation. He is also the No. 20 player in the state of Florida as well.
Don’t let the low recruiting ranking fool you, though. Monsanto has a decent amount of scholarship offers and some are from big programs. Some of the teams to have an interest in him, besides for Illinois, include Kansas State and Memphis. So, there is definitely something there as far as talent goes.
It does look like Monsanto could be a little underrated. He has some skills that I would love for the Illini to have on their team. His ability to shoot the jumper is solid. I love his quick and high release. He has the ability to be aggressive to the rim as well.
Monsanto had a good summer in 2018 playing for Team Breakdown of the Under Armour AAU league. He finished the summer averaging 13.9 points per game, and his best game was a 21-point performance. He also shot 37.4-percent from the field, which isn’t great, but was 39-percent from three-point land, which is a good number. He also pulled down 4.6 rebounds per game as well.
If the top two is legit, I wouldn’t mind Monsanto coming aboard. He has talent and could help this team. He would provide depth at the wing and that is what we need for the future.