Illinois Basketball: Louis Lesmond would continue Europe to Illini pipeline

Illinois basketball was strong with their offers to in-state recruits this weekend.

Brad Underwood traveled around the state of Illinois to watch basketball tournaments and to visit recruits he potentially wants playing for him in the future. One of the strong AAU programs in the state is the Illinois Wolves. The Illini were able to offer a few players from this program a scholarship, one of which included Louis Lesmond.

Lesmond is a 6-foot-6, 175-pound shooting guard from Evanston Township High School in Evanston, Illinois. He isn’t rated by recruiting sites but MaxPreps has him as the No. 96 player in the class of 2021 and the No. 6 player in the state of Illinois. That would make him a solid four-star recruit.

It has been a long journey for Lesmond. He started out playing in France and suited up for their U16 national team back in 2018. Lesmond finished the tournament averaging 6.3 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. His best game of the tournament was against Georgia where he dropped 20 points and pulled down three rebounds.

Lesmond came to the United States and played for Evanston Township High School this past season. He helped lead the Wildkits to the 4A State Championship game but fell just short to Belleville West. Lesmond is now transferring to Notre Dame for his junior year.

Lesmond also played pretty well for his AAU team, the Illinois Wolves, this offseason too. He finished the eight games averaging 8.3 points and 3 rebounds per game. He shot 46-percent from the field and 32-percent from three-point range.

Illinois isn’t this young Euro’s only offer, though. Nebraska came in with an offer on Sunday as well. He is starting to gain more traction in the recruiting game. But Illinois should have a solid recruiting tool with the success of Giorgi Bezhanishvili.

Giorgi came over to the United States and committed to Illinois. He has seen great success so far with the program, and he has only been with the Orange and Blue for one season. This should show you what Underwood can do with recruits.

I like this offer by the Illini. Lesmond has shown he can shoot the ball well. He would be a great addition to an Illinois team that needs more No. 2 guards for the future. Lesmond would fit in well with the program.