When one glances at the Illinois Celtics 16-Under roster one immediately realizes that the team is stacked with talent, as it sports at least four potential D1 recruits. However, after watching them last weekend at the Derby City Classic in Louisville we have concluded that no player on the Celtics sports as much up side as 6’4 2015 2-guard Aaron Jordan from Plainfield East High School in Plainfield, IL.
While 6’5 2014 wing K.J. Santos from Geneva High School in Geneva, IL sat out the Derby City Classic with injured ribs and the rest of the team was plagued by inconsistency, Jordan was hands down the Celtics’ most consistent player game in and game out. And after turning in an outstanding weekend, we are completely sold on Jordan’s ability.
Jordan is highly athletic and has a long wing span as well as a great motor. And there is no question that he utilizes all of these attributes to his advantage. Not only that, but he plays hard from start to finish.
Skill-wise, Jordan has the ability to get to the basket at will due to his considerable speed and strong upper body. He also flourishes in the open court as the result of his excellent ball handling skills and the fact that he can repeatedly blow by defenders in one-on-one situations. This greatly explains why Jordan is almost always in attack mode.
In addition to the aforementioned traits, Jordan also has tremendous scoring ability and is his mid-range game is especially effective. Jordan is also quite capable of converting shots from beyond the 3-point arc although this is the one area where he still needs to show more consistency.
As far as Jordan’s recruitment goes, he currently holds scholarship offers from Fairfield, Hampton and Illinois State with Redbirds head coach Dan Muller having offered after watching him in Louisville. Jordan is also planning upcoming campus visits to both Valparaiso and Illinois. Crusaders assistant coach Roger Powell and Illini Associate Head Coach Dustin Ford both watched every game Jordan played at the Derby City Classic.
There is no question that Jordan has the makings of being a big-time college prospect. And without meaning to scare those schools who have already offered, should Jordan continue to play the way he has over the course of the last month, we look for his stock to continue to go through the roof.
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