By Roy & Harv Schmidt

There has been at least one basketball recruitment in the Chicago area with a strange twist every year for the past four years. In 2005 it was Julian Wright, in 2006 it was both Sherron Collins and Patrick Beverley, in 2007 it was Derrick Rose and last year it was both Michael Dunigan and Matt Humphrey. It appears as though this year's candidate might be Whitney Young's Anthony Johnson, and what makes this even more eye-popping is that Johnson is only a class of 2010 prospect.

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

After watching D.J. Richardson in four games at the NIKE Peach Jam, a few things immediately stand out. The first is that he has now established himself as the #1 player in Illinois from the class of 2009. But what jumps out at as even more is that after proving to be one of the most dominant players at Peach Jam, he has now clearly put himself into the mix as a worthy McDonald's All-American candidate and if we had to put money on it right now, we would bet that when the final ballots are turned in Richardson will undoubtedly be selected.

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

Wow, talk about a shocker! After it was initially believed that Crandall Head would be transferring to North Lawndale, the University Of Illinois commit has instead decided to enroll at a West Side high school with a long tradition of producing top-flight guards.

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

Let's make one thing abundantly clear right now when it comes to the three major shoe companies that are involved with high school basketball and run camps and/or AAU events during the July evaluation period. While all of them have said that they are going to change their landscape with respect to how they operate during the summer, there are a few things that will forever remain the same. What will never change is the fact that each shoe company is constantly trying to one-up the other in their effort to attract the top high school basketball players in the nation. It therefore means that all of them will forever be engaged in politics when it comes to selecting players for their respective camps.

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

The July evaluation period is almost upon us, and there is no question that it is the most important time of the year from a recruiting standpoint, as it determines who gets scholarships, and player reputations are either made or destroyed based on their performance in front of college coaches. And of course the national analysts will also be out in full force at all of the marquee events. Knowing how most of them tend to evaluate, we are about to offer our predictions on the four players from Illinois who are most likely to climb the national rankings this coming month.