Murphy's Pub: Illinois Recruiting Update

Edition 2 of Murphy's Pub

Devin Langford will reportedly round out the 2010 Illinois recruiting class. Langford is a 6'6" guard from Alabama and, well, I have never seen him play so I cannot even begin to comment on Langford as a player. Instead, I am going to write about the historical importance of this recruiting class for the Illini. Every few years, dating back to 2002 at least, the Illini have had an unbalanced recruiting class that has formed the back bone of their teams for the next four years. And here is the thing with an unbalanced class: when you only have 12 scholarships, giving 5 or more in a single year is committing a lot of resources to one single class.

2002
In 2002, Illinois landed a 5 man class: Deron Williams, Dee Brown, James Augustine, Kyle Wilson, and Aaron Spears. Dee, Deron, and Augustine were starters for their entire careers, joining Luther Head and Roger Powell (a two man class the year before) in going to the '05 National Championship game. Kyle Wilson (from Texas) had anxiety issues and ended up transferring to Wichita State (where he became a pretty good player on some good teams). Aaron Spears ended up transferring to St. Johns (as an aside, I will always remember Spears for being a 6'10" guy riding the tiniest of bikes around Champaign-Urbana - he looked ridiculously hilarious).

Dee was the highest rated in the class, and a McDonald's All-American. Deron was a top 50 player (Bob Gibbons rated him much higher, but Deron was rated lower than his high school teammate Bracey Wright). Augustine was a top 75 guy and Spears and Wilson were borderline top 100. The class ended up having one All-Time great (Deron) and two players in Dee and
Deron that weren't far behind.

2007
Fast forward 5 years to 2007 and Bruce Weber landed a 6 man class. Demetri McCamey, Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis, Bill Cole, Quinton Watkins, and Rodney Alexander (Junior College). Watkins never qualified and Rodney Alexander never was anything more than a role player in his two years on campus. McCamey was a top 75 recruit, but he was really the only top 100 guy in 2007.

The 2007 class will ultimately be remembered by their success this season. McCamey, Davis and Tisdale have been starters for three years and Cole has been a valuable reserve (even though he has started, he has never played starter's minutes). BUT during their first three years, Illinois (1) missed the tournament (even the NIT); (2) lost to Western Kentucky in the first round; and (3) made the NIT. McCamey has turned the corner this year (knock on wood) and could become an All-Time Great at Illinois. Plus, this class, until 2009, was easily the best class in Bruce Weber's time at Illinois. Through no real fault of Tisdale and Davis (and anyone that has watched Illinois games with me knows I am not going to be starting any Mike Davis fan clubs), there was not a whole lot of talent surrounding this class, so it is hard to consider their record as too much of a black eye. With that being said, history will remember the 2007 class in a much more favorable light if they make the Sweet 16 this year.

So based on the above, what can we hope for out of Tracy Abrams, Mychael Henry, Nnanna Egwu, Mike Shaw and Langford (other than the fact that there are some weird name spellings)? Well, if history is any guide:

(1) A star will emerge. Deron emerged his Sophomore year and took it to another level his Junior year. McCamey emerged his Junior year and has been unreal thus far this year.

(2) Not everyone is going to be a star. In fact, not everyone will graduate the university. Wilson and Spears in '02. Quinton Watkins did not even make it into a game.

(3) This class will be the backbone, for better or worse, of the next several years of Illinois basketball.

So congratulations to Bruce Weber on a very good 2011 class. Here is hoping they have a lot of amazing seasons of college basketball in them for the Illini.