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Every week, BTPowerhouse’s Big Ten Morning Power Bar details what’s going on across the league on the recruiting trail.
Recruiting wars around the Big Ten are in full swing this conference season. This week alone we saw a commitment, new offers to established targets and new prospects emerge throughout the 2018, 2019 and 2020 classes. Let’s take a look to see what happened.
Ohio State Offers 2019 Top 50 Forward, E.J. Liddell
Buckeye head coach Chris Holtmann has one of the hottest programs in America right now, and is trying to parlay that success on the recruiting trail. According to Rivals, Ohio State nearly has a top 25 recruiting class in 2018, and are looking for big things in 2019 as well.
The latest top player for Ohio State to offer is Illinois forward E.J. Liddell. This 6-foot-6 prospect is ranked no. 42 according to Rivals and already has Big Ten offers from Illinois and Iowa. Further Big Ten interest has come from Michigan and Purdue. Outside of the Big Ten, Liddell holds offers from Missouri, Iowa State, DePaul and Kansas State. Check out some of his highlights below courtesy of OrangeandBlueNews.
We’ll keep track of this one, but it appears the home state Illini might be tough to beat for Liddell’s services.
New Prospect Emerging In 2019 For Ohio State, Purdue And Potentially Others
There was activity this week from the Buckeyes and Boilermakers for an emerging Indianapolis, IN wing. 6-foot-5 Cathedral high school player Armaan Franklin received an offer from Ohio State this week. While Purdue, who received a commitment from 2019 guard Isaiah Thompson this week, had Matt Painter watching out Franklin’s game on Wednesday. The Boilermakers have not offered, but that might change soon.
Other offers for Franklin at this point include Butler and Xavier. Expect that list to get much longer. Check out some of Franklin’s highlights below courtesy of InTheGymHoops.
Rivals Updates Its Player Rankings For 2018, 2019 and 2020 Classes
The recruiting site, Rivals, did a massive basketball prospect ranking update this week as new rankings were released for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 classes. The 2020 rankings were also expanded from 50 prospects to 75. Check out to see where you favorite Big Ten team’s commitments and prospects landed.
Illinois Offers 2018 Combo Guard
The Illini want an additional combo guard in the 2018 class and extended an offer to three-star prospect Jermaine Couisnard. The Florida native is currently ranked no. 292 according to 247Sports and holds offers from South Carolina, Texas State and Bradley.
Brad Underwood’s program already has five-star guard Ayo Dosunmu committed in 2018, but Underwood’s system focuses heavily on backcourt play. It has been previously reported in the Morning Power Bar that they are active for a center in this class as well, and stand to have a chance with three-star Flo Thamba. Take a look at some of his highlights courtesy of Singleton Video Network.
Pulling Couisnard away from South Carolina might be a tall task, but is Couisnard schedules a visit to Illinois, then that would seem to be tractional mutual interest. Continue to follow BTPowerhouse as Illinois looks to fill out its 2018 class.