The Illinois basketball team is looking to make another splash in the 2021 class, as five-star Charles Bediako plans to meet with the Illini coaching staff.
In uncertain times, the Illini basketball program is doing all it can to provide a sense of normalcy ahead of the 2020 season.
Looking to add to what looks to be a talented group in 2020, Brad Underwood and his coaching staff are already planning for the future. They have taken priority interest in recruiting five-star junior, Charles Bediako, to their program for the 2021 season.
Illinois’ Brad Underwood and staff will virtually meet with five-star junior Charles Bediako this afternoon, a source told @Stockrisers.
— Jake (@jakeweingarten) May 21, 2020
Full staff watched him, in-person, on February 4th.
Bediako has offers from numerous Power 5 schools, including Alabama, Maryland, Ohio State, and Arizona State. He is ranked as the No. 22 best player in his class, and could potentially bring a 6-foot-11 frame at the center position to Champaign.
Thus far, the crystal ball projections have him leaning toward Alabama, but things could change rather quickly as he finishes his high school basketball career at Andrews Osborne Academy in Willoughby, Ontario Canada.
There were talks of him re-classifying, but he doesn’t want to do that in order to, as he put it, “get stronger and improve my craft.”
Illinois enters 2020 looking to improve on last season’s stunning turnaround, finishing second in a crowded Big Ten Conference that saw the Orange and Blue knock off Michigan (twice), Penn State, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin, further re-establishing its place with the conference’s best.
Joining next year’s group will include Adam Miller, Coleman Hawkins, and Andre Curbelo. The addition of 2021’s Luke Goode should also pay dividends to a team that is looking to chase a national title berth in the near future.
The future continues to look bright in Champaign as the summer has officially begun.