Illinois Basketball Coach Brad Underwood Recruiting at Historic Level

Illinois Basketball coach Brad Underwood is currently recruiting at a historic level. After landing the commitment of 5-star prospect, Will Riley, Underwood has secured the top-ranked recruit per the 247sports rankings in Illini history. Per those rankings, 8 of the top 10 players were recruited by Brad Underwood and his staff. Outside of Riley, that list includes Morez Johnson Jr, Ayo Dosunmu, Skyy Clark, Adam Miller, Andre Curbelo, Jeremiah Fears, and Kofi Cockburn. Additionally, the Illini are hosting a 5-star guard in the class of 2025, Jasper Johnson.

Though the 247sports rankings were not present back in the early 2000s, no one has landed more heralded recruits than Brad Underwood or maybe Bill Self. Self was able to land talented players such as Dee Brown and Deron Williams. Both of those players are historic names that immediately come to mind as Illini legends. However, there must be context for what Underwood took over.

A tough decade from 2007-2017

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John Groce and Bruce Weber were ultimately responsible for Illinois Basketball becoming a mediocre program in the Big Ten. Through the ten years of 2007 to 2017, the Illini made the NCAA tournament three times and had two winning records in Big Ten play. Brad Underwood has not only won the Big Ten tournament twice, but he has also earned the most conference wins out of any school in the past five years. He has done so with elite recruiting. Obviously, players such as Clark, Miller, and Curbelo left for different reasons, however, there is zero question that Underwood has brought in talent.

That talent has raised the floor at Illinois and Underwood has adapted astutely well to the transfer portal. Every year, the Illini has at least a handful of players on All-BIG teams. After this historic offseason and the best Illini season in a long time, Underwood has shown that he will have this proud program sustaining success. Adding Will Riley is just the latest confirmation.

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