There can be a distinct difference between best player and best prospect in each high school class.
Yes, there are years in which the best prospect also is the best player. But not always. It’s a waiting game at times when it comes to the top prospect. What you expect the still-emerging prospect to become when full potential is reached always is subjective.
When it comes to this year’s rising seniors, the players and prospects revving up for one more high school basketball season next winter, the race is on.
After watching all the top players in the state in June, particularly those in the Class of 2026, nothing is clear. There’s a small group vying and jockeying for position at the top of the class. The hope is one will inevitably separate himself from the pack and lay claim to being the No. 1-ranked prospect in Illinois.
Overall, Kankakee’s Lincoln Williams, Oswego East’s Mason Lockett, Marist’s Stephen Brown, DePaul Prep’s Rashaun Porter, Young’s Marquis Clark and New Trier’s Christopher Kirkpatrick are the top six prospects.
Right now, however, there are a lot of questions, even concerns, at the top of the class when it comes to projecting them at the highest level of college basketball. Just like last year’s Class of 2025, there isn’t a no-brainer. There isn’t an Ayo Dosunmu, EJ Liddell, Max or Cameron Christie, Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor or Jalen Brunson at the top.
This isn’t to say that a few of the senior prospects won’t land at the highest level, but it’s also why the top prospects in the state don’t have lengthy lists of high-major suitors.
While in the bleachers at the Riverside-Brookfield Shootout in June with three high-major assistant coaches, the discussion I was having with them quickly turned into a debate. If you had to take one player in the Class of 2026 at the high-major level, which one would it be?
In the discussion with the college coaches, several players were debated.
The individual games, strengths and weaknesses were highlighted. The back-and-forth thoughts and comments among us raised several questions. Which player is the most ready to play in college? Which player has the highest floor? Who brings the least amount of risk? And who offers the highest upside?
All of it pertaining to the high-major level.
There was no consensus. Everyone had a different take.
Williams has been the City/Suburban Hoops Report’s top-ranked prospect in the class for some time now. He remains there but certainly not without competition.
As far as strictly June was concerned, Lockett was the player who likely helped himself the most among the high-profile seniors.
As we near the stretch run, it’s Porter who’s demanding some attention. If this were the Kentucky Derby, Porter would be the thoroughbred veering to the outside, closing the gap and positioning himself for a late charge down the homestretch.
But this senior-class race is expected to go down to the wire.
