Illinois Basketball: Illini recruiting not missing a beat under Chester Frazier

Built into the Illinois basketball fanbase is a pocket of people claiming to be fans who end up kicking the team while they are down.

When there are changes to be made, they will be obvious and you can point them out. Like if the Illini failed to make the NCAA tournament for four straight seasons. That is a time where you can point out there needs to be a coaching change.

I don’t make the imaginary rules, but that is a time I don’t mind someone pointing out issues with the team. But when you are trying to manufacture issues and act like the team is in disrepair, that is when I take issue.

An example of this happened on Monday night. On Monday morning, I posted where the current Illinois basketball recruiting class for 2022 stood on a national level and in the Big Ten. At the time of the tweet, the Illini ranked No. 4 in the nation and No. 2 in the Big Ten for the 2022 class. Both are really good numbers.

Hours later, a person claiming to be an Illinois fan replied to the post. The Twitter handle said, “Orlando and Chin recruits.” This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, Illinois’ class of 2022 has gotten stronger since the assistant coaches departed the program.

Illinois basketball hasn’t missed a beat since hiring Chester Frazier.

My diatribe above was just a long way of getting to the point that new Illini assistant coach, Chester Frazier, has done a great job recruiting since joining the program a couple of months ago.

Before Chin Coleman and Orlando Antigua left their roles as assistant coaches for the Illini, they were able to land two recruits for the class of 2022. Reggie Bass was the first domino to fall and he is ranked as the No. 190 recruit in the nation. The second domino was AJ Storr, who is currently ranked as the No. 122 recruit for 2022.

That was the recruiting class leading up to both Chin and Antigua departing the Illinois basketball program. Once they both departed in early May, Storr backed away from his commitment leaving only Bass still pledged for 2022. On May 6, Frazier was hired to the Illinois coaching staff.

Since that moment, Illinois recruiting for 2022 has blossomed. Bass is still committed to the program, but we have also added two big-time recruits to the mix.

On May 18, the Illini offered a scholarship to Jayden Epps. Less than two months later, Epps pledged his commitment to the Orange and Blue. He is the No. 61 ranked player in the class of 2022, and teams like UConn, Kansas and North Carolina State were all vying for his services.

On June 15, Illinois came in with a scholarship offer to Sencire Harris. Just about three weeks later, the Illini were able to get a commitment from the talented northeast Ohio native. Harris is the No. 93 player in the class of 2022 and was wanted by teams like Maryland and Xavier.

So, Illinois basketball has actually improved their recruiting class after the coaching staff turnover. We went from having two sub 120 recruits to now having two top 100 guards and an under-the-radar talent in Bass. Not only has Frazier not missed a beat, but Illinois recruiting has improved for 2022 under his tutelage.