The 2020 Class in Illinois we once viewed as a highly touted group with 4 or 5-star potential has now taken some interesting hits. A winding road of twists & turns has occurred in the last fifteen months. The defection of several promising prospects has left the class with some dubious uncertainties. Duquoin’s Lamontay Daughtery moved to St. Louis in April and enrolled in Mehlville H.S. Daughtery was considered Top 5 prospect in the class, just recently another Top prospect in Southern Illinois transferred to a St. Louis area school, Marion’s Jackson Connor left for Chaminade College Prep. Year ago we lost Nimari Burnett and Shon Robinson, two talented youngsters who were widely recognized as Top 5 rated players in the class and prepped at Morgan Park, landed in California & Arizona schools. The 2021 had its No. 1 player leave the State for Wisconsin, Patrick Baldwin Jr. arguably one of the top prospects in the country, his situation was inevitable. Just something for all of us to catalog.
With July 1st approaching swiftly, the Chicago State Head-Coaching opening should be gaining some traction or perhaps making an announcement soon. Linked to be final candidates are veteran College Assistant Coach Lance Irvin, DePaul Assistant Billy Garrett Sr., Triton Junior College Head-Coach Steve Christiansen, former DePaul Assistant Rick Carter, and South-Suburban College Head-Man John Pigatti. Trickery will always be aligned with these slippery trustees at Chicago State. Stay tuned…
Illinois Mr. Basketball E.J. Liddle out of Belleville West has his top schools listed as Ohio State, Mizzou, Kansas St., Georgetown, Iowa, Illinois, & Louisville. Liddle is heavily guarded in his thoughts these days.
Antonio Maestranzi has taken over Helm at the Rockford Guilford Program. The former NIU point-guard will do a fine job of engineering respectability into a sagging Program. The rehabilitation process will start with six-foot three senior guard Jamil Jones and 6-5 junior forward Jack Holmstrom, both are players to watch.
Illinois trio drafted last week was a reflective moment for many of us. Jevon Carter (Proviso East) selected 32, Normal U-High’s Keith Bates-Diop drafted No. 48, and Stevenson’s Jalen Brunson went 33, all second rounders. Loyola’s Dante Ingram un-drafted was invited to play on the Chicago Bulls Summer League Squad, deservingly so. Brunson’s was the only 2015 grad, the others including Ingram emerged from our talented 2014 Class.
No comments:
Post a Comment