Illini basketball recruiting recap

It's been way too long since I've posted here, so it might be interesting to look at some older posts of mine and see how they turned out.

First, let's look at "The Seven" 2008-2010 recruits that would get us back in the national championship hunt.

1. DJ Richardson. Indeed, he was the ringleader and the first recruit of the seven. So that went as planned.

2. DeAndre McCamey --> Brandon Paul. Another guard and someone we (the fans) totally didn't have on the radar until the summer before he committed. He's very good and a year earlier but maybe not the pure PG we were expecting.

3. Crandall Head. As expected, Luther's younger brother committed to Illinois. What wasn't expected was him becoming an elite prospect before committing.

4. Scott Suggs --> Alex Legion. Legion probably has a little more talent but a little less size. I expect him to play the SG/SF spot for us and he makes for a nice recovery after all the '08 misses.

5. Michael Dunigan --> Stan Simpson. We missed on Dunigan, an amazing defender, but picked up the next best thing and a guy who has more explosion and offensive potential.

6. Jordan Prosser/Tyler Griffey --> ??? Griffey is still on the radar and other prospects are emerging in '09 or '10 to take the big man spot. We'll see.

7. Wild card --> Joe Bertrand. The tastefully named "point forward" adds to a bit of a logjam on the wing, but he is part of a dynamic trio that could lead an Illini resurgence.

Overall, recruiting remains unpredictable with only 2 of the 6 recruits anticipated in my previous post. Finally we've had enough recruiting success to actually live up to one of my optimistic posts. It's very encouraging and the only joy around Illini basketball right now. Let's get one more big and we'll be set on the recruiting trail for a while. Well, there's always the critical '11 class ;-)