2 days Ago
To subscribe, click here. Sign up for our daily basketball newsletter here Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large: Could Illinois' recruiting board for the Class of 2025 continue to change? You bet.
Who the Illini are targeting in September might bear little resemblance to what the final haul looks like heading into the 2025-26 season. Case in point ..
. Kasparas Jakucionis and Tomislav Ivisic were certainly not names to note at this point a year ago and could both find themselves starting for the Illini in less than 50 days. As things stand now, there are four names at the top of Illinois' board in the Class of 2025.
Most prevalent — simply based on his timetable — is Shawnee Mission Northwest (Kan.) guard Keaton Wagler. The four-star recruit, who took an official visit to Champaign this past weekend, intends to announce his commitment this week.
The Illini got his last visit and stand as his best offer. Will he commit? TBD. Wagler's offer was a recent one.
Illinois didn't pull the trigger on it until late August. The Illini have also recently offered four-star Orem (Utah) forward Chamberlain Burgess. Prying him away from BYU might be a challenge, but the Illini are expected to get him on campus for an official visit.
Two other recruits to track are three-star Bella Vista Prep (Ariz.) forward Spencer Ahrens — a Canadian and former EYBL teammate of current freshman Will Riley — and four-star The Patrick School (N.J.
) guard Brandon Lee. Ahrens visited Illinois in early August. The anticipation for Lee, like Burgess, is to get an official visit.
But those are simply the names to know now. Odds are the board changes — perhaps dramatically — come next spring. You never know where the Illinois staff might go (literally, other countries) to find talent.
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