Illinois Basketball: Illini inching closer to landing another top 60 recruit

Illinois basketball is in serious contention for one of the best players in the class of 2024.

When Shauna Green took over the Illini program in early 2022, everything changed. The team started to bring in high-level transfers, and the first recruiting class she was able to land, the class of 2023, featured a top 80 recruit by All-Star Girls Report in Cori Allen and a future big-time contributor in Gretchen Dolan.

This class, along with transfers, will help Illinois get back to a 20+ win season in 2023-24. Building for the future is also quite important, and Green knows this. We have already landed Berry Wallace, a four-star recruit who is ranked as the No. 35 player in the class of 2024, according to Premier Basketball.

Illinois could be adding another top 100 recruit to the mix in the near future as well. In an article by Kurt Pegler of CentralIllinoisProud.com, Aaliyah Guyton is ready to make visits to her final schools. The final five programs she is eyeing include Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Michigan State, Iowa, and Illinois. A decision is to come in the next couple of months as well

Adding Aaliyah Guyton would give the Illinois basketball team a special recruiting class in 2024

Guyton is a 5-foot-7 guard from Peoria High School in Illinois. She is rated as a four-star recruit and has a 94 valuation by Premier Basketball. She is also the No. 60 player in the class of 2024.

The high ranking and rating don’t come as a surprise. Guyton had a big junior year in 2022-23, as she would average 21.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.1 steals per game for the Lions. She also helped her team to a third-place finish in the state championship.

Opinion

It is truly amazing what Green has done with the Illinois basketball program in about a year and a half. This program was a laughing stock, and she has made us into a team that now has second-weekend NCAA tournament aspirations.

Getting to 20 wins was a pipe dream just a couple of years ago. Now Illinois has landed a top 40 recruit and is potentially on the verge of landing a top 60 recruit in Guyton.

That type of recruiting power is impressive. Guyton would be a huge snag for the Illini. Her dad, AJ Guyton, is a familiar name to a lot of Illinois fans. He also went to Peoria High School but picked Indiana as his landing spot. I hope the Illini can land the better Guyton in the family, so we can do something her dad never could do; win a national championship.