Illinois Basketball: Illini offer 4-star California shooting guard

The Illinois basketball coaching staff offered a top 20 player in the country, who is being coached by one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

Brad Underwood made a bold move on the Illini recruiting trail yesterday, offering 2025 prospect Brayden Burries, a four-star shooting guard out of Long Beach Poly Technic High School in California.

The 6-foot-5, 185-pound guard is ranked as the No. 18 prospect in the nation and the No. 1 recruit in California. Aside from the Illini, he holds 14 other offers from schools such as Houston, Kansas, Minnesota, and USC, among others.

This summer, Burries played for team Strive For Greatness, coached by LeBron James and Rajon Rondo, in the Nike EYBL’s Peach Jam, where he took the league by storm.  He averaged 19.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game and shot an exceptional 52% from the floor and 44% from three-point range. His 19 points were sixth in the Peach Jam’s U16 pool.

Burries caught the media’s attention with a 27-point, 13-rebound performance in SFG’s July 7 matchup vs. NH Lightning.  He also had three blocks in that contest.

That performance was the difference in SFG’s comeback victory, as they faced a 10-point deficit at one point.  His dominance even had LeBron amped up on the floor.

It’s not every day you come across a prospect who has had the luxury of gaining wisdom from the coaching of two all-time greats.

As of now, the Illini do not have any commitments for the class of 2025, but Burries would look forward to teaming up with four-star 2024 center commit Morez Johnson, the No. 1 ranked player in Illinois.