Chicago

[HoopsMalone]

I am very happy with the way Buzz is recruiting.  However, he does not appear to have any natural ties to the biggest metropolitan area in the Midwest.  There is too much talent in Chicago for Buzz not to be a player recruiting down there.  Bo, DWade, Doc, Jerel.  Those are four good reasons to be recruiting Chicago. 

Has Buzz been getting any results down in Chicago?  As in, any Chicago recruits putting us in their narrow list?  Being from Texas, Buzz probably feels more comfortable in Houston recruiting Erik Williams and might have a hard time relating to a Chicago kid.  Buzz, however, needs to change that some how.  Maybe get an assistant with Chicago ties?  Get the men's basketball team more coverage in Chicago? 

[YoungMUFan4]

Tony Benford has been hitting Chicago hard...some 2010 guys but especially 2011 which is absolutely loaded.  There could be 8+ guys ranked in the top 100 from Illinois in that class

[Pakuni]

MU reportedly is involved with several top players from Chicago in the class of 2011, including:

6'5" SG Wayne Blackshear
6'6" SG/SF Dre Henley
6'7" SF Mike Shaw
5'11" PG George Marshall
6'5" SF Jacob Williams

[Golden Avalanche]

Blackshear was a subject line in the ESPN Outside the Lines piece a few weeks back on AAU v. high school ball. He quit on his Curie high school team a week prior to the playoffs and transferred to Morgan Park -- coached by a scion of the Mac Irvin AAU empire. There was talk he could be eligibility suspended from play until January 2010.

[cirella09]

Additionally, any player that quits on his team and transfers to another school in the city is not someone who I'd want wearing the Marquette blue & gold.  Not to mention the eligibility that he lost...  In my opinion Blackshear does not belong on this list.

[Brewtown Andy]

Let's not forget that Buzz keeping the NCAA appearances streak going will help opening up recruiting in every major hoops hotbed, not just Chicago.

[Pakuni]

Additionally, any player that quits on his team and transfers to another school in the city is not someone who I'd want wearing the Marquette blue & gold.  Not to mention the eligibility that he lost...  In my opinion Blackshear does not belong on this list.

Keep in mind you're talking about a 15/16-year-old who, in all likelihood, is doing what he is told by his parents and the people pretending to have his best interests at heart.

FWIW, Scott Christopherson "quit" on his team and transferred to another school in (near) his city while in high school - albeit not just before the playoffs - and I don't recall MU fans questioning his character for it or saying he's not the type of person who belongs in MU colors.

The bottom line is that if you're going to recruit in Chicago, and particularly the Public League, you have to accept that plenty of the top kids are going to have issues like these.

[Big Papi]

The Bullseye Brothers who cover the Chicago area recruiting have mentioned on numerous occassions that Benford and MU are very visible in the Chicago area, are hitting the recruits hard and we are on the list of quite a few recruits (mostly 2011 I think).  The thing is that we only have one opening for 2010 so any Chicago area recruits would more then likely be a 2011 recruit.

[Pakuni]

The Bullseye Brothers who cover the Chicago area recruiting have mentioned on numerous occassions that Benford and MU are very visible in the Chicago area, are hitting the recruits hard and we are on the list of quite a few recruits (mostly 2011 I think).  The thing is that we only have one opening for 2010 so any Chicago area recruits would more then likely be a 2011 recruit.

MU reportedly has offered  2010 PG Lavonte Dority out of Chicago Foreman and Benford watched him play several times during the past season. He also was at MU's Midnight Madness last fall.

When Buzz Williams took over as the Head Coach at Marquette he immediately put Dority as one of the juniors at the top of their board. Marquette is right up there with Baylor at the top of his list. Assistant coach Tony Benford has been present at a number of Lavonte's games this season. Benford and fellow assistant Aki Collins are doing a terrific job recruiting him and are making up fast for any lost time from before the hiring. Dority was present at Marquette's midnight madness event this fall and reportedly had a great time.

http://illinoishsbasketball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=797&Itemid=1

MU also is involved with Alex Rossi, a 6'5" 2010 SG from New Trier in Winnetka.

[ErickJD08]

MU reportedly has offered  2010 PG Lavonte Dority out of Chicago Foreman and Benford watched him play several times during the past season. He also was at MU's Midnight Madness last fall.

When Buzz Williams took over as the Head Coach at Marquette he immediately put Dority as one of the juniors at the top of their board. Marquette is right up there with Baylor at the top of his list. Assistant coach Tony Benford has been present at a number of Lavonte's games this season. Benford and fellow assistant Aki Collins are doing a terrific job recruiting him and are making up fast for any lost time from before the hiring. Dority was present at Marquette's midnight madness event this fall and reportedly had a great time.

http://illinoishsbasketball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=797&Itemid=1

MU also is involved with Alex Rossi, a 6'5" 2010 SG from New Trier in Winnetka.

