A day after receiving a commitment from 2012er Michael Orris, Bruce Weber has pulled in a top-50 prospect in Belleville East shooting guard Malcolm Hill. The news was first reported just minutes ago by Scout.com’s Brian Snow.
The 2013 stud Hill had offers from Illinois, Kansas State, Missouri, Southern Illinois, and Xavier. He was also being recruited by a number of other B1G schools, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State and Wisconsin, plus Notre Dame.
Considered one of the best shooting guard prospects in Illinois, the 6-5 Hill has all the tools to be a monster matchup at the next level. He can drive and dish with ease, but it is his length and IQ that make him such a valuable prospect. Hill had a strong summer playing AAU ball with the SW Illinois Jets.
According to Rivals.com, Hill is the 5th best player from Illinois in the class of 2013, and the 2nd best to not come from Chicago. Belleville is about 20 miles from St. Louis in Southern Illinois, about a 3 hour drive south of Champaign/Urbana.
Hill was being recruited by more than just the Illinois staff. Fellow Class of 2013 commit Jalen James has been on Hill ever since he made his commitment to the Illini. James has made it known already how excited he is that Hill will join him in Champaign.
The 2013 class of James and Hill is one of the best in the B1G for 2013. Indiana, Michigan and Purdue are the only other conference schools to have multiple commitments from that class so far.
ESPN recruiting analyst Dave Telep confirmed that Hill made an unofficial trip to Champaign and was impressed enough to make his commitment tonight. Michael Orris committed yesterday after a weekend official visit.
VIDEO: Here is a link from Indiana blog Inside The Hall. Obviously, the questions in the interview are now moot but there is a great video of Hill’s AAU highlights from the past summer’s Adidas May Classic in Bloomington, IN. The video actually comes courtesy of UMHoops.com. ESPN.com named Hill one of the “Surprise Players” in that event.
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[...] who is now the only member of Illinois’ current 2013 class. Hill committed to the Illini just a day after James and has recently confirmed his loyalty to the school and the new coaching staff. Hill is a [...]