Archive for the ‘Illinois’ Category

Monte Morris (2013) to Iowa State

Published by Source on June 27th, 2012

Flint Beecher senior-to-be Monte Morris has made his college decision. The Michigan-native will take his talents to Ames to be an Iowa State Cyclone. The news comes on Morris’ 18th birthday.

Morris, a 6’1″ point guard ranked in the top 100 by all the major recruiting services, made the announcement in front of an audience in his high school gymnasium. He put ISU assistant coach Cornell Mann on speaker phone so that he could hear the news at the same time as everyone else.

According to MLive.com (article linked above), Morris averaged 19.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists in his junior season with the Beecher Buccaneers. There is a connection between Ames and Flint: the Cyclones were led in the 1980s by a pair of Flint products in Barry Stevens and Jeff Grayer.

The final three schools for Morris were Iowa State, Illinois and Butler. He was recruited by a number of other B1G schools, including Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State, but did not report offers from any of those programs.

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Posted in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Mid Major
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Nic Moore transferring to SMU

Published by Source on June 14th, 2012

Illinois State transfer Nic Moore has made up his mind about where he is headed next. The 5’9″ point guard is headed south to play for the SMU Mustangs. Even though Moore seemed determined to play for a big program in the Midwest, the opportunity to play for former ISU coach Tim Jankovich again was too enticing.

Moore averaged 10.0 points per game in his only season in Normal, which was good for 3rd best on the team. He shined as the team’s starting point guard, dishing out 3.8 assists per game (5th best in the Missouri Valley). The Redbirds made a surprising run in the MVC tournament, beating top-15 ranked Wichita State in the semifinal to face Creighton in the title. Moore scored 20 points in that title game, which was somewhat of a coming out party for the freshman. He followed that up with 24 and 25 point performances in the NIT to go out on a hot streak.

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Posted in featured, Illinois, Indiana, Mid Major, Notre Dame, Purdue
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Interview with 2014 SF Malek Harris

Published by Source on June 11th, 2012

Among the prospects visiting Indiana University this past weekend was 2014 SF Malek Harris (Sandburg HS / Orland Park, IL). I got a chance to speak with Harris about his visit and where he is at in the recruiting process.

The unofficial visit to Bloomington is the latest development for the 6’7″ Harris, who has been picking up interest from programs in the Big Ten and beyond. With offers from Miami (OH), Iowa and DePaul, the list of schools interested also includes Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Louisville, Marquette, St. John’s, Oregon State and Creighton.

“The visit went great,” he said of his trip to IU. He get to check out the team’s workout and then scrimmage with some of the current players. “It was just a great experience and I learned a lot from Indiana.”

 

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Posted in Chicago HS Prospects, DePaul, featured, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Marquette, Mid Major, Nebraska
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James decommits from Illini

Published by Source on May 30th, 2012

2013 point guard Jalen James has decided to reopen his recruitment after committing to Illinois last September. Though he had previously told Rivals.com that he would stick with the Illini following the hiring of John Groce, the two sides parted ways Wednesday.

Though the guard runs with the Illinois Wolves AAU team and is a native of the state, he is playing his prep ball at La Lumiere School in LaPorte, Indiana. This past season, his first at the school, he was able to team up with future B1G players Hanner Perea, Jay Simpson and Raphael Davis.

James was influential in the recruitment of Malcolm Hill (SG, Belleville East), 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 rising star, currently ranked #52 nationally by Rivals.

The news comes just one day after the Illini lost new assistant coach Isaac Chew to Marquette. According to Mike Mullins, James’ AAU coach, James has already been contacted by Marquette, SMU, DePaul, Nebraska and several others. SMU hired former Illini player/coach Jerrance Howard as an assistant this off-season, as they are entering their first season under Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown. Expect to see Kansas State get involved, as their new head coach Bruce Weber is the man who James committed to in the first place.

James tweeted his support for the program shortly after the news was announced: “I wish Coach Groce And The Illini Staff The Best Of Luck In The Future!”

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Posted in Chicago HS Prospects, DePaul, Illinois, Marquette, Nebraska
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Illinois loses assistant Chew to Marquette

Published by Source on May 29th, 2012

New Illinois head coach John Groce scored big when he hired assistant coach Isaac Chew away from Missouri back in March. Unfortunately, Chew’s time in Champaign was short-lived and the coach is already on to his next destination.

Marquette head coach Buzz Williams grabbed Chew to be an assistant for him up in Milwaukee. Chew had originally turned down a spot at MU before taking the Illinois job, so it is assumed that the monetary offer was much greater this time around.

Chew was the recruiter that Groce needed to re-establish the Illini presence in the Chicago prep circuit. The Chicago-native played his high school ball at Wells and was the Chicago Public League Blue West POY in 1994. His Chicago ties will be beneficial to Williams and Marquette, as they continue to compete for the top talent in the city year after year. Williams already has a solid Chicago freshman coming to campus in Simeon big man Steve Taylor.

