There can be a distinct difference between best player and best prospect in each high school class.
Yes, there are years where the best prospect is also the best player. But not always. There are times where it’s a waiting game when it comes to the top prospect. What you expect the still-emerging prospect to become when full potential is reached is always 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 of the top players in the state in June, particularly those in the Class of 2026, nothing is clear. There is a small group all 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, the top six prospects include: 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.
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 of the class.
This isn’t to say 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 up to this point.
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 are you taking?
In the discussion with the college coaches, myself included, 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 was as it relates to taking them at the high-major level.
There was not a 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 the individual month of 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 is demanding some attention. If this was the Kentucky Derby, Porter is the thoroughbred veering to the outside, closing the gap and positioning himself for a late charge in the homestretch.
But this race in the senior class is expected to go down to the wire.