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There was a time when Division I college basketball in Illinois was thriving. The programs at Illinois, DePaul, Loyola, Bradley, Southern Illinois, Illinois State, Northern Illinois and even Western Illinois once ranked among the best in the nation.
No longer.
It has been suggested here and elsewhere that one reason is a lot of high school talent has opted to leave the state, filling rosters at Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, California, Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa, Purdue, Wisconsin and a lot of places in between.
It certainly is a contributing factor and, arguably, the most significant. But why is that? In the last 20 years, why have so many homegrown stars elected to leave the state?
Some might argue that it all began in the 1960s when players such as Cazzie Russell went to Michigan, Dan Issel and Tom Parker went to Kentucky and Dave Robisch, Rodger Bohnentstiehl and Tom Kivisto went to Kansas.
There are other arguments. One is that the dip in the quality of Division I programs in Illinois can be traced to the early 1990s.
Traditionally, Illinois had an unspoken hierarchy as to how the state's talent pool was distributed. Illinois and DePaul were first in line followed by Bradley, SIU, NIU and ISU with the remainder of the talent spread between WIU, Eastern Illinois and Chicago State.
That isn't the case any more. Today, the talent is taking the underground railroad to other geographical stops from coast to coast. Why? In the business of recruiting, there is no loyalty among thieves, only back-stabbing and treachery.
Oh, here are other reasons why the state didn't have any qualifiers in the NCAA tournament in 2010, why the programs have little national respect.
Cell Phone Alerts
THE BUTLER BULLDOGS JUST PICKED UP A RECRUIT FROM O'FALLON HIGH SCHOOL FROM DOWNSTATE ILLINOIS!
THAT IS THE SAME BUTLER THAT PLAYS IN THE HORIZON LEAGUE, THE SAME LEAGUE UIC, LOYOLA, BOTH PLAY IN, SO THE LEAGUE DOESN'T MATTER, IT IS PRODUCTION!
LOOK FOR DEPAUL TO SIGN A CHICAGO PUBLIC LEAGUE PLAYER VERY SOON!
LOOK AT THE PATTERN, OREGON FIRES COACH, TWO CHICAGOLAND PLAYERS ARE LOOKING TO TRANSFER, THE QUESTION IS, WHAT PROGRAM WILL GOBBLE THEM UP?
ILLINOIS JUST HAD A PLAYER TRANSFER, HE SHOULD GO TO A JUCO, SO HE CAN KEEP PLAYING, JUST MY OPINION!
THE BOTTOMLINE IS YOU MUST ESTABLISH A RELATIONSHIP WITH INSTATE PLAYERS IF YOU REALLY WANT THEM TO STAY IN ILLINOIS, AND IN YOUR PROGRAM, LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED!
DO YOU THINK ILLINOIS WOULD HAVE SIGNED THE YOUNG MAN THAT IS ABOUT TO TRANSFER, IF HE HAD NOT GONE TO SIMEON HIGH SCHOOL, SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!
Phil Smith
caps lock dude.
seriously.
I fail to understand why you have to shout at us in EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR POSTS.
and I fail to understand why Taylor Bell keeps posting his screams.
Very true, I believe DePaul will get some top tier recruits fro the Public League in next few years.
Sean T
You're right on.
If you didn't know, Mr. Smith, you're obviously blogging for your voice to be heard, yet the CAPS OBSESSION comes off as loud and obnoxious, not an in your face "must read" post. Just saying. Calm down.
Really, I long ago stopped bothering with the guy that shouts in CAPS.
Run on sentences, poor grammar and nothing ever to say..... Taylor is very
tolerant.
I don't think any blog entry about recruiting in the state of Illinois that includes Cazzie Russell and Dan Issel's name should be taken seriously. Things have changed about 300 times since those great players were in high school making their decisions on which college to attend. I agree with that weird caps lock thing but I appreciate Phil's enthusiasm for college/high school hoops.
Phil "Caps" Jr. is cool. he knows some of the dynamics around basketball in Chicagoland, except that time he blamed C.Davis for lack of state funding for CPS sports which was ridiculous.
Let me address Taylor's issue: Say what you will, but it's totally true that local kids going elsewhere has weakened UIC, Loyola, Illinois, DePaul, and others. It certainly has contributed to them not competing on a high level. Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, and Memphis have benefitted with final 4's and titles in the last 3-4 years. It shows that one key player can make a big difference. (Collins, Frazier, Rose, Scheyer,Wright) Depaul can learn from CSU AD who I'm hearing has put together a local stakeholders selection committee to find their next BB coach. Look for them to improve quickly. Recruiting is the key, so Ponsetto and Purnell should address it, because Garrett was probably the worst one to keep, and Booth should be gone too. They can't recruit Chicago. Name somebody they brought in? Wake up and smell the coffee local colleges. Chicago, and the surrounding area has the best talent in the country. Find someone to recruit them. It's not rocket science. get a city guy who's respectable.
HELLO SEAN AND THE REST OF THE POSSE!
THE OTHER DAY UIC SIGNED A YOUNGSTER FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA, NOW AIN'T THAT A KICK IN THE HEAD, THIS YOUNG MAN IS GOING TO LEAVE BEAUTIFUL ARIZONA AND COME TO CHICAGO AND PLAY ON THE WESTSIDE OF CHICAGO!
TO US IT LOOKS CRAZY, BUT TO THE PLAYER IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY, YOUNGSTERS TODAY WANT OPPORTUNITIES, BUT THEY HAVE TO BE GOOD CITIZENS, REMEMBER LEN BIAS, WELL NO TEAM WANTS THAT BAGGAGE IN THEIR PROGRAM!
PLAYERS IN CHICAGO MUST BE RECRUITED MUCH HARDER THAN THE CURRENT SITUATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW A YOUNGSTER IS GOING TO DUKE, YOU SHOULD STILL COURT HIM FOR YOUR PROGRAM, BACK IN THE DAY WHEN DEPAUL WAS ROLLING, THEY WERE RECRUITING XAVIER MCDANIEL AND GUESS WHO HIS TEAMMATE WAS, TYRONE CORBIN, CORBIN IS THE ONE DEPAUL SIGNED, DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH ARE AT EVERY SCHOOL WITH A GOOD PROGRAM, THE YOUNG MAN FROM HYDE PARK IS BACK ON THE BOARD, HE JUST MADE HIS ACT SCORE, AND I HOPE DEPAUL GETS HIM!
The point guard from Hyde Park, Fabyon Harris would be a great pick for DePaul. Big time D-1 programs have their local recruiters and also their national reruiters within their assistant coaching staff. Now that DePaul has a coaching vacancy they should fill it with a local guy and go for Blackshear (his commitment is soft, right)and Henry from Orr. These 3 kids would be a great core to build around, and would really strengthen that program.
You have to dream big.
THE YOUNG MAN FROM HYDE PARK WILL SIGN WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON, SOUNDS LIKE HE WANTED TO LEAVE TOWN ALL ALONG, HE HAD A SHOT AT PLAYING IN THE BIG EAST, BUT HE CHOSE CONFERENCE USA!
GOOD LUCK, NO ONE CAN SAY THE BLUE DEMONS DIDN'T GIVE A HOMETOWN PLAYER AN OPPORTUNITY!