It would be REALLY nice to get a true PG in 2010.  I feel like Buzz is going to go after this prospect hard to follow through on his commitment to recruit a big and PG every year.

[pillardean]

Keep in mind you're talking about a 15/16-year-old who, in all likelihood, is doing what he is told by his parents and the people pretending to have his best interests at heart.

FWIW, Scott Christopherson "quit" on his team and transferred to another school in (near) his city while in high school - albeit not just before the playoffs - and I don't recall MU fans questioning his character for it or saying he's not the type of person who belongs in MU colors.

The bottom line is that if you're going to recruit in Chicago, and particularly the Public League, you have to accept that plenty of the top kids are going to have issues like these.

That same type of discussion came up when we signed Clark, "do we want a kid that floated from school to school and is now at JuCo." 

I guess I get upset hearing that because these kids are just 15-16 year old kids!

I would like to ask how many of us users here graduated from MPS or Chicago Public Schools or Detroit Public Schools and have we any idea what goes on in those school districts?

Teaching there, I can COMPLETELY understand why an individual would switch schools often.  Some will say that they can't stick it out or they got bad information but realistically, more often than not, it is A GOOD MOVE to switch a school if you are going on the up and up. 

A friend and I were talking the other day about MPS, he teaches as an ESL class.  And we both came to similar conclusions, there is school rule-behave, study, work hard for your grades and progress on to your dreams- but then there is a rule that outgoverns "school rule."  That the kids, when they leave school, are governed by different rules and these rules outway school rules for they are everyday, every hour rules.  Sometimes in order to escape or redefine the rules, kids must need to move on, a lot earlier than any of us had to.

So when I see a kid change schools, I do not immediately think he can't hack it.  I think that the place has a better opportunity for him/her to succeed and that the individual is leaving (old friends that may be negative influences, old mentors etc) a lot in order to look forward.  I say more often than not that takes courage, something we as in institution should respect.

I know that is not always the case, but I think when we see a recruit changing schools we assume it is for negative reasons immediately rather than understanding the individual's story and perhaps understanding that the kid is doing something for himself and his future plans of success (which a lot of us would not have had the courage to do when we were 15-17 years old.) 

[Murffieus]

It would be REALLY nice to get a true PG in 2010.  I feel like Buzz is going to go after this prospect hard to follow through on his commitment to recruit a big and PG every year.

Impossible to bring in a quality PG every year unless the first one brought in is "one and done"----and Junior isn't going to be that. After Diener came in Crean couldn't recruit a quality PG until he graduated-----when DJ came in Crean couldn't get another quality PG either until he graduated.

[bma725]

Impossible to bring in a quality PG every year unless the first one brought in is "one and done"----and Junior isn't going to be that. After Diener came in Crean couldn't recruit a quality PG until he graduated-----when DJ came in Crean couldn't get another quality PG either until he graduated.

Just because Crean couldn't do it doesn't mean that it can't be done. 

Michigan State brought in Top 35 PG Kailin Lucas in 2007, and followed him with Top 90 PG Korey Lucious in 2008.

Washington brought in Top 100 PG Isiah Thomas in 2008 and followed him with Top 10 PG Abdul Gaddy in 2009.

Further, the truly elite recruiters are able to do it more than just back to back years, and if MU wants to get to that level they will have to be able to stack up top talent at the same position year after year.

North Carolina brought in Top 45 PG Larry Drew in 2008 despite the fact that he would have to spend at least one year behind Lawson.  The followed that up with Top 40 combo guard Dexter Strickland in 2009 and they've already got a commitment from top point guard Kendall Marshall in 2010.

Kansas brought in Top 10 PG Mario Chalmers in 2005, top 15 PG Sherron Collins in 2006, Top 60 PG Tyrell Reed in 2007. 

Villanova brought in Top 100 PG's in the same class in 2002(Allen Ray and Randy Foye), followed them with Top 65 PG Mike Nardi in 2003, and Top 30 PG Kyle Lowry in 2004.  Then they did it again, bringing in Top 40 PG Scottie Reynolds in 2006 and Top 35 PG Corey Fischer in 2007...now they've got Top 20 PG Malik Wayns coming in 2009 despite the fact that he'll have at least one PG ahead of him when he gets there.

UCLA brought in Top 20 PG Jordan Farmar in 2004, and followed him with Top 100 PG Darren Collison in 2005.  Then they took it a step further in 2008 and brought in two top 100 PG's in the same class in Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson, along with top 100 combo guard Jrue Holliday.

Heck, even Georgia Tech has done it the last few years and they've not been good at all.  They brought in Top 90 PG Maurice Miller in 2007, then followed him up with Top 20 PG Iman Shumpert in 2008 and top 50 PG Mfon Udofia in 2009.