Illinois Basketball: 2025 sharpshooting recruit takes Illini visit

This past weekend, the Illinois basketball team hosted a rising recruit from the class of 2025.

Recruiting has been at somewhat of a standstill for the Illini as far as commitments are concerned. The class of 2023 is buttoned up and ready to make a splash this season, and the class of 2024 is starting to come along.

Morez Johnson Jr. and Jason Jakstys are the two pledges thus far for a top 25 2024 class. Adding a player like Jase Butler would also help boost the class of 2024, as he is set to make a commitment on October 4, and Illinois is currently favored to land the talented guard.

And then you have the class of 2025. There are the splashy names that you see doing great work on the court and making every national team and impressing the masses. Jeremiah Fears is a big recruit. Brayden Burries is another name to keep in mind. Illinois is also targeting Jamarion Batemon.

Batemon is a 6-foot-3, 170-pound combo guard from Milwaukee Academy of Science in Wisconsin. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 161 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 23 combo guard in the country and the No. 5 player coming out of Wisconsin.

The recruitment of Batemon started to heat up this summer, as some of the big-time programs started offering him a scholarship. The first team to see his potential was Illinois.

This past weekend, Batemon visited Champaign. He posted on his social media account a picture of him at his visit with the caption, “Fighting Illini?? #notcommitted.”

Illinois basketball needs a big-time scorer like Jamarion Batemon in the backcourt

Most people will look at the stars or the national ranking that Batemon has been given and will think that he isn’t a great player. The numbers that he has put up and from what I have seen of him, I think the rankings are a bit off.

This past season with Milwaukee Academy of Science, Batemon averaged 20.5 points while hitting an insane

44.4% of his 187 three-pointers

attempted. Those are incredible numbers, and it shows you this kid is a big-time scorer.

Batemon is also coming off an AAU tournament where he was recognized as one of the standouts among hundreds of the top basketball players from various classes. Batemon averaged 21.0 points per game and hit 53.6% from three-point range.

It is great that Illinois has already built a close relationship with Batemon. I think this kid’s stock is going to soar in the next year or so. By the time the final recruiting rankings are published, it wouldn’t shock me to see Batemon inside the top 60 nationally for 2025.