Illinois Basketball: Top 100 Ohio guard commits to the Illini

Just as things seemed to be going south for the Illinois basketball team, Brad Underwood comes through with a big commitment for 2022.

Illini Nation has been down since the news that Kofi Cockburn is entering the transfer portal with the possibility of playing for a different team next season if he doesn’t go to the NBA. But a commitment from Sencire Harris on Saturday morning sure did change the mood.

Harris is a 6-foot-3, 160-pound shooting guard from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and resides in Akron, Ohio. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 93 player in the class of 2022. He is also the No. 8 shooting guard in the nation and the No. 2 player coming out of Ohio.

What does a Harris commitment mean for the Illinois basketball program?

I think this is a huge commitment for many different reasons. I will start off with my first reason being momentum for the program. Illinois was hurting after some bad news the past few months. But having a solid top 100 recruit commitment for 2022 is a great cure for the blues.

Brad Underwood continues his ability to build pipelines in areas that are unfamiliar in recent years. Luke Goode coming from northeast Indiana was a big get. Now we are starting to snag talent out of northeast Ohio. This is an impressive get by Underwood considering there isn’t a pipeline built there just yet.

Illinois bringing in a top 100 recruit from the state of Ohio also shows that Underwood and his coaching staff have the ability to recruit even after losing some big recruiters from the staff. There were some questions if Underwood could keep up with recruiting, and I think he is proving that he can.

The Illini now has two players committed for 2022. Harris is the highest-rated recruit as of right now, but we also having Reggie Bass, a three-star shooting guard, coming in as well. These two should help form a great backcourt for years to come.