5. Jon Scheyer
This one was one of the worst recruiting losses that I can remember. When you have an in-state recruit like Jon Scheyer, you have to be able to hold on to them.
Scheyer was a 6-foot-4, 170-pound shooting guard who was coming out of Northbrook, Illinois. He was a four-star recruit and had numerous programs coming after him.
In April 2005, Scheyer took an official visit to Illinois. This was less than a month after the Illini had been to the national championship, and the shine on the program was so bright. Weeks later, Scheyer doesn’t commit to Illinois but instead picks Duke as his landing spot.
This was a shocking commitment. Bruce Weber’s brother was the head coach of Scheyer’s high school team, but that didn’t help the situation. Scheyer went and played for the Blue Devils and shone bright.
Scheyer won a national championship at Duke. He ended his four-year run averaging 14.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. He also shot 38.1% from three-point range. His time in college was one of Illinois’ darkest runs as a program. He would have been a great boost for the Orange and Blue, but that never came to be.