Illinois basketball trying to secure visit from 2025 5-star point guard

Illinois basketball is looking to add a big official visit for the class of 2025.

Through the month of July, the Illini have yet to secure a commitment for the 2025 class. We did have two commitments at one time, but both players reclassified to the class of 2024.

Now Brad Underwood and the Illinois coaching staff are looking for the first commitment. There is a new name to keep an eye on for the potential first pledge as well.

On Thursday, Joe Tipton of On3.com reported that Illinois is trying to get Mikel Brown Jr. on campus for an official visit.

Brown is a 6-foot-3, 165-pound point guard from Overtime Elite in Georgia. He is rated as a five-star recruit and ranked as the No. 8 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 2 point guard in the country and the No. 2 player coming out of Georgia.

As of right now, Brown has made stops at Alabama, Ole Miss, and UCF. In the social media post by Tipton, he also mentions that Ole Miss and Alabama want him on campus again, as well as Louisville, Villanova, Indiana, and Texas.

Mikel Brown Jr. could step into the Illinois basketball lineup seamlessly in 2025

Coming into the 2024-25 campaign, the Illini have a pretty good backcourt. I imagine we will likely see Kylan Boswell and Ty Rodgers starting with Kasparas Jakucionis and Dre Gibbs-Lawhorn as the main rotation guys.

It wouldn’t shock me one bit if this was Boswell’s first and only season in Champaign. He put up good quality point guard numbers at Arizona, and a big year could easily mean a spot in the 2025 NBA Draft.

On top of Boswell’s pro potential, multiple outlets have Jakucionis projected as a first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft right now. If that comes to fruition, Illinois will lose two huge backcourt pieces.

This would also open the door for Brown to come in and take over the backcourt. He is a nice big point guard who can command a court. Brown also put up good numbers with Overtime Elite this past season.

In 2023-24, Brown averaged 13.4 points, 5.4 assists, and 2.1 rebounds per game. He is also a capable three-point shooter, taking 6.1 three-point attempts per game and hitting them at a clip of 37.8%.

Illinois getting in the mix for Brown would be huge. We need to keep refreshing the talent pool every season. Brown would be a home run for this program.