Illinois Basketball: Illini one step closer to landing a big man for 2022

While the Illinois basketball team didn’t have a game on Saturday, the program got a small victory for the future.

This past Wednesday, Jamie Shaw of On3 released his interview with big man Adrame Diongue. In the interview, Diongue talks about his recruitment and mentioned the Illini as one of the teams that is recruiting him the hardest right now.

Just days after that interview, Diongue decided to narrow the scope of his recruitment. On Saturday, he cut his list down to just eight programs. The eight teams still vying for Diongue’s commitment include Washington State, Texas, Texas Tech, Oregon State, Maryland, Kansas, UNLV, and Illinois.

It is great news that Illinois is in the top eight for Diongue, but it doesn’t come as a surprise. It did seem that he liked the program in the recent interview, so hopefully, this is just the next step for the Illini to land the underrated big man.

Illinois basketball could use the depth that Diongue would bring to the program.

The recruitment of Diongue has really skyrocketed in the past few months. He now has eight teams that are all solid contenders to land his commitment. Any of the eight teams would be lucky to have him as well.

Diongue is a 7-foot, 185-pound center from Compass Prep and resides in Chandler, Arizona. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 132 player in the class of 2022. He is also the No. 20 center in the nation and the No. 9 player coming out of Arizona.

I love what I see from Diongue. He reminds me a lot of a thinner version of Kofi Cockburn around the rim. The ability to rebound the ball is extraordinary, and he finishes well at the basket. I could see Diongue coming in and competing for the starting job in year one.

Hopefully, Illinois can move into Diongue’s next top list. I assume official visits will start soon. Illinois needs to land one of those, so we can get Diongue to sign in April. This would be a huge addition to the program.