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Illinois Basketball: Illini recruiting wish list for the class of 2025

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN , IL - NOVEMBER 13: The Big 10 logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Georgetown Hoyas and the Illinois Fighting Illini at the State Farm Center on November 13, 2018 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
CHAMPAIGN , IL - NOVEMBER 13: The Big 10 logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Georgetown Hoyas and the Illinois Fighting Illini at the State Farm Center on November 13, 2018 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO – JANUARY 08: Nike basketballs are shown on the court before a game between the Utah State Aggies and the New Mexico Lobos at The Pit on January 08, 2022 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /

No. 4 Bryce Heard

The state of Illinois is producing some great talent for the class of 2025. I already mentioned Phoenix Gill, and a good guard who could join Gill in Champaign would be Bryce Heard.

Heard is a 6-foot-5, 187-pound shooting guard from Montverde Academy but resides in Illinois. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 62 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 10 combo guard in the country and the No. 9 player coming out of Illinois.

Over the past year, Heard has started to rack up the scholarship offers. Besides for the Illini, he has teams like Oklahoma, Arizona State, and Kansas State all vying for his services. Illinois was his first offer, though.

Illinois has been recruiting Heard for quite some time too. We offered him a scholarship back in 2021, and then in August 2022, Heard took an unofficial visit to Champaign.

Landing someone like Heard would be big for the Illini. While Heard currently attends Montverde Academy, he is from Chicago. Building that recruiting connection to Chicago is always important.

Brad Underwood needs to continue to land deep and talented classes as well. Heard would help provide quality depth to what could be a top 10 class nationally in 2025.

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