...Illinois colleges can't recruit better in their own backyard. With the sheer number of high school athletes in the Chicago area to choose from, shouldn't the University of Illinois, for example, be a perennial Big Ten contender in sports like basketball and football? When I bring this up in conversation, people usually look at me like I'm nuts. (Can you believe it?)
But an article in the Chicago section of the Times this morning backs me up:
Illinois, the entire state, not just the big university, is 0 for the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament this year. What in the name of George Mikan is going on? A state that prides itself on being the Fertile Crescent of basketball talent — from Cazzie Russell and Isiah Thomas to Dwyane Wade — is shut out of the college game’s showcase event? What are the odds that every one of Illinois’s 12 Division I basketball schools would sit out this year’s tournament?
It’s not accurate to say the entire state is enduring a silent March: Sherron Collins (Kansas), Jon Scheyer (Duke), Evan Turner (Ohio State), Jacob Pullen (Kansas State), Jerome Randle (Cal) and Maurice Acker (Marquette) are eager N.C.A.A. participants. Add one decent big man to that flashy lineup of Chicago-area guards and you’d have a team capable of a deep tournament run.
In football, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald has done a good job recruiting from the Chicago area. But the U. of I. promises another mediocre season in 2010.
A glaring example of what I'm talking about is Kyle Prater, wide receiver from Proviso West. He was one of the top prospects in the nation last year and after much soul-searching, chose USC over Notre Dame. But I don't remember him even considering an Illinois school. Why can't we keep kids like that at home?
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