Amani Hansberry chose Illinois over Auburn, Miami, Penn State, and Virginia Tech on Sunday. He was the No. 1 prospect from Maryland in the 2023 class.

247Sports’ Derek Piper broke down what Hansberry’s commitment means for Illinois. He thinks that assistant coach Chester Frazier played a huge role in convincing Hansberry to come to Champaign.

“Huge get obviously, when you get a chance to get the guy that’s at the top of your board,” said Piper. “They got him at the perfect timing. To Chester Frazier’s credit, it wasn’t like where Illinois shows up very late on the scene. Auburn, Oregon, and even Maryland tried to jump on in June. It was too late for those programs.”

Illinois basketball currently has the No. 11 2023 recruiting class among B1G schools per 247Sports. Hansberry is Brad Underwood’s sole commit from the class, and is good one to start off with. We’ll see who else will choose the Fighting Illini.