You can go ahead and chalk this up as a massive recruiting win for Illinois basketball and Brad Underwood. On Monday morning, the news everyone in Champaign has been waiting for arrived: Andrej Stojakovic is Big Ten-bound.
For a little while now, Illinois has been considered the favorite to land the sharpshooter. On Sunday, he revealed a Top 3 of Illinois, North Carolina and Stanford. After that, a decision was expected to come at any moment. On Monday, Stojakovic ended all of the speculation, officially announcing his commitment. Again, this is a major win for Underwood and his staff:
— Andrej Stojaković (@AndrejSto2) April 28, 2025
Illinois has landed the commitment of Andrej Stojakovic
Not long ago, Stojakovic took a visit to Illinois to meet with Underwood and his coaches. Shortly after that trip, multiple recruiting experts put in their official predictions for him to join the Big Ten powerhouse. However, other schools got involved.
North Carolina was making a strong push to sign him, with Hubert Davis trying to sell him on the rich Carolina tradition. Stojakovic would have also filled a massive need for the Tar Heels on offense - he scored 17.9 points per game for Cal last season.
However, Illinois never stopped recruiting him and always made him a top priority. Fans had a feeling that Stojakovic would end up announcing for the Fighting Illini sooner than later, but UNC and Stanford both gave people something to worry about. Thankfully for those fans, Stojakovic made the right call in a lot of people's eyes.
The belief is that with the kind of offense Underwood runs, Illinois will put Stojakovic in a great spot next season to get himself NBA ready. He has a boatload of potential and he's no question a massive addition for this roster next campaign. It wasn't easy, but Underwood was able to pull things off.