Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[Dan]

Welcome to the Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

IL Returnees
1) Ty Rodgers
2) Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn

IL Signees
1) Morez Johnson (2024 PF) committed on November 4th, 2021.
2) Jason Jakstys (2024 F) committed on July 23rd, 2023.
3) Jake Davis (Mercer guard) committed on April 1st.
4) Tre White (Louisville wing) committed on April 9th.
5) Kylan Boswell (Arizona guard) committed on April 14th.
6) Carey Booth (Notre Dame forward) committed on April 16th.
7) Ben Humrichous (Evansville forward) committed on April 30th.
8) Tomislav Ivisic (Croatian center) committed on May 6th.


Unofficial IllinoisLoyalty List of Illinois Basketball Potential Targets by soupy17


IL players in transfer portal
1) Niccolo Moretti entered transfer portal on April 29th.
2) Coleman Hawkins entered transfer portal on May 1st.


Transfers/decommits from the program
1) Dain Dainja entered transfer portal on April 1st, committed to Memphis on April 5th.
2) Jase Butler decommitted on April 8th, committed to Washington on April 23rd.
3) Sencire Harris entered transfer portal on April 15th, committed to West Virginia on April 21st.
4) Amani Hansberry entered transfer portal on April 16th, committed to West Virginia on April 21st.
5) Luke Goode entered transfer portal on April 22nd, committed to Indiana on April 26th.


2025 Recruiting
1) Jeremiah Fears (2025 PG) committed on January 22nd, 2024.

 

[illini55]

Good morning!

I've never been first, didn't even dream of such an honor. I'm feeling a little giddy, I can't lie.

 

[Big Jack]

 

[TheDukeUIUC]

 

[IlliniTilDeath]

 

[Big Jack]

Any news on the Storr front

 

[LadyLoyalty]

 

[Big Jack]

Good morning!

I've never been first, didn't even dream of such an honor. I'm feeling a little giddy, I can't lie.

Well could be your lucky day... get your blue shirt cleaned and pressed and head down to the town square..

 

[Joel Goodson]

pretty clear we're moving up the food chain with the return of Antigua. obviously, it remains to be seen if we're going to be landing 5 stars (beyond local kids, anyway), but, hot damn, it feels great to be in the mix for some of the cream.

I flippin' love our staff right now. think we're on the cusp of a new level (at least, recruiting wise).

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

don’t get me wrong , I’d much rather be talking about 5* guys who are coming in for a visit than talking about 4* guys
BUT
it seems like in this current age, the one or ones you do sign aren’t around for very long anyway and will cost a lot of money

I guess I’m just lamenting the fact we will have 95% roster turnover every 2 years , and is the better way to a NC with 5* freshmen or thru the portal with guys who have experience .

everything has changed , and from the team standpoint , it’s not better

 

[Illini in Italy]

 

[Joel Goodson]

Will Riley may be even more intriguing than Jakucionis, if not for the big hole we currently have at SG. Riley is a Canadian kid (queue Dustin Ford jokes), high 4 star-low 5 star, 6' 8" 2025. he's been absolutely shredding it on the EYBL circuit. guess who was recruiting him for UK? the kicker is that he's seriously contemplating re-classing to 2024, which would put him with his age group.

 

[doowink]

pretty clear we're moving up the food chain with the return of Antigua. obviously, it remains to be seen if we're going to be landing 5 stars (beyond local kids, anyway), but, hot damn, it feels great to be in the mix for some of the cream.

I flippin' love our staff right now. think we're on the cusp of a new level (at least, recruiting wise).

Totally agree that recruiting is and will continue to be on the upswing with this staff...but with the current NIL situation I just don't have much confidence that getting a 5* to commit to the Illini will mean that they're here more than 1 year, unless we're prepared to fend off other programs that will come along offering more $$$.....I think the kids should be paid NIL $$$....but don't like the direction this NIL thing is heading.....I really really don't

 

[Illini4Christ]

 

[Brosky]

Will Riley may be even more intriguing than Jakucionis, if not for the big hole we currently have at SG. Riley is a Canadian kid (queue Dustin Ford jokes), high 4 star-low 5 star, 6' 8" 2025. he's been absolutely shredding it on the EYBL circuit. guess who was recruiting him for UK? the kicker is that he's seriously contemplating re-classing to 2024, which would put him with his age group.

I really like your post. Would love to get this kid. Fingers crossed on his reclassifying to this year. My only quibble would be the "big hole" at SG. We've got DGL, Tre White and Jake Davis in the fold right now. Not arguing about the hole, just the "big" hole.

 

[Joel Goodson]

Totally agree that recruiting is and will continue to be on the upswing with this staff...but with the current NIL situation I just don't have much confidence that getting a 5* to commit to the Illini will mean that they're here more than 1 year, unless we're prepared to fend off other programs that will come along offering more $$$.....I think the kids should be paid NIL $$$....but don't like the direction this NIL thing is heading.....I really really don't

NIL is the new arms race, for sure. while we don't (and aren't gonna) have the biggest pot, I love where we sit and where we're heading

 

[Brosky]

Totally agree that recruiting is and will continue to be on the upswing with this staff...but with the current NIL situation I just don't have much confidence that getting a 5* to commit to the Illini will mean that they're here more than 1 year, unless we're prepared to fend off other programs that will come along offering more $$$.....I think the kids should be paid NIL $$$....but don't like the direction this NIL thing is heading.....I really really don't

agree it's too much like free agency in professional sports.

