Illinois basketball class of 2026 recruiting strategy is taking shape

Any player the Illinois basketball team lands for the future is welcomed with open arms.

It doesn’t matter how many stars are next to your name or the size of the player, when the Illini lands a player, I trust what is going on. Brad Underwood has earned that trust throughout his time in Champaign.

Nothing is changing with the class of 2026 either. Illinois has now added a second player to the class, as Landon Davis pledged his commitment on August 6.

Davis is a 6-foot-8, 210-pound power forward from Northwest High School in Iowa. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 226 player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 32 power forward in the country and the No. 4 player coming out of Iowa.

With the addition of Davis, Illinois has two players committed for 2026. Davis joins July 30 commit, Ethan Brown. As I sit here and look at the current Illinois class of 2026, I can’t help but think, this class feels different.

Brad Underwood is getting foundation pieces for the Illinois basketball program

Ever since Underwood took over the Illini, we have eyed the top recruits. Ayo Dosunmu came in during Underwood’s first recruiting class. Kofi Cockburn followed. Then it was Adam Miller and Will Riley.

The transfer portal took off, and Underwood adjusted. He started landing prime transfer portal players like Alfonso Plummer, Terrence Shannon Jr., and Kylan Boswell.

Another adjustment was made by Underwood, and Illinois started to go after players from overseas. Kasparas Jakucionis, Tomislav Ivisic, and the new guys who are coming in from the class of 2025.

Now I am looking at the 2026 class and think, is Underwood making another pivot? Has the strategy once again changed?

Brown and Davis, both sub-140 recruits, are nice pieces. I would argue they are the type of pieces that Illinois needed the last couple of seasons. Unless they burst onto the scene and become incredible, they are role players for the future.

It is interesting that Illinois is now going after role players, though. We usually target top 100 recruits. This is the second year in a row this has happened, too. Brandon Lee and Keaton Wagler were both sub-100 recruits, with Wagler being sub-200.

At the end of the day, I like these moves if they are the moves before the moves. We can’t sustain on just Brown and Davis. There is plenty of work left to do, and I believe Underwood can manage to put a great class together. It will be interesting to see if the strategy moving forward is to build depth with young players who will stick around for a few years, and then add the top-heavy talent through the transfer portal and one or two big-time recruits.