NCAA Basketball: Top 25 recruiting programs of the 2010’s

22. Illinois Fighting Illini (Big Ten)

Average recruiting ranking: 37.44

Lon Kruger, Bill Self, and Bruce Weber built up the Illinois’ basketball program into one of the best during the late-90’s and early 2000’s. Since then, though, the program has struggled tremendously. During this past decade, the Fighting Illini were unable to garner any sort of consistency under four different leaders (one interim). They reached the Big Dance just once in the last 10 years and the program is desperate for some success in the near future.

Illinois’ golden age of the mid-2000’s might not be included in this piece, but the program was still able to snag some big-time commits. They did not secure a five-star talent in the 2020’s but a plethora of four-star prospects make up why the Fighting Illini cracked the list. Recent commits Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn are both major keys but it is important to mention the program’s elite 2010 class. Behind commitments from Jerome Richmond and Meyers Leonard, both top-30 players, that class finished at No. 13 in the country.

I say this hesitantly, but I think that Illinois is on the rise. Head coach Brad Underwood has a great roster for this 2019-20 campaign and the Fighting Illini could make the NCAA Tournament. That would be a phenomenal step in taking the program back to national relevance and it is important to mention that recruiting has been rock-solid under his leadership as well. I’m cautiously optimistic about the Illinois’ future despite their struggles of late.