Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread
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Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
Love to hear it. Will be tough to beat Arizona. They’ll glad play Wabbington at the 4 even if Krivas returns for a super senior 5th year. It’ll come down to how much of the Ivisic money we want to spend on a true freshman. Goal is to field a starting 5 that contends every year. I think Wabbington is THAT guy given our 5 out system.
It does feel like an us vs. Arizona battle. I think Brad wil want to close this weekend. Only issue is how Mirk figures into all this.
Arizona 2027 frontcourt:
- SF: Kharchenkov
- PF: Wabbington
- C: Krivas (5 in 5)
Illinois 2027 frontcourt:
- SF: Maybe Andrej (5 in 5) but likely a transfer
- PF: Maybe Mirk / maybe where Wabbington plugs in
- C: maybe Wabbington if he's ok playing C but likely a transfer
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You think Andrej "likely" transfers next year? From who is that perspective coming from?
I think it's more of he doesn't think Andrej is coming back for a 5th.
I think it was either andrej or we get a transfer to fill that spot
Sorry if my phrasing was misleading. I'm not saying Andrej transfers to another school. I don't think Andrej will play at another university prior to going pro.
It felt like Andrej heavily flirted with a 2nd round NBA draft selection this summer before choosing to return to the Illini. His dad likely has connections to get him tryouts. If he fixes his shot mechanics a bit this summer and shows that he can be a 35% 3pt shooter, he has a shot to get drafted in the mid-second round next summer.
"Likely a transfer" meaning I'm simply guessing that our starting SF next year will be a high profile transfer utilizing money free'd up after Andrej dives into a relatively weak 2027 draft. Of course, all of this is in a high state of flux.
Andrej could return using 5 in 5 to get another multi-million dollar bag. Quinton Kitt could be ready to assume the SF spot. We may choose to plug Jake back into the starting spot assuming he's back for 5 in 5.
Joel Goodson
- 9th man conundrum
large curd
Mirk recruiting time.
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
Feels like it’ll be an uphill battle vs. Arizona.
And no sightings of Moussa Kamissoko. Did he make it to campus?
I remember looking up the most 3pt attempts by frontcourt players and Illinois led that stat by a wide margin. If you are a big that wants to play on the perimeter there is no better offense to play in than ours
It’s a comfortable feeling knowing that we can compete with any blue blood these days.
Ultimately, it comes down to how serious is the prospect about development and winning.
Guessing money shouldn’t be an issue…
Ultimately, it comes down to how serious is the prospect about development and winning.
Guessing money shouldn’t be an issue…
Bowman Jr. went to UConn. Mullins was ranked near Top 10 in his class. Moussa Kamissiko is headed for a visit there.
I wouldn’t even consider Arizona a traditional blue blood given they have 1 title from 20 years ago. But they’ve landed Holt, Burries, and Peat in the last 2 recruiting cycles. They also likely lead for Wabbington.
Kansas has had a Dybantsa and Stokes.
I don’t need to even touch on Duke.
Brandon McCoy Jr. was at one point the #1 ranked 2026 prospect.
We recruited Quintin Coleman away from Wake Forest. I don’t recall if we battled a blue blood for Will.
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Two composite five star recruits doesn’t suddenly mean “we can compete with any blue blood.”
The sell to go play at an Arizona, Duke, or UConn is still measurably stronger.
2025 Rankings: https://247sports.com/season/2025-basketball/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool
2026 Rankings:
2026 Top Basketball Recruits
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.
247sports.com
None of these recruiting cycles saw us competing against and taking away a blue blood’s preferred 5-star or top-10 recruit.
The story has been great with NBA development outcomes with Ayo, TSJ, Will, KJ, and Keaton. But there’s also not been a blue chip frontcourt HS recruit or NBA prospect in these past 5 years since the program has consistently made the tournament.
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I would say we’ve become more competitive with the blue chip recruits. But I don’t think we’re at a stage of pulling away a primary target away from a more currently successful program like Duke, UConn, or Arizona. Even a Michigan who has brought in a McCoy Jr. and beat us out for Costello.
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Shooting Ability
Shooting Ability
Bowman Jr. went to UConn. Mullins was ranked near Top 10 in his class. Moussa Kamissiko is headed for a visit there.
I wouldn’t even consider Arizona a traditional blue blood given they have 1 title from 20 years ago. But they’ve landed Holt, Burries, and Peat in the last 2 recruiting cycles. They also likely lead for Wabbington.
Kansas has had a Dybantsa and Stokes.
I don’t need to even touch on Duke.
Brandon McCoy Jr. was at one point the #1 ranked 2026 prospect.
We recruited Quintin Coleman away from Wake Forest. I don’t recall if we battled a blue blood for Will.
- - -
Two composite five star recruits doesn’t suddenly mean “we can compete with any blue blood.”
The sell to go play at an Arizona, Duke, or UConn is still measurably stronger.
2025 Rankings: https://247sports.com/season/2025-basketball/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool
2026 Rankings:
2026 Top Basketball Recruits
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.
None of these recruiting cycles saw us competing against and taking away a blue blood’s preferred 5-star or top-10 recruit.
