Just over two years after graduating, the Class of 2024 has already produced an NBA Draft lottery pick: Morez Johnson Jr., the former Thornton star who went No. 9 to the Dallas Mavericks. The story doesn’t just end with him, though—his classmates’ college path
Morez Johnson Jr. took the long road from a local star to a national spotlight, and now the numbers have arrived. Just a little over 24 months after the Class of 2024 graduated and headed off to play college basketball, Johnson is already in the NBA Draft conversation in a big way.
He was selected with the No. 9 pick by the Dallas Mavericks in this year’s NBA Draft. Johnson. the former Thornton star who had just won a national championship at Michigan. had been the 2024 Sun-Times Player of the Year. His stock accelerated once he declared for the draft. climbing draft boards while leaving NBA organizations impressed by both his physical tools and what they saw as his makeup.
But Johnson’s leap also lands at a moment when his classmates are still very much in motion—showing how fast a promising high school group can split into different realities once college games. injuries. and transfers take over. From the top 10 prospects to how they’ve fared midway through their college careers. the Class of 2024 has already looked dramatically different from one player to the next.
Among those top prospects, the departure of talent is only part of the story. The timing of their college seasons has mattered just as much.
A reclassified player, Bryce Heard, left Homewood-Flossmoor for North Carolina State following a state title run during his junior year. And three other players in the class eventually took the prep school route before signing with high-major programs: Nojus Indrusaitis (Lemont). Cole Certa (Bloomington Central Catholic) and James Brown (St. Rita).
Johnson remains the clear headline. As a freshman, he was described as a valuable piece at Illinois while playing just 17 minutes a game. Then at Michigan. he became one of the centerpieces—playing a leading role and emerging as “heart and soul” of a national championship team as a sophomore. He earned third-team All-Big Ten honors, and he’s now headed to the NBA.
For the others in the class’s top tier, momentum hasn’t always followed the same path.
Lathan Sommerville. a 6-10 player from Peoria Richwoods. started at Rutgers with a promising freshman season—8.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game—before transferring to Washington. His run at Washington was marked by injuries. He played in just 22 games, and his production fell to 4.3 points and 2.6 rebounds this past season.
Angelo Ciaravino at Mount Carmel—now playing at Northwestern—saw a clean statistical jump from freshman to sophomore year. His minutes rose to 22 per game, his scoring doubled to 6.3 points per game, and his rebounding increased to 3.9 per game.
Chris Riddle, a rugged 6-5 forward from Kenwood now at Toledo, didn’t get much of a runway at DePaul, playing minimally as a freshman. Then a foot injury kept him out of his sophomore season.
Cooper Koch, a 6-8 three-point specialist from Metamora, put up 7.8 points and 3.1 rebounds as a sophomore for a team that reached the Elite Eight.
Jaden Smith’s route has been slower but not static. He played in all 36 games this past season as a sophomore, but his first two years at Fordham came with sparing minutes. He has since transferred to Ball State.
At Princeton, Jack Stanton—Downers Grove North’s shooting guard—blossomed as a sophomore in the Ivy League. He shot 38 percent from three and averaged 10.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
Jason Jakstys, the 6-10 big man from Yorkville, dealt with a difficult start: he redshirted as a freshman, then battled injuries this past season, appearing in just nine games.
Je’Shawn Stevenson. a 6-3 guard from Lindblom who is now at North Texas. had a strong label earlier in his college career. After being named to the Horizon League All-Freshman team at Cleveland State, he transferred to North Texas. There, he averaged 17.3 points per game, knocked down 73 three-pointers, and earned All-American Conference second-team honors.
And at Belmont, Eoin Dillon—Peoria Notre Dame—was considered overlooked by the City/Suburban Hoops Report but valued by its evaluators. He redshirted during the 2024-2025 season, then earned Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman team recognition this past season as a redshirt freshman.
The spread of outcomes across the Class of 2024 is stark: Johnson is now the No. 9 pick, but his classmates are balancing everything from injury setbacks to role changes to transfers and redshirts. For the players who once shared the same recruiting spotlight. college has turned that shared promise into a dozen different stories—some rising fast. some forced to rebuild. and some still waiting for the moment everything clicks.
Morez Johnson Jr. Dallas Mavericks NBA Draft Class of 2024 Thornton Michigan college basketball Illinois Rutgers Washington Northwestern Toledo Iowa Ball State Princeton Belmont