Latest Recruiting Blurbs
August 19, 2008
11:30 P.M. CST
Our latest recruiting blurbs cover a wide variety of topics, including analysis regarding the recruitment of a couple of the top prospects in Illinois from the class of 2009, as well as the latest offers to come the way of some of the marquee players from the Rising Stars Gold 16-Under traveling team.
*****************************************************************************
Others are engaging in vintage overanalysis when it comes to the recruitment of 6'2 point guard Chris Colvin from Whitney Young High School in Chicago. Simply put, there have been repeated inconsistencies and inaccuracies with respect to what has been reported in several outlets. Therefore, the fact that several different people have talked to Colvin about his recruitment means absolutely nothing. The bottom line is that at this point no one really knows what is going on with Colvin recruiting-wise and the only thing that we get out of any of the so-called updates that have showed up on other web sites and blogs is that Colvin himself doesn't even really know. Keep in mind that while Colvin has talked about setting up official visits, no specific dates have been given as of yet. And has anyone noticed that the only two schools that Colvin has consistently mentioned to everyone he has spoken with are Florida State and USC? As for the University of Illinois, we believe that Bruce Weber and his coaching staff are still showing strong interest in Colvin, but other than that the relationship between Colvin and Illinois is being blown out of proportion. Colvin NEVER added Illinois to his list because he never removed them--actually we don't believe he ever had an official list at all. And the Illini aren't in Colvin's top three because he has NEVER had a leader. If there is no leader, how can there be a top anything? And as we have mentioned, the idea that Weber is recruiting Colvin because he feels that he still needs to land a "pure" point guard is complete hogwash. Other than that, we don't have a clue as to the direction that Colvin's recruitment will take and are honest enough to say so.
*****************************************************************************
Ordinarily we don't make a big deal over a particular school extending a scholarship offer or receiving an official visit from a prospective recruit, but in the case of 6'4 shooting guard Matt Vogrich from Lake Forest High School in Lake Forest, IL we are making an exception. We cannot possibly overemphasize how significant we feel it is that UCLA has offered Vogrich a scholarship and even more importantly that they will receive Vogrich's final official campus visit at the end of September. Vogrich's first official will be to Notre Dame on September 13, with Wake Forest to follow on September 20. Right now we believe that the top four consists of these three schools along with Northwestern. Other schools that also remain in the picture include Stanford, Michigan and Miami-Ohio. Our point is that if Vogrich ends up taking all of his visits and everything plays out until the end, the Bruins could end up being extremely difficult to beat.
*****************************************************************************
Ohio University has offered a scholarship to 6'5 class of 2010 guard Alex Rossi from New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL and are also quite interested in 6'2 2010 guard Ben Brust from Mundelein High School in Mundelein, IL. Bobcat head coach John Groce proved his worth as a recruiter at both Xavier and Ohio State and already has Ohio U involved with many top prospects in Illinois from both the classes of 2009 and 2010. As far as we are concerned, he is one of the best in the business.
*****************************************************************************
The University of San Francisco has offered scholarships to three players from the Rising Stars Gold 16-Under traveling team, including Rossi, Brust and 6'10 class of 2010 post Fred Heldring from New Trier.
*****************************************************************************
O.K.--6'2 class of 2010 guard Anthony Johnson from Whitney Young High School in Chicago did not commit to Ohio State this past weekend as we thought he might do when he visited the Buckeye campus. However, we still believe that the Buckeyes are the leader. Others that remain in the race are Purdue, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Iowa, and Miami-Florida. A school that appears to be coming on strong is Marquette, as Johnson recently received a scholarship offer from the Golden Eagles and has said that he plans on visiting the Milwaukee campus.
*****************************************************************************
One again we must offer kudos to Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich and assistant coaches Rob Judson, Paris Parham and Anthony Beane. Few D1 basketball programs ever enjoy the level of recruiting success within a one week span that the Redbirds had this past week, as they landed commitments from four class of 2009 recruits.
*****************************************************************************
Illinois State's outstanding recruiting effort, along with Northern Iowa's recent commitment from Brian Conway show further indication of how well the Missouri Valley Conference as a whole continues to recruit the state of Illinois. In addition to the Redbirds and Panthers, Southern Illinois, Bradley, Drake, Missouri State, Indiana State, and Evansville all continue to recruit Illinois extremely hard and we look for all of them to achieve future success in that area.
*****************************************************************************
Continue to check in with Illinois Prep Bulls-eye for all of the latest as it pertains to high school basketball and recruiting in Illinois.
|
