Belleville West senior EJ Liddell to name his final five college choices ‘soon’

One of the most highly-recruited high school basketball players in the nation, Belleville West senior EJ Liddell is getting close to narrowing his list of college choices.

The reigning Mr. Basketball in Illinois and Gatorade Illinois Player of the Year last season, the 6-foot-7, 220-pound Liddell said on his Twitter account Monday that “ a top 5 coming soon.”

Ranked as the No. 35 recruit in the nation by ESPN and No. 39 by Rivals.com, Liddell currently has scholarship offers from several of the top NCAA Division I programs in the nation including DePaul, Florida, Georgetown, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Louisville, Marquette, Missouri, Ohio State, Purdue, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Saint Louis University, Texas A&M, Connecticut and Wisconsin.

Duke and Indiana have also recently shown interest in Liddell who led Belleville West to the Class 4A state championship in March.

This Wednesday-Sunday, Liddell will compete in the Nike Skills Academy in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The camp will feature 30 of the top high school players as well as 25 of the top college players in the nation.

This story was originally published August 7, 2018 at 12:15 PM.