Illinois Basketball: 2024 target takes an Illini unofficial visit

Illinois basketball continues to look for players who could help the program in the future.

Brad Underwood and the Illini coaching staff have done a great job building out recruiting classes since they arrived in Champaign. This great recruiting ability is why we are one of the favorites to win the Big Ten again this season.

Illinois currently has a stacked roster. Nine out of the 10 players who are going to see the most minutes this year have been rated as a four-star recruit by some recruiting outlet. The only player who isn’t a four-star recruit is Coleman Hawkins, and he is projected as a second-round NBA Draft pick in 2023.

So, to say I trust Underwood and his coaching staff with recruiting is an understatement. Whoever they bring into the program has the potential to be a superstar player. That is why I am excited about the potential of Chris Riddle.

Riddle is a 6-foot-5, 185-pound small forward from Kenwood Academy in Chicago, Illinois. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 143 player in the class of 2024. He is also the No. 34 small forward in the nation and the No. 6 player coming out of Illinois.

The recruitment of Riddle is starting to really heat up, and Illinois knows this fact. That is why, on Friday, the Illini had Riddle in for an unofficial visit. He took in the campus and watched Illinois in their exhibition against Quincy.

Chris Riddle would build on an electric Illinois basketball class of 2024.

Illinois’ interest in Riddle for 2024 seems to be strong. We are only one of two scholarship offers for the talented wing, the other being Western Illinois, according to 247Sports. This would be a great addition to the 2024 class as well.

Underwood has a pretty good chance at putting together one of the best, if not the best, recruiting class in 2024. He already landed Morez Johnson, a four-star forward who is the No. 45 player in the country. Illinois is also in the driver’s seat for Johnson’s teammate at St. Rita, James Brown. These two would form a dominant one-two punch in the paint.

Illinois is also in the running for players like Asa Newell, Dwayne Pierce, Isaiah Evans, and Nojus Indrusaitis, to name a few. These players have all had an interest in the Illini, and hopefully, Underwood’s coaching staff can pull in one or two of these names.

The class of 2024 has a chance to be pretty special. Riddle would add this class. He would be perfect out on the wing. The future is so bright in Champaign.