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Illinois Basketball: Projected Illini lineup if Charles Bediako was added

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 11: A basketball rolls off the court during a timeout in the Big Ten Conference game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 11, 2017, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 11: A basketball rolls off the court during a timeout in the Big Ten Conference game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 11, 2017, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – DECEMBER 06: General view of Illinois Fighting Illini basketballs seen before the game against the IUPUI Jaguars at State Farm Center on December 6, 2016 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

The Illinois basketball team is in the middle of a heated recruiting season that will determine the future of the program.

Brad Underwood and the Illini coaching staff managed to land a top 20 recruiting class in 2020. This is a big deal because we snagged the top in-state recruit and built around him with solid players. But the class of 2021 is where things are either going to go our way or we could end up struggling.

Luke Goode is the first player to sign up for the class of 2021. He is a top 100 shooting guard who has lights out shooting ability. Goode already committing to the program gives other recruits the green light to take a look at us.

The rise of Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu has to help with recruiting too. Both talented players are currently in the NBA Draft and will be NBA players within the next year or so. This shows recruits you can come to Illinois and get to the league.

But someone like Kofi isn’t going to be at Illinois when 2021 rolls around. Sure, Kofi might pull out of the NBA Draft, but that means he is only back for the 2020-21 campaign. Illinois is still going to need to land a big man for 2021. That big man could be Charles Bediako.

Bediako is a 6-foot-11, 215-pound center from Andres Osborne Academy and resides in St. Catharines, Ontario. He is rated as a five-star recruit who is the No. 21 player in the class of 2021 and the No. 4 center in the nation. He is also the No. 1 player out of Ontario.

If the Illini could land Bediako, the program would continue being a national title contender. That is how good I believe Bediako is going to be in 2021. But what would the projected Illinois lineup look like with the big man?

Here is the projected Illini lineup with Charles Bediako.

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