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.

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.

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.

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.

We do not know all of the particulars behind why Diamond Taylor recently decided to transfer from St. Joseph to Bolingbrook. Therefore, this blog is not going to be about whether Taylor made the right or wrong decision and if it was in his best interest. Instead, we are going to focus on how we think several people at both Bolingbrook and St. Joseph could end up being aided by this move, especially in the long run.

Before others misinterpret what we are about to say, let us emphasize that we still believe Warren's Brandon Paul is the #1 player in the state from the class of 2009. However, Whitney Young's Chris Colvin is rapidly making a strong push for that spot. And we are not saying that based on one game--we are saying it based on the solid performances that he has turned out throughout the spring.

As scouts and talent evaluators, you never want to put too much emphasis on a single event. However, make no mistake about it--when it comes to being able to sort out and fine-tune our evaluations of the elite players in Illinois from the classes of 2009, 2010 and 2011, this Sunday's high school team shootout on the campus of the University Of Illinois is absolutely huge. In fact, in many ways it offers us the ideal environment in which to evaluate players.

As we have indicated before, it is a common tendency for plenty of others who evaluate high school basketball players to fall in love with a player on the basis of a single game performance. All too often the mentality is one which consists of "what have you done for me lately?" That mentality may be suitable for talk radio and the tabloids, but not for anyone who wants to operate a legitimate scouting service. Anyone who needs to see examples of what we are talking about needs to look no further than others' current evaluations of the class of 2011 in Illinois.

It is possible that the top two prospects in Illinois from the class of 2011 just might end up hailing from the Chicago Catholic League. De LaSalle's Mike Shaw is clearly #1, while Mt. Carmel's Tracy Abrams is beginning to make a strong case for #2. However, while we believe Shaw's ranking is etched in stone, there is still work to be done on Abrams' part to help him claim the #2 spot and solidify it. We have a suggestion that we think might enable him to do that.

We can't believe we are doing this. In fact, it almost goes against our principles. However, when you have talent at the elementary school level that is as good as what we saw last week at the Bill Hensley Memorial Run 'N Slam All-Star Classic, you have to at least talk about it. Therefore, that is exactly what we are going to do in this blog, hopefully keeping everything in perspective while doing so.

Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody filled a huge recruiting need today by receiving a commitment from a skilled in-state post player who had been one of their top priorities from the beginning. As it turns out, the impact of this commitment is going to come much sooner than most people realize

After watching most all of the top travel teams in Illinois in both the 17 and 16-under divisions this past weekend at the King James Shooting Stars Classic in Akron, OH, we are convinced that all of them can hold their own with any of the top programs in the nation. As a result, AAU ball in the state of Illinois is as strong as ever. However, the reasons for us saying that go far beyond just the talent level.

Consider this blog to be a hodgepodge--a little bit of everything if you will. With that being said, we will try to tie together some loose ends, particularly with respect to recruiting and offer some thoughts on some other things of significance as well.

High school basketball talent in various geographical areas tends to go in cycles. A perfect example is Peoria, which has always been a hotbed but has experienced some lean years recently. Now it looks as if the talent level around the River City is shooting back up again, thanks in large part to three can't miss prospects in the class of 2011.

We told everyone that a commitment from Ryan Hare was imminent before the end of this weekend, and sure enough that is exactly what happened. Upon the completion of his campus visit, Hare announced for the Missouri Valley conference school that we knew he would inevitably attend.