NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Analyzing 2020 G DJ Steward’s final 8 teams

The two worst fits for DJ Steward are the Illinois Illini and the DePaul Blue Demons.

Both DePaul and Illinois are teams that simply would not make sense for DJ Steward for a multitude of reasons. The only reason I could see Steward choosing either of these schools would be because he is from Chicago.

Other than that, neither of these schools hold a flame to any of the other six schools on his list. For example, DePaul hasn’t seen the NCAA Tournament since 2004 and Illinois hasn’t danced on the biggest stage since 2013.

That being said, these are two teams that have been anything but impressive in the last decade and Steward choosing to go to either of these schools would simply make no sense.

Not only have neither made the tournament recently, but also the two have combined for less than 10 total recruits ranked in the top-100 by ESPN since 2014. Also, Steward would become either of the school’s largest recruit since Jereme Richmond committed to Illinois going into the 2010-11 season.

That just goes to show you that neither of these schools have too much experience with players who have Stewards skill-level. This means that of the schools on his list, neither DePaul or Illinois would allow him to improve enough to be a top draft pick in the NBA Draft.

So if neither of these schools have had experience with top-level recruits and they haven’t had any success as of late (and in DePaul’s case, this century) then why would they be on Steward’s list of top-eight schools?

The only reason they crack this list is because of where the schools are. DePaul is in Chicago which is where Steward is from and Illinois is in Champaign which is only a bit over two hours from Chicago.

So obviously these are simply two hometown teams which Steward has on there in case he decides he doesn’t want to leave Chicago or Illinois. However, I wouldn’t expect to see him suiting up for either of these teams anytime soon.

The opportunity to play at one of the elite basketball schools on his list and the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest basketball coaches ever, will sway his opinion and he will wind up deciding on a school outside the state of Illinois.