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

1. Will Riley

I think the top recruit right now for the Illinois basketball program is Will Riley. The Illini have gained so much momentum with this kid, and now we are in the driver’s seat in his recruitment.

Riley is a 6-foot-8, 180-pound small forward from The Phelps School in Pennsylvania. He is rated as a five-star recruit and ranked as the No. 9 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 2 small forward in the country and the best player coming out of Pennsylvania.

There is a trend with the last few recruits on this list. Illinois wasn’t in contention for Riley just months ago. That was until Kentucky’s coaching staff exploded, and Orlando Antigua ended up landing back with the Orange and Blue.

Since Antigua re-joined the Illinois program, Riley took an interest in the program. We had already offered him a scholarship back in December 2023. Illinois didn’t make his original top five, though.

After an official visit on June 3, Riley redid his top five and put Illinois in the mix. Now the big man is scheduled to make a decision on where he will land on June 23.

On top of everything, there is a solid chance that Riley won’t end up in the class of 2025. The momentum right now is that he will reclassify and play in 2024. That would be insane for whatever program lands him.

As of right now, 247Sports has Illinois as the favorite to land Riley. We are projected as the leader for this talented five-star recruit, and it is due to Brad Underwood making some huge offseason moves. This has been an insane offseason, and adding a player like Riley would be icing on the cake.