The story has been great with NBA development outcomes with Ayo, TSJ, Will, KJ, and Keaton. But there’s also not been a blue chip frontcourt HS recruit or NBA prospect in these past 5 years since the program has consistently made the tournament.
- - -
I would say we’ve become more competitive with the blue chip recruits. But I don’t think we’re at a stage of pulling away a primary target away from a more currently successful program like Duke, UConn, or Arizona. Even a Michigan who has brought in a McCoy Jr. and beat us out for Costello.
Dybantsa went to BYU...
All those words to be wrong.Bowman Jr. went to UConn. Mullins was ranked near Top 10 in his class. Moussa Kamissiko is headed for a visit there.
I wouldn’t even consider Arizona a traditional blue blood given they have 1 title from 20 years ago. But they’ve landed Holt, Burries, and Peat in the last 2 recruiting cycles. They also likely lead for Wabbington.
Kansas has had a Dybantsa and Stokes.
I don’t need to even touch on Duke.
Brandon McCoy Jr. was at one point the #1 ranked 2026 prospect.
We recruited Quintin Coleman away from Wake Forest. I don’t recall if we battled a blue blood for Will.
- - -
Two composite five star recruits doesn’t suddenly mean “we can compete with any blue blood.”
The sell to go play at an Arizona, Duke, or UConn is still measurably stronger.
2025 Rankings: https://247sports.com/season/2025-basketball/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool
2026 Rankings:
2026 Top Basketball Recruits
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.
None of these recruiting cycles saw us competing against and taking away a blue blood’s preferred 5-star or top-10 recruit.
The story has been great with NBA development outcomes with Ayo, TSJ, Will, KJ, and Keaton. But there’s also not been a blue chip frontcourt HS recruit or NBA prospect in these past 5 years since the program has consistently made the tournament.
- - -
I would say we’ve become more competitive with the blue chip recruits. But I don’t think we’re at a stage of pulling away a primary target away from a more currently successful program like Duke, UConn, or Arizona. Even a Michigan who has brought in a McCoy Jr. and beat us out for Costello.
Bowman Jr. went to UConn. Mullins was ranked near Top 10 in his class. Moussa Kamissiko is headed for a visit there.
I wouldn’t even consider Arizona a traditional blue blood given they have 1 title from 20 years ago. But they’ve landed Holt, Burries, and Peat in the last 2 recruiting cycles. They also likely lead for Wabbington.
Kansas has had a Dybantsa and Stokes.
I don’t need to even touch on Duke.
Brandon McCoy Jr. was at one point the #1 ranked 2026 prospect.
We recruited Quintin Coleman away from Wake Forest. I don’t recall if we battled a blue blood for Will.
- - -
Two composite five star recruits doesn’t suddenly mean “we can compete with any blue blood.”
The sell to go play at an Arizona, Duke, or UConn is still measurably stronger.
2025 Rankings: https://247sports.com/season/2025-basketball/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool
2026 Rankings:
2026 Top Basketball Recruits
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.
None of these recruiting cycles saw us competing against and taking away a blue blood’s preferred 5-star or top-10 recruit.
The story has been great with NBA development outcomes with Ayo, TSJ, Will, KJ, and Keaton. But there’s also not been a blue chip frontcourt HS recruit or NBA prospect in these past 5 years since the program has consistently made the tournament.
- - -
I would say we’ve become more competitive with the blue chip recruits. But I don’t think we’re at a stage of pulling away a primary target away from a more currently successful program like Duke, UConn, or Arizona. Even a Michigan who has brought in a McCoy Jr. and beat us out for Costello.
If we narrow the definition of 'blue blood' to basically two schools (Duke, UConn, but Arizona doesn't count due to lack of titles, etcetera) then we're just saying all of this to create a narrative, imo. If the only definition of recruiting success is beating out those two specific teams for a primary target, then 99% of college basketball is failing. There are really quite a few programs right now that are absolutely recruiting heavyweights (BYU, Louisville, etcetera) that honestly don't have blue blood 'status' and I'd probably view beating those schools out as more of a win than I would beating out North Carolina, for example. If we're defining recruiting success as 'beating Duke and UConn for recruits' then what are we really shooting for and does that completely ignore how modern recruiting and NIL actually works?
Mentioning McCoy as an example of us failing to compete with blue bloods is kind of wild because we weren't really involved there to my knowledge, and if we were, his finalists seemed to be Michigan/Arkansas/Miami/Alabama/Duke.
To your question about Riley, I believe the finalists there were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Illinois.
I just don't think the binary "we are Duke/UConn or nothing" thinking is a healthy or accurate way to look at how we've recruited the past 2-3 seasons. Landing multiple composite five-star recruits proves the program has elevated its baseline to compete at the absolute highest level (and proven with a Final Four appearance). The development and system is a legitimate weapon against any program, whether that be a Duke/UConn or any of the other programs recruiting at an elite level in the NIL era. We are actively landing elite talent, and trying to diminish that because two very specifically chosen programs didn't personally validate the big picture just seems like blanket pessimism to me.
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