 

[Joel Goodson]

I really like your post. Would love to get this kid. Fingers crossed on his reclassifying to this year. My only quibble would be the "big hole" at SG. We've got DGL, Tre White and Jake Davis in the fold right now. Not arguing about the hole, just the "big" hole.

I love those guys: tons of promise. size of the hole is a matter of degrees. I said "big hole" because I'm a greedy MF. probably could have worded my post better.

 

[doowink]

agree it's too much like free agency in professional sports.

At least in professional sports, a player doesn't gain free agency status until they've played for a number of years...currently everyone in CBKB is a free agent all day every day...

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

agree it's too much like free agency in professional sports.

at least in pro sports you can sign a guy for 3-4 years (or more)

in college now , it’s just one year .
its ridiculous . you have to re-recruit your entire roster of eligible players every friggin year

 

[john1952]

Any lawyers in the group know if the Athletic Department can negotiate 2 or 3 year binding contracts with players?

 

[Indy Illini Fan]

This staff is cooking ... That's all I've got to say ...

Heading overseas again ... You guys can all determine that means ... There will likely be another guy who joins in addition as well ... Lathon, Monsanto, as well as a couple others I was told but will keep quiet for now ... They want to see how the du$t settles after they lock down the primary target ...

2025 ... You guys are starting to see some of the names I've been told behind the scenes for a while ... People DO NOT want to see our staff on the trail ... I am told all 4 of the guys below plan to take OVs ... Jeremiah Fears has been doing some recruiting of his own as well ...

AJ Dybantsa, Utah Prep , Small Forward

AJ Dybantsa is a Small Forward from Brockton, MA.

247sports.com

Jasper Johnson, Link Academy , Combo Guard

Jasper Johnson is a 6-4, 170-pound Combo Guard from Versailles, KY.

247sports.com

Meleek Thomas, Lincoln Park Performing Arts Cs , Combo Guard

Meleek Thomas is a 6-3, 165-pound Point Guard from Midland, PA.

247sports.com

Will Riley, The Phelps School , Small Forward

4/30/2023: Will Riley is a 6-8, 178-pound Small Forward from Malvern, PA. He is ranked No. 22 in the country by 247Sports. Riley is the No. 2 recruit in...

247sports.com

 

[HensonHall71]

Will Riley may be even more intriguing than Jakucionis, if not for the big hole we currently have at SG. Riley is a Canadian kid (queue Dustin Ford jokes), high 4 star-low 5 star, 6' 8" 2025. he's been absolutely shredding it on the EYBL circuit. guess who was recruiting him for UK? the kicker is that he's seriously contemplating re-classing to 2024, which would put him with his age group.

It does bring back the theoretical debate Indy started a couple of days ago about do we want:
A) Watkins - best player in the portal and gives us the best path to win now
or
B) Lathon + another player- if that is Kaparas/Riley - which would give us a proven SG plus a 17 y.o. Developmental guy with huge upside

In reality it’s likely not our choice (Watkins will have choices if he comes back to college) but in this scenario path B is a lot more appealing than I was thinking originally

We are already setting ourselves up well for 2025 when Fears comes in but in this portal era, planning too far ahead is a fools game given anyone can leave any given year - so I would still prefer Watkins but if we can get Lathon plus one of the international guys that would be a great way to finish off the class too

 

[Joel Goodson]

It does bring back the theoretical debate Indy started a couple of days ago about do we want:
A) Watkins - best player in the portal and gives us the best path to win now
or
B) Lathon + another player- if that is Kaparas/Riley - which would give us a proven SG plus a 17 y.o. Developmental guy with huge upside

In reality it’s likely not our choice (Watkins will have choices if he comes back to college) but in this scenario path B is a lot more appealing than I was thinking originally

We are already setting ourselves up well for 2025 when Fears comes in but in this portal era, planning too far ahead is a fools game given anyone can leave any given year - so I would still prefer Watkins but if we can get Lathon plus one of the international guys that would be a great way to finish off the class too

I don't think Kasparas/Riley is an exclusive or. if they both want in, we take 'em

putting the cart before the horse, but that would set us up for a legit run in '26. also, I think Fears could come in at the break, redshirt (to completely focus on training) and work like a demon with Fletch to get more physically ready. of course, there'd be huge advantages to getting ~half a season's practices in.

 

[HensonHall71]

I don't think Kasparas/Riley is an exclusive or. if they both want in, we take 'em

putting the cart before the horse, but that would set us up for a legit run in '26

I was just thinking of the scenario where Riley reclasses to ‘24 and we take one transfer and one international player - we likely don’t want to take three more in ‘24 nor would we have the NIL for it