Illinois basketball has landed huge recruits in the past, as you can tell by the roster we put out in every game.

The Illini landed one of the few five-star recruits just this past offseason when Will Riley joined the program. That type of recruiting took a near-20-year break before Brad Underwood arrived in Champaign.

Now Illinois is recruiting at a level that makes us serious national title contenders. The team we have right now will make some waves in March. Illinois is also working on building out future recruiting classes.

One class I have an eye on is the class of 2026. Numerous high level athletes are taking a look at what the Illini have to offer. One of the most recent recruits to still have interest in the Orange and Blue is Taylen Kinney.

Kinney is a 6-foot-2, 160-pound point guard who plays for Overtime Elite in Georgia. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 19 player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 3 point guard in the country and the No. 2 player coming out of Georgia.

On Wednesday, Joe Tipton of On3.com reported that Kinney has started to narrow the scope of his recruitment. He has now cut his list down to just 15 programs. Illinois is one of the teams to make the cut.

The battle for Taylen Kinney is going to be interesting, as the Illinois basketball team could be major players

When I look at the top 15 for Kinney, a few names pop off the list. The first is Kentucky. The Wildcats, even without John Calipari, are going to have some of the deepest pockets in college basketball. Kinney is also from Kentucky, so that is another bonus for them.

Arkansas, Auburn, Alabama, and Kansas are four other teams that have extremely deep pockets. All five of the programs I have named have beaten Illinois out for recruits in the last few years.

I think, at the end of the day, the Illini could be in the mix for Kinney. We just hired a general manager, and the money should be coming in at a higher rate. Hopefully, we can afford someone like Kinney to help build out the roster in 2026.