University Of Illinois Lands First Commitment From The Loaded Class Of 2011 

December 18, 2008

10:15 P.M. CST

Others can try to promote themselves all they want to and make it look like they got a "scoop", an "exclusive" or any other fancy word that one wants to throw into the mix concerning the commitment of Tracy Abrams, the 6'0 class of 2011 point guard from Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago to the University Of Illinois today.  But the bottom line is that we were the first ones to let everyone know that the Illini had turned the tables in Abrams' recruitment in a blog on the Chicago Sun-Times high school sports web site back in October. 

It was at that point that we knew that Illinois was the school to beat for Abrams' services.  Sure enough, Illini head coach Bruce Weber and his assistants were able to close the deal and secure a verbal commitment.

There were several factors that ultimately led to Abrams' commitment.  To begin with, let's say what everyone else will be afraid to say but yet is the truth--the fact that Reggie Rose (Abrams' AAU coach) was not the one controlling Abrams' recruitment undoubtedly proved to be to the Illini's advantage.  And nobody seized this opportunity more than Illini assistant coach Jerrance Howard.  Upon learning this, Howard immediately made Abrams his top guard priority among recruits from the 2011 class and practically worked around the clock in his efforts to land him.

Secondly, the fact that Illinois was the only school to offer Abrams a scholarship ended up being a huge factor as well.  While Abrams also took visits to Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, none of those schools offered him a scholarship while he was on campus.  Illinois, on the other hand, extended an offer to Abrams from the moment that he arrived for his first visit in Champaign.  As Abrams himself has said, from that time on he knew that that the Illini experience and atmosphere was something that he wanted to be a part of. 

After Abrams received the offer, the entire Illini coaching staff did an outstanding job of following up and letting Abrams know how much he was coveted, with a classic example being the fact that Weber, Howard and Jay Price all made a point to watch Abrams play at the Lane Tech Thanksgiving Tournament which marked the start of the high school basketball season for his Mt. Carmel team.

Finally, there is no question that Abrams' commitment could represent the beginning of a domino effect with respect to how the rest of the Illini's 2011 recruiting class could shape up.  We believe that the player who could be the most impacted could be 6'7 Mike Shaw from De LaSalle Institute in Chicago, our #1 ranked player in Illinois from the class of 2011.  Shaw and Abrams both play their high school basketball in the Chicago Catholic League, are close friends and have expressed a strong desire to possibly play together in college.

The other player who could possibly be swayed is 6'2 guard Chasson Randle from Rock Island High School in Rock Island, IL.  As we have indicated previously, there is no doubt in our mind that the Illini coaching staff would gladly take both Abrams and Randle as members of their 2011 recruiting class and would be more than happy with both of them in their future back court.  Now that Abrams is in the fold, we can guarantee that is something that Weber and his assistants will try to make a huge selling point in their effort to land a commitment from Randle, who in addition to Illinois has been offered by Indiana, Iowa State and Bradley and is also receiving interest from Iowa, Purdue, Wisconsin, Florida, Kansas and Wake Forest. 

Getting back to Abrams, he first burst onto the scene last March with outstanding performances in the class 4A state tournament in which he led Mt. Carmel to upset victories over St. Ignatius, Farragut, De LaSalle and Whitney Young.  It was at that point that he became a household name amongst all of the locals, while the self-proclaimed national "gurus" then jumped on the bandwagon after watching him on the traveling team circuit during the spring and summer.  

Simply put, Abrams is a fierce competitor and a winner.  He has big-time scoring capability and outstanding leadership traits.  Not only is he extremely quick with the ball in his hands and capable of blowing by just about anybody, but he will also keep the defense honest with his shooting ability from downtown and is simply electrifying in transition.  However, the line that we believe best describes Abrams' game comes from a source extremely close to the Illini basketball program, who told us, "Abrams is the type of player that you can win a national championship with."      

Continue to check in with Illinois Prep Bulls-eye for all of the latest as it pertains to recruiting and high school basketball in Illinois.

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