Illini Pick Up Commit/Tracy Abrams

[tornado]

Abrams is one of the best players in the nation in Class of 2011

http://www.illinihq.com/news/recruiting/2008/12/18/tracy_abrams_commits_to_illini/

He is a 4-Star/Top 40 PG out of Chicago Mt. Carmel.

[tornado]

More info....Jerrance Howard is being credited with landing this top rated kid from the Illinois Class of 2011.
In fact, all the recent commits are being credited to Jerrance Howard, who is doing an incredible job landing the instate kids.

http://illinihq.com/blogs/basketblog/2008/12/19/more_on_tracy_abrams

[mportsch]

As has been said on Illini boards, Illinois fans need to thank the staff at Kentucky for hiring away Tracy Webster! His departure allowed Weber to hire Jerrance Howard (from Kentucky, no less!) and complete the recruiting team. I think Howard deserves a lot of credit for the recruiting success, but Weber is ultimately the guy to whom they are committing, so he deserves a lot of credit as well.

[Stryker]

As has been said on Illini boards, Illinois fans need to thank the staff at Kentucky for hiring away Tracy Webster! His departure allowed Weber to hire Jerrance Howard (from Kentucky, no less!) and complete the recruiting team. I think Howard deserves a lot of credit for the recruiting success, but Weber is ultimately the guy to whom they are committing, so he deserves a lot of credit as well.

Agreed. I think Weber has saved his job at Illinois with these recruiting classes. Now that he is getting talent he should start doing VERY well, because I think we all know he is a good coach.

[SFP]

I'm not an Illini fan but I am a BW fan so I'm glad for him.

I'm pretty happy with our recruiting class for next year but can we just get a shooter please! I mean one that can launch them from deep and you know they have a 40% chance of going in, a JC clone with a little more muscle would be perfect.

[mportsch]

SFP, that would be a great addition if Les could find him! Really, I think BU will be fine for shooters next year, as Warren, Dunson, Roberts, Maniscalco, Norris, and McCain all figure to be threats from deep. That's a really nice pool of backcourt players in my opinion.

[SFP]

mportch I agree but besides Warren and I'm not so sure about the Freshmen yet thay all need to be set up and cannot create on their own.SM shoots much better deep when he is set as does Dunson. McCain has not shot the ball enough for me to be objective and I believe Norris has the potential. I guess I want a guy that can come off a screen put on the floor and pop-it.

[Stryker]

mportch I agree but besides Warren and I'm not so sure about the Freshmen yet thay all need to be set up and cannot create on their own.SM shoots much better deep when he is set as does Dunson. McCain has not shot the ball enough for me to be objective and I believe Norris has the potential. I guess I want a guy that can come off a screen put on the floor and pop-it.

Still, we don't really know how moving the three-point line back has changed the game, if any. This might be the cause of some of our early 3-point shooting woes, even though the team has had quite a while to adjust to it. They should continue to get better at hitting them. I do agree though that we don't have a long range shooter that can create his own shot. JC could last year even if he wasn't coming off of a screen. He had perfect form every time it seemed. Another shooter like that with length and a defensive attitude would be a great addition to this team.