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Top 10 Illinois basketball recruiting busts of all time

Special talent has walked the State Farm Center floor, but the Illinois basketball team has also had some pretty big recruiting busts of the years.

By Rees Woodcock

Mar 17, 2022; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Andre Curbelo (5) and Fighting Illini guard Alfonso Plummer (11) stand on the court during practice before the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 17, 2022; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Andre Curbelo (5) and Fighting Illini guard Alfonso Plummer (11) stand on the court during practice before the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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No. 8 Mark Smith

There are a few players on this list that I thought were locks to being good. I thought there was no way some of the players weren’t going to pan out.

One of those players who I thought was going to be really good was Mark Smith. Smith was a 6-foot-5, 225-pound shooting guard from Edwardsville High School in Illinois. He was rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 87 player in the class of 2017. He was also the No. 19 shooting guard in the country and the No. 5 player coming out of Illinois.

Smith was a relative unknown up until his senior year. He had a big final season in the high school ranks and shot up the recruiting boards. He was so impressive that in 2017, he won the coveted Illinois Mr. Basketball award.

Even though Illinois went through a coaching change, Brad Underwood was able to get him to commit to the program just over a month into the job. Smith played decent minutes in year one and averaged 5.8 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game.

After his freshman season, Smith didn’t like something in the Illinois program. He hit the transfer portal and ended up with Missouri. After three seasons there, Smith transferred again and finished his collegiate career at Kansas State.

I loved watching Smith in high school. I thought he had so much potential. That potential fizzled out, though. He averaged 9.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists during his five-year stint in college. He did not live up to the high billing I had for the kid.

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