Two enormous recruiting stories unfolded over the weekend, with Kansas coach Bill Self adding to his domination over his old school -- Illinois -- while North Carolina was adding to one of the most loaded classes in college basketball history.
Self landed a commitment from 5-foot-11 Chicago point guard Sherron Collins, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, marking the second consecutive year he has beaten the Illini for the state's No. 1 player. Last year it was forward Julian Wright, the top priority of Illini coach Bruce Weber before Wright famously committed to Self's Jayhawks without even seeing the Kansas campus. Self struck similarly fast with Collins, getting his commitment this weekend -- one week before Collins was to visit Illinois.
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| Bruce Weber loses another homegrown recruit to ex-Illini coach Bill Self. (Getty Images) |
Losing Collins had to be stupefying.
Illinois was coming off a spot in the 2005 national title game, while Kansas was coming off a first-round loss to Bucknell. Illinois would have penciled Collins into the starting role to be vacated after this season by senior point guard Dee Brown, while Kansas signed a McDonald's All-American at point guard -- Mario Chalmers -- just one year ago.
But Kansas got Collins, a national top 10 recruit and the latest in-state loss for Weber. Illinois also lost out on the state's No. 1 recruit of 2003, Shaun Livingston, who chose Duke before entering the 2004 NBA Draft. And the state's current No. 2 senior, Jon Scheyer, committed to Duke over Illinois -- despite playing for Weber's brother, Dave Weber, at Glenbrook North High.
As for North Carolina, coach Roy Williams added a commitment this weekend from 6-foot-10 power forward Brandan Wright, giving the Tar Heels the country's top prospect at three positions, according to Scout.com.
Brandan Wright joins a class featuring No. 1 point guard Tywon Lawson and No. 1 shooting guard Wayne Ellington, as well as three other top 50 recruits: centers Deon Thompson and Alex Stepheson, and wing William Graves.
Wright chose UNC over Kentucky and Duke, putting the Tar Heels' recruiting class in the same category as Ohio State's 2006 haul, which for months has been recognized as the country's top class.
The Buckeyes' centerpiece is 7-foot Greg Oden, the No. 1 overall prospect this year and considered the best high school center since Shaquille O'Neal. Ohio State also has commitments from three other top 30 players -- point guard Mike Conley Jr., shooting guard Daequan Cook and small forward David Lighty -- as well as football-basketball standout Josh Chichester and junior college center Othello Hunter.
