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lllinois, DePaul Battling Out-of-State High Majors For In-State Recruits
Brian Stinnette April 22, 2004 Email Questions/Comments To [email protected] The state of Illinois is one of the top hotbeds for basketball talent in the United States. In-state powers Illinois and DePaul continue to have to battle the likes of Duke, Arizona and Louisville for in-state recruits. Illinois has already struck both in-state, and out-of-state in 2005 by gaining verbals from 6-3 shooting guard Jamar Smith (Peoria Richwoods), and 6-8 power forward David Palmer (Antioch, TN). Bruce Weber fought off the likes of Michigan State and Indiana to sign 6-9 Shaun Pruitt (West Aurora), the top 2004 in-state post prospect. Both DePaul and Illinois are on the short list of 6-8 forward Julian Wright (Homewood-Flossmoor), the #1 Class of 2005 prospect in Illinois. However, Wright is also high on the radar of Arizona, Duke, Kansas and Indiana, four of the top college basketball programs in the country. Recruiting against the likes of Lute Olson, Mike Krzyzewski, Bill Self and Mike Davis is not an easy task. Indiana’s Davis, who recruited the #1 recruiting class in the country for the Class of 2004, personally made the trek into Homewood earlier this week. DePaul is taking on the likes of Stanford, Notre Dame and national-runner up Georgia Tech for the services of Bobby Frasor (Chicago Brother Rice). Frasor ranks as the #2 Class of 2005 prospect in the state of Illinois. Louisville has already landed a verbal commitment from 7-0 Class of 2005 center Clarence Holloway (Chicago Harlan). Rick Pitino and Louisville appear to be placing a heavy emphasis on the Chicago area, as they are popping up on the recruiting short lists of a number of Illinois prospects. Wisconsin has always liked Illinois as a hunting ground for prospects. Kansas has become extremely active in Illinois since Bill Self took the reigns. Purdue, who signed Xavier Price (Belleville West) in 2004, is also poised to become a major, major factor with Illinois-based recruits. |
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