Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team:

Jordan Nesbitt will cut his list of possible college basketball destinations to three on Thursday in advance of an Oct. 1 commitment. Will either of those days be meaningful for Illinois? Maybe the first. Less likely the second.

The Illini offered Nesbitt in early March after he took an unofficial visit that same month (before the world shut down). Illinois’ recruitment of Nesbitt dates back a bit further, with the coaching staff’s interesting certainly piqued by the 37-point effort the St. Louis Christian Academy (Mo.) guard dropped on Prolfiic Prep (Calif.) in November at Centennial High School in the Chambana Classic.

All that’s to say, Saint Louis is currently projected as the favorite to land the hometown four-star recruit. It’s a consensus in both the 247Sports Crystal Ball picks and Rivals’ FutureCast selections. 

Illinois’ window to change Nesbitt’s mind is shrinking. So are the chances the Illini add to their wing haul in the Class of 2021 after securing a commitment from Luke Goode in April. Should Nesbitt go elsewhere he’s follow the path taken by Brandon Weston and David Jones away from Champaign. 

The remaining wing options in the 2021 class on Illinois’ board have dwindled. Weston picked Seton Hall. Jones chose DePaul. Even Puerto Rican guard Rafael Pinzon (a teammate of Illini freshman Andre Curbelo in New York at Long Island Lutheran) cut his list and didn’t include Brad Underwood’s program. 

Right now? If Nesbitt doesn’t work out, two newer names are basically all that’s left in the “add to the backcourt” department. Still, that is a pair of four-star prospects in Wesley Cardet Jr. out of West Oaks Academy (Fla.) and TyTy Washington from Compass Prep (Ariz.).

Those recruitments are newer. Illinois might have been ahead of the game when Goode committed this spring, but Underwood and Co. now have to make up some ground.