Illinois Basketball: Illini land in top 8 for Isaac McKneely

Illinois basketball received some great news on Sunday as they awaited the announcement of a potential commitment for 2021.

On Sunday afternoon, Isaac McKneely announced his top eight, which included West Virginia, Kentucky, Purdue, Louisville, Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and Illinois. This is a big list to make for the Illini as McKneely is one of the best from the class of 2022.

McKneely, a 6-foot-4, 170-pound combo-guard out of Poca High School in Poca, West Virginia, is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 57 player in the class of 2022 and the No. 7 combo-guard in the nation. He is also the No. 1 player in the state of West Virginia.

The list for McKneely is strong with some big-time competition for the Illini. As of right now, there is already a prediction from 247Sports that West Virginia will be the landing spot for McKneely. This would make sense considering it is his home state.

But Illinois has done some great work on recruiting the talented guard. Back on July 2 is when Brad Underwood and the Illinois coaching staff came in with the initial offer to McKneely. Since then, the two parties have gotten closer as the Illini held a Zoom call with McKneely back on October 13.

Where would McKneely fit in on the Illinois roster?

I think it is pretty simple that McKneely would be slotted into a starting role pretty early on and potentially from day one.

I see Adam Miller being gone after his sophomore season, so that means he wouldn’t be there when McKneely arrived. Illinois’ backcourt would still be sensational, though.

Andre Curbelo would be the starting No. 1 guard. Hopefully, Illinois can land Tyty Washington on Sunday night. He would be the No. 2 guard for the Illini in 2022. McKneely would then start at the No. 3 guard. The rest would be sorted out, but that would be one incredible backcourt reminiscent of the Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head days.

Illinois is now one step closer to landing a big-time recruit for 2022. Hopefully, when the next cut comes, the Orange and Blue will be present as well.