Latest Recruiting Blurbs: Okafor, Parker, Wilbut And More

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

January 10, 2011

2:30 P.M. CST

Even though the New Year has arrived and the Fall Signing Period has come and gone, basketball recruiting never slows down.  This is further evidenced by the fact that college coaches remain ever-present at