Illini sign 14 year-old
Yes. The Illini have gotten a verbal commitment from a freshman in high school. Yes. We're barely even into the high school basketball season.
While I don't really know a whole lot about this kid, here is what I do know:
--he's 6'5 at only 14 years old. He'll probably end up somewhere around 6'8" or 6'9"
--he's 14 years old. He was in junior high about 6 months ago. When I was in junior high, I was still entertaining the idea of getting a scholarship to play basketball at U of I. Some people get their wish, others don't apparently. Just because I don't have the 'raw talent' or the 'work ethic' whatever those things mean.
--in his first game at the varsity level he scored 34 points and pulled down 21 rebounds. He also had 6 blocks. I don't know how bad the team was that he was playing, but those are awesome numbers regardless.
Apparently he's in the top 5 players in the state regardless of age right now, and he's by far the best in his class in-state. Rumor has it he's in the top 10 in the nation in his class. Is it insane that they rank freshmen just as the season begins? Absolutely.
But this seems like a really interesting development. Should he continue to develop, which would be amazing, he could easily be one of the alleged recruiting home runs that Weber continually misses. Should he fail to develop any more, those are still some pretty damn good numbers.
The scouting report is that he has an advanced jumpshot, with an ability to attack the basket and rebound. Which is a nice coincidence, because for the 2010 Illini men's basketball season, we've been looking for someone with the ability to attack the basket and rebound, in addition to having an advanced jumpshot.
Even better is that the family of this kid was taking shots at the family of Eric Gordon. Nothing too harsh; mainly they were just saying that they're a family who sticks to their word, and there is no chance that they'll de-commit. You know, apparently they're not in the business of fucking over Illini basketball. At least yet.
So now Illini fans have something to look forward to in 4 years. Seems like kind of a long ways away, doesn't it. Whatever though, I'll probably still be obsessed.
While I don't really know a whole lot about this kid, here is what I do know:
--he's 6'5 at only 14 years old. He'll probably end up somewhere around 6'8" or 6'9"
--he's 14 years old. He was in junior high about 6 months ago. When I was in junior high, I was still entertaining the idea of getting a scholarship to play basketball at U of I. Some people get their wish, others don't apparently. Just because I don't have the 'raw talent' or the 'work ethic' whatever those things mean.
--in his first game at the varsity level he scored 34 points and pulled down 21 rebounds. He also had 6 blocks. I don't know how bad the team was that he was playing, but those are awesome numbers regardless.
Apparently he's in the top 5 players in the state regardless of age right now, and he's by far the best in his class in-state. Rumor has it he's in the top 10 in the nation in his class. Is it insane that they rank freshmen just as the season begins? Absolutely.
But this seems like a really interesting development. Should he continue to develop, which would be amazing, he could easily be one of the alleged recruiting home runs that Weber continually misses. Should he fail to develop any more, those are still some pretty damn good numbers.
The scouting report is that he has an advanced jumpshot, with an ability to attack the basket and rebound. Which is a nice coincidence, because for the 2010 Illini men's basketball season, we've been looking for someone with the ability to attack the basket and rebound, in addition to having an advanced jumpshot.
Even better is that the family of this kid was taking shots at the family of Eric Gordon. Nothing too harsh; mainly they were just saying that they're a family who sticks to their word, and there is no chance that they'll de-commit. You know, apparently they're not in the business of fucking over Illini basketball. At least yet.
So now Illini fans have something to look forward to in 4 years. Seems like kind of a long ways away, doesn't it. Whatever though, I'll probably still be obsessed.
posted by Jtrouble at 1:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home