Top 5 Illinois basketball recruiting targets left for the class of 2025

Brad Underwood and the Illinois basketball coaching staff have us in the hunt for some big-time recruits in 2025

Mar 23, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood leaves the court after the game against the Duquesne Dukes in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at CHI Health Center Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

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4. Nik Khamenia

There are so many talented players left for the Illinois basketball team to pursue. It is incredible the level of talent that is interested in the program as well. One player that sticks out to me is Nik Khamenia.

Khamenia is a 6-foot-8, 210-pound power forward from Harvard Westlake High School in California. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 29 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 9 power forward in the country and the No. 3 player coming out of California.

Illinois has been in the Khamenia sweepstakes for quite some time. The coaching staff extended a scholarship offer to the forward back in July 2023.

Since that moment, Illinois has been recruiting Khamenia hard. We haven’t let off the gas, as just in the past month we have gone out to watch him in AAU basketball.

Khamenia was a part of the gold medal-winning U18 Team USA that won the AmeriCup just weeks ago. He was joined by fellow Illinois commits Morez Johnson Jr. and Jeremiah Fears.

There is plenty of recruiting attention heading Khamenia’s way, though. While Illinois is still recruiting the kid hard, other programs are coming in with scholarship offers. A team to keep an eye on is Arizona. Their head coach, Tommy Lloyd, was the coach of the U18 Team USA. They just offered Khamenia a scholarship a day ago.

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