Mycheal Henry Is In The Fold

The Illini - thanks in particular to a stellar recruiting job by Peoria's own Jerrance Howard - picked up a verbal commitment from Chicago Orr's Mycheal Henry yesterday.

Henry exploded during his junior season averaging 29 points and, by all reports, developed into a deadeye three-point shooter.

With Henry's commitment, and with the previous commitments of Tracy Abrams and Nnanna Egwu, the Illini are well-positioned with the 2011 recruiting class. If any of Mike Shaw, Chasson Randle, Jarrod Uthoff or Anthony Davis also fall into place, Bruce Weber will have himself another Top 10 class.

Bruce Weber. Getting. It. Dun.

Nnanna Egwu Is In The Fold

Bruce Weber added another potential beast to the 2011 recruiting class yesterday with an oral commitment from St. Ignatius star Nnanna Egwu. Nnanna is a 6'10" kid who has only been playing basketball for three years and has an unlimited ceiling in terms of improvement. He'll team with the likes of Tyler Griffey and Meyers Leonard to give the Illini a strong frontcourt well into the 20-teens.

So now the 2011 class has a big man and a point guard (Tracy Abrams) but work remains to be done. The Illini want to add 2 or 3 more guys to the class. Here are the main targets:

- Bradley Beal: a slick 6'3" guard from St. Louis, Beal is highly recruited by the big boys and is one of the top ranked players in the 2011 class ... he would be a monster "get";

- Wayne Blackshear: another beast from a stacked Chicago class, Wayne is looking at a bunch of schools and seems to be leaning towards leaving the state;

- Sam Thompson: thin, lanky, 6'6" swingman from Whitney Young in Chicago, Thompson, like Blackshear, is considering a ton of schools, including the likes of Oregon St. which recruits well in Chicago;

- Chasson Randle: a 6'2" guard from Rock Island, Randle is ranked a bit lower than the three other guys on the list but is still the #13 ranked SG in the 2011 class according to Scout.com.

There are a few more guys the Illini have their eye on, but these four are the main targets.

Not to look too far past the '09-'10 and '10-'11 teams, because they are both going to be stacked, but as of now, the 2011-2012 roster is shaping up nicely:

Joseph Bertrand - Jr.
D.J. Richardson - Jr.
Tyler Griffey - Jr.
Brandon Paul - Jr.
Stan Simpson - RS Jr.
Jereme Richmond - So.
Crandall Head - So.
Meyers Leonard - So.
Tracy Abrams - Fr.
Nnanna Egwu - Fr.
[insert beast]
[insert beast]

Nice.

Let's get it dun, Bruce.