Morez Johnson Jr. tagged as “under-the-radar” for the Illinois basketball team

Entering the 2024-25 season, I have high hopes for the Illinois basketball program, as we added some huge pieces to the puzzle.

Illini head coach Brad Underwood lost all but two scholarship players, and he still went out and snagged some of the best freshmen and transfer portal talent on the market. One of the great players he was able to secure was Morez Johnson Jr.

Johnson holds a special place in my heart. This kid was an elite recruit from the jump, and he committed to Illinois back in November 2021. In a rare feat in today’s game, Johnson remained committed for three years and is now suiting up for the Orange and Blue this season.

Throughout his entire recruitment, the lowest Johnson ranked on 247Sports was No. 61 in the country. That was back in March 2023. He has risen from there, cracking the top 50 in June 2023, cracking the top 40 in September 2023, and even crawling into the top 30 in January 2024.

Finishing as the No. 31 player in the class of 2024, Johnson is one of the elite players in his recruiting class. Really, anyone who ranks in the top 35 should be looked at as elite.

In a recent column by Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, he laid out the 20 under-the-radar freshmen for the upcoming season. Among those freshmen was Johnson. Rothstein touched on Johnson’s numbers in the U18 AmeriCup in the write-up as well.

My first thought about Rothstein’s column was how is this possible? How do you have a top 35 recruit and consider him under the radar?

I then got to thinking, yeah, I guess he is a bit under the radar. If Johnson goes to a smaller school with less talent, there would be more eyes on him. But he is at Illinois now, and there is a lot of talent that is being talked about.

Illinois has two projected NBA Draft picks for next season, Will Riley and Kasparas Jakucionis, both freshmen as well. We also had one of the top guards in the country, Kylan Boswell, transfer into the program.

So, my first reaction was what the heck? When you think about it, Johnson is flying under the radar. There are multiple players on the Illinois basketball roster being talked about, and Johnson is not one of those players. I would argue, Johnson might be the most underrated top-35 recruit I have ever seen. This kid is going to sneak up on some people in 2024-25.