Illinois Basketball: Illini class of 2021 brings quality depth to program

A lot has changed with the Illinois basketball program since that heartbreaking loss to Loyola-Chicago.

Departures are what has hurt the most, as Illinois lost one of the best players in the country and one of the best players in school history in Ayo Dosunmu. Adam Miller, a key piece to the future of the program, unexpectedly left the Illini to look for greener pastures as well.

Having these two players, among others, leave the Illini will impact the team one way or another. But that doesn’t mean the world is coming to an end. Brad Underwood has proved he can field a solid team the past couple of seasons, and there is no reason not to trust him moving forward.

One transfer has already signed up to join Illinois in the fight to get back to the postseason. Omar Payne, a former Florida big man, decided to pick the Illini just days ago. He should come in and, likely, see the starting job at the No. 5 spot depending on what happens with Kofi Cockburn.

While Illinois had one player transfer in and more could potentially come, the class of 2021 is what we should really be getting excited about.

Does Underwood have a top 35 recruit in this class? No, but the depth is there, and that is something that can’t go unnoticed.

What is so special about the Illinois basketball class of 2021?

So far, there are three players signed up for the class of 2021. Luke Goode, RJ Melendez and Brandin Podziemski are the future faces of this program, and that should give comfort to Illini Nation.

These three talented players aren’t just future members of the Illini, but their class of 2021 has the highest average rating by 247Sports in the past decade at 0.9390. You have to go back to the insane class of 2010 to find a higher average rating, which was 0.9823.

How I look at the class of 2021 is that while Illinois doesn’t have the sure-fire superstar coming in, they do have three players who are starters, All-Big Ten team contenders and foundation pieces for the future of the basketball program.

Let’s compare the class of 2021 to some of the more recent classes. The class of 2018 featuring Ayo Dosunmu only had an average rating of 0.8999. Ayo was obviously the leader of the pack, but the next highest-ranked player in this class was Tevian Jones, who didn’t crack the top 100.

The class of 2014 had an average rating of 0.9387 thanks to Leron Black, who was a top 50 recruit. 2013 also brought in a good class, checking in with an average rating of 0.9345. Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill were the two top 100 recruits in this class. But since 2010, not other Illinois recruiting class had a higher average rating than what we have coming in for 2021.

Illinois has added some talented players over the past decade, but once you get past the first or second player, usually the talent level drops off dramatically. That isn’t the case with the class of 2021. From top to bottom, this class has talent. And, honestly, I don’t think we are finished. This class has a chance to be pretty special.