The end of a huge recruitment is coming soon for the Illinois basketball program.
Over the past month, the Illini have continuously gotten closer and closer to Will Riley, but his star started to rise well before Illinois got in the hunt.
Back nearly a year ago, Riley was only rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 39 player in the class of 2025. He has slowly started to rise with each update 247Sports made.
By the end of 2023, Riley found himself ranked as the No. 30 player in the 247Sports composite rankings. By March, he cracked the top 20 nationally. Now, the five-star small forward is ranked as the No. 15 player in the country.
Illinois started to get in contention for Riley in the past month. We hired Orlando Antigua as an assistant coach, and he started to work his magic. After three official visits – Illinois on June 3, Kentucky on June 4, and Alabama on June 6 – Riley is set to make a commitment.
On Thursday, Joe Tipton of On3.com reported that Riley has a date set for his big decision. He is going to make a commitment on June 23.
5⭐️ Will Riley tells me he will announce his college decision on June 23rd. https://t.co/TG1OkVwDoI
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) June 13, 2024
Illinois basketball seems to be in the driver’s seat to land five-star forward Will Riley
I am not going to lie, typing that Riley has a decision gives me goosebumps. It seems that Illinois is not just squarely in the mix for this five-star recruit, but it seems that we are in the lead to land him.
This past Tuesday, the first 247Sports Crystal Ball Prediction was submitted for Riley in favor of Illinois. Friday was a big momentum swinger, though. While there was already one prediction in, 247Sports’ Basketball Analyst Travis Branham also submitted a Crystal Ball Prediction. Who is he thinking will land Riley?
Illinois.
There are two Crystal Ball Predictions in favor of the Illini, and one is from a bigwig at 247Sports. Landing Riley would be one of the biggest gets in program history.