By Roy & Harv Schmidt

Mike Mullins, the coach of the 16-Under Illinois Wolves has provided us with recruiting news as it pertains to several of his players. The following is everything that he shares with us to date. All players mentioned are from the class of 2009.

Diamond Taylor, the 6'3 guard from St. Joseph High School in Westchester, IL, has received a scholarship offer from the University of Illinois, as it has become quite clear that Illini head coach Bruce Weber is pulling out all of the stops when it comes to recruiting guards from the 2009 class. This becomes Taylor's seventh offer altogether, as he has also been offered by Wisconsin, Marquette, Notre Dame, Southern Illinois, Bradley, and Northern Illinois. Taylor is on an unofficial visit to Wisconsin this weekend and will take an unofficial to Illinois next weekend.

6'4 guard Joe Bertrand from Sterling High School in Sterling, IL is also visiting Wisconsin along with Taylor this weekend and like Taylor, has received offers from the Badgers, Marquette, Notre Dame, Southern Illinois and Bradley in addition to having an offer from Iowa.

6'4 guard David Bryant from Batavia High School in Batavia, IL has an offer from William & Mary as well as heavy interest from Lehigh, Miami-OH, Ohio University, Western Michigan and Penn.

Conrad Krutwig, the 6'7 forward from Jacobs High School in Algonquin, IL has already visited Wisconsin-Green Bay and also plans on taking unofficials to Akron, Miami-OH, Ball State, Illinois State and Evansville.

Brian Conway, the 6'3 guard from Bloom Township High School in Chicago Heights, IL is receiving interest from Detroit, Evansville, Charlotte and St. Louis.

Additional Note

Mike Weinstein, the coach of the 17-Under Rising Stars AAU program, informs us that Chris Wroblewski, the 6'1 guard from Highland Park High School in Highland Park, IL, is on a visit to Cornell this weekend and that they remain one of Wroblewski's top three schools, along with Harvard and Brown. Colgate and American remain in the picture as well. Wroblewski figures to reach a decision some time during September.

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By Roy & Harv Schmidt

The 6'0 point guard from Simeon is off the board, and his choice comes as absolutely no surprise, as he is headed to the Missouri Valley Conference.

Smith verbally committed today to Illinois State University. The Redbirds had been the odds on favorite to land Smith all along, as they had been the leader for his services from the beginning and were also the first to offer him a scholarship. Illinois Prep Bulls-eye was also the first to report that the Redbirds were in great shape with Smith well over a month ago.

There is no question that a huge factor in Keyon Smith's decision to attend Illinois State was the close relationship that their entire coaching staff has with Simeon head coach Robert Smith, especially Redbird assistant coach Paris Parham, who coached against Smith at Morgan Park High School before moving to Normal.

Smith has enjoyed a solid spring and summer competing on the AAU circuit with the Chicago Express and is best known for his playmaking ability and the pressure that he puts on the ball defensively. He is a solid point guard who simply doesn't make mistakes and is also capable of keeping defenses honest from beyond the arc.

Smith becomes Redbird head coach Tim Jankovich's second commitment from the class of 2008, joining 6'8 Jeremy Robinson from Eisenhower High School in Decatur, IL. Illinois Prep Bulls-eye was also the first to predict that Illinois State was on the verge of turning in a banner recruiting class, and it appears as if they are well on their way.

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By Roy & Harv Schmidt

Having already scheduled official visits to Kansas State and Oregon, Josh Crittle recently added two more officials to his September calendar.

The 6'8 forward from Hales Franciscan High School in Chicago will take his first official campus visit on September 7 to the University of Minnesota. Crittle will then trek to Manhattan, KS on September 15 to visit Kansas State. The following week (September 22) Crittle travels to Carbondale, IL, as he will then take an official visit to Southern Illinois University, a visit that was first hinted at by Illinois Prep Bulls-eye in a previous story on our web site. Crittle's final official visit of the month will come on September 29 when he visits Oregon.

If Crittle schedules a fifth and final official visit, it will undoubtedly be to Marquette University, most likely some time in early October. Crittle has already taken unofficial visits to Marquette on multiple occassions and has openly expressed his admiration for Golden Eagles head coach Tom Crean.

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By Roy & Harv Schmidt

Although it is getting down to nitty gritty time with respect to players in the class of 2008 taking official visits and reaching decisions regarding their recruitment, things have also started to heat up in the 2009 class.

We begin with Steve Walker, the 6'6 junior forward from Simeon High School in Chicago, who verbally committed today to Northern Illinois University. The Huskies offered Walker upon the conclusion of their team camp in June and Walker had made it clear how much he wanted to attend NIU.

Walker's commitment is also a credit to Huskie assistant coach Dennis Gates, who during his short tenure in DeKalb is already proving that he is going to be a recruiting force in the Chicago area, particularly when it comes to recruiting the Chicago Public League.

Walker transferred to Simeon from Thornwood High School in South Holland, IL at the conclusion of this past season and competes on the AAU circuit with the Illinois Bobcats.

Staying on the subject of the class of 2009, 6'3 Brandon Paul from Warren Township High School in Gurnee, IL also received some big news today, as he was offered a scholarship today by the University of Illinois. Illinois Prep Bulls-eye was the first to indicate that Illini head coach Bruce Weber would be offering additional guards in the class of 2009 after offering 6'2 junior guard Chris Colvin over the weekend. Sure enough, this has proven to be the case. Paul also has offers from Loyola-Chicago and Wisconsin-Green Bay and is receiving heavy interest from other schools such as Southern Illinois, Purdue, Iowa, Xavier and USC among others.

Finally, 6'5 Nik Garcia from Niles West High School in Skokie, IL is continuing to take unofficial visits, with his next one scheduled to be the University of Michigan on September 1. From there Garcia will visit Southern Illinois (who has already offered) on September 8 and is also looking to schedule a visit with the University of Maryland, although the date still has yet to be finalized. Maryland has showed increased interest in Garcia as of late.

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We welcome everyone to our new blog and thank the Chicago Sun-Times for this opportunity.

It is our goal to make this blog a chief means of information with respect to recruiting and all significant high school basketball happenings in Illinois. With that in mind, enjoy!

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