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Illinois Basketball: Rerating every Illini recruit from the 2010s

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - MARCH 08: Kofi Cockburn #21 of the Illinois Fighting Illini breaks up a scuffle between Da'Monte Williams #20 of the Illinois Fighting Illini and Connor McCaffery #30 of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the game at State Farm Center on March 8, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - MARCH 08: Kofi Cockburn #21 of the Illinois Fighting Illini breaks up a scuffle between Da'Monte Williams #20 of the Illinois Fighting Illini and Connor McCaffery #30 of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the game at State Farm Center on March 8, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – FEBRUARY 08: Mark Smith
CHAMPAIGN, IL – FEBRUARY 08: Mark Smith /

11. Mark Smith (Old: 4-star/0.9629 – New: 4-star/0.9455)

I would bet that many Illinois fans reading this are going to have their heart skip a beat for me having Mark Smith this high on the list. But, at the end of the day, this kid isn’t bad. But he also isn’t as good as his original recruiting rating.

Smith entered the college basketball world as a 6-foot-5, 225-pound shooting guard from Edwardsville High School and residing in Edwardsville, Illinois. He was rated as a four-star recruit who was the No. 79 player in the class of 2017 and the No. 16 shooting guard in the nation. He also had a composite rating of 0.9629.

It was a big deal when Illinois landed Smith. Brad Underwood had just taken over the program and was able to pull in a rising star. Smith was supposed to be a building block for this program. That wasn’t the case, though.

In the lone year Smith spent with the Orange and Blue, he averaged 5.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. He just didn’t fit in well with Underwood’s system, so he decided to take his talents to a different program after the season concluded.

Smith would land with Missouri and, somehow, be eligible from day one. With the Tigers, he has been able to get his career going averaging 10.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Things seem to be going well for the talented guard with a different program.

I think Smith is a good player, but he isn’t a four-star with a rating of 0.9629. I wouldn’t drop him too much, but he should be somewhere in the ballpark of a four-star recruit with a rating of 0.9455. That is a middle of the road four-star player.

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