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Posted in Chicago HS Prospects, Illinois, Marquette
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2012 B1G/ACC Challenge Match-ups Announced

Published by Source on May 14th, 2012

The match-ups have been announced for next season’s B1G/ACC Challenge. There will be twelve games featuring all twenty-four teams in the two conferences. In what will be the 14th annual event, the B1G will attempt to win its 4th straight after losing the first 10.

ESPN’s preseason #1 Indiana Hoosiers will host the #11 North Carolina Tar Heels in one of the two headlining games of the event. The other features an up and coming #6 NC State Wolfpack team traveling to Ann Arbor to take on the #8 Michigan Wolverines in what may be an early season top-10 match-up if the preseason rankings hold. Both of those games will be on Tuesday, November 27. The following day, the headliner is surely the #5 Ohio State Buckeyes at the #15 Duke Blue Devils. Coach K’s squad will be looking for revenge after getting destroyed in Columbus this past season.

Here are all 12 match-ups:

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Posted in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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Transfer rundown: 3 guys have new homes

Published by Source on May 12th, 2012

Several players have announced their plans to transfer since the season came to a close, and in the past week three of those guys have made their decisions. We are a bit late with the first two guys, but it was made official today that former Notre Dame guard and Northbrook, IL-native Alex Dragicevich is headed to Boston College.

- Former Illini Crandall Head will follow his old assistant coach Jerrance Howard to SMU. New Mustangs coach Larry Brown is looking to turn the program around and brought in Howard to help recruit. Head is the younger brother of Illinois star Luther Head and a native of Richton Park, Illinois. Though he was highly-touted out of high school, Head never really found his place in Champaign and appeared in just 9 games last season. He will sit out the upcoming season per NCAA rules and have two seasons of eligibility remaining after that.

- Once a top high school prospect, Jordan Sibert is now leaving the Ohio State Buckeyes for the Dayton Flyers of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Sibert averaged just 3.0 points per game as a sophomore and will head to Dayton with two seasons of eligibility remaining. Sibert was a part of Thad Matta’s blockbuster 2010 recruiting class, alongside Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft and DeShaun Thomas. Also in that class was JD Weatherspoon, who announced his plans to transfer with Sibert but has yet to find his next destination.

- As mentioned above, Notre Dame sharp-shooter Alex Dragicevich is headed to the East Coast. The Glenbrook North High School graduate will also have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out next season with the Eagles. Dragicevich chose BC over hometown Loyola (Chicago). He averaged 6.6 points in 20.9 minutes for the Irish last season but decided to transfer because he saw himself getting less minutes in the future.

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Posted in Chicago HS Prospects, Illinois, Notre Dame, Ohio State
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Illinois lands Drake transfer Rayvonte Rice

Published by Source on April 26th, 2012

Rayvonte Rice was perhaps the best player for the Drake Bulldogs as a sophomore last year: he led the team in scoring (16.8 ppg) and was second in rebounding (5.8 rpg). He was a 2nd team All-Missouri Valley selection and previously was named to the conference’s All-Freshman team – he averaged 13.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in his first year.

But, after the Bulldogs finished 18-16 overall and just 9-9 in Valley play, Rice decided that it was time to look for a more high-profile team. Meanwhile, back in his hometown of Champaign, Illinois, the Fighting Illini replaced the coach that failed to recruit Rice out of high school. With new head coach John Groce at the helm at Illinois, the path was cleared for Rice to return home for his final two years of eligibility. (more…)

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Meyers Leonard leaving Illinois for NBA

Published by Source on April 2nd, 2012

Illinois sophomore big man Meyers Leonard will forgo his final two years of eligibility and remain in the 2012 NBA Draft field, he announced on Monday.

Leonard is an incredibly skilled big man and has an NBA-ready body. His maturity has come into question numerous times in his tenure at Illinois, but that really seems to be his only knock at this point. Most draft experts project Leonard as a late lottery-pick, somewhere in the 10-15 region.

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John Groce hired at Illinois

Published by Source on March 29th, 2012

After a long and somewhat troubling search, Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas has hired Ohio University head coach John Groce to be the next Illini men’s basketball coach. After the job was reportedly turned down by the likes of Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens, Thomas turned to what some media members call his sixth-choice in Groce. But regardless of how he got there, Groce is headed to Champaign with the goal of getting the Illini back in the top half of the conference and into the NCAA Tournament.

Groce seemed like a logical candidate from the beginning – a mid-major coach with ties to the area and conference that has tournament success and a proven winning record. In his four seasons at Ohio, Groce took the Bobcats to 2 NCAA Tournaments, including a Sweet Sixteen run this March. Before landing in Athens – his first head coaching job – Groce spent eight total seasons as an assistant to Thad Matta at Butler, Xavier and Ohio State. He was on the Ohio State staff in 2007 when the Buckeyes lost to Florida in the National Championship game.

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