2/25: Big Ten Morning Power Bar: Illinois JUCO Offer Signals Beginning Of Spring Recruiting Season

Every week, BTPowerhouse’s Big Ten Morning Power Bar details what’s going on across the league on the recruiting trail.

Teams looking for more immediate help next season have begun to search in the JUCO ranks and extended offers. We’ll look at a JUCO offer from Illinois this week plus a couple point guards getting some Big Ten attention.

JUCO Offer From Illinois

The Illini have been a popular cover in this series for a while now as coach Brad Underwood tries to build a contender in Champaign.

The Illini class so far is just talented five-star guard Ayo Dosunmu. Two spots remain, and the Illini have made adding a big man a priority. They missed out on Flo Thamba this winter, but are looking now to add a big man via the JUCO route.

Brad Underwood’s staff sent an offer out to JUCO big Austin Trice a couple weeks ago, his first offer from a Big Ten school. The 6-foot-7 Illinois-native holds other offers from Kansas State, Washington State, and New Mexico. According to 247Sports, he is the 8th best JUCO in the 2018 class. Take a look at some highlights below.

Should Trice join the Illini he would have two years of eligibility remaining. We’ll follow up with Trice’s recruitment once a decision comes more into focus.

Rutgers Offers 2018 Point Guard

Another team looking to add pieces to their 2018 class is Rutgers.

Steve Pikiell’s staff extended an offer to Florida point guard Tai Strickland this week. Strickland is the son of former 17-year NBA player, Rod Strickland. The 6-foot-1 prospect holds additional offers from Wisconsin, Boston College, Tennessee Tech, and Austin Peay. Rivals shows interest from other schools such as Baylor, Oklahoma State, Virginia, and South Florida.

According to MaxPreps, Strickland is averaging 13.2 points per game, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists for his high school this season. Take a look at some of his highlights.

Stay tuned for continuing developments with Strickland. Wisconsin and Rutgers appear to be the most enticing options, but with his father’s connections to South Florida (he was an assistant there from 2014-2017), don’t count out the Bulls.

Illinois Offers 2020 Combo Guard

The Illini were again in the recruiting news this week with a 2020 offer to point guard Posh Alexander. The Brooklyn-native is rated no. 59 in Rivals’ Top 75 for 2020, and holds other offers from Penn State, St. John’s, and Stony Brook.

Alexander was selected in August to USA Men’s Junior National Team October minicamp by USA Basketball. Last year he also was a 2017 USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team training camp participant.

In AAU play, Alexander plays for the New York Lightning in the Nike EYBL. There he averaged nearly eight points a game to go along with three rebounds and three assists.

Obviously, it is still early in Alexander’s recruitment, but expect the offer list to grow to Alexander’s services.

That’s all we have for this week. Check back in for continued updates of the Big Ten’s various recruiting happenings.