Illinois Basketball: DJ Steward keeps Illini alive for his commitment
The Illinois basketball team is officially one step closer to landing superstar guard, DJ Steward.
On Thursday afternoon, Steward posted a video on Twitter which announced his top eight programs he will be choosing from. The top eight included DePaul, Duke, Indiana, Iowa State, Louisville, North Carolina, Texas and Illinois. One of these programs will be getting a great player for 2020.
Steward is a 6-foot-3, 165-pound combo guard from Whitney Young High School in Chicago, Illinois. He is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 27 player in the class of 2020 and the No. 6 combo guard in the nation. He is also the No. 1 player in the state of Illinois.
Just a couple of days ago, I posted an article predicting Steward’s top eight teams. It looks like I was pretty far off on my prediction. I did have Texas, Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and Illinois. But I also included Northwestern, Marquette and Arizona. The replacements for those teams in his top eight were DePaul, Iowa State and Indiana. I figured he would have some local flair and it ended up being DePaul.
I would like to take this time to thank all of the schools that offered me a scholarship. To be given an opportunity to attend a great school and be apart of a great basketball program. It’s a blessing and I don’t take it lightly.🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/OCVR0HPnEe
— DJ Steward (@djstewardd) August 1, 2019
What do we make of this top list? Well, the teams on it are usually all in the hunt for the best player in the state of Illinois. I remember Ayo Dosunmu’s recruitment. He was the best player for the state of Illinois in 2018. He had every team after him and the blue-bloods came in late. There wasn’t as much talent in the state of Illinois in 2019, so these teams weren’t going hard after many players.
But Illinois is going to have their hands full with the other seven teams on Steward’s list. Duke and North Carolina are the highlights because of the coaches and history. Indiana seems to be doing well in the recruiting game and have a Miller as a head coach. Texas also received an official visit already, so they have to be right there for his commitment.
5 sleeper players for the Illini in 2019. dark. Next
Honestly, it is hard to gauge where Steward is going. His recruitment has been fairly quiet. My guess would be Illinois, Louisville, North Carolina and Duke in his top four. After that, it is anyone’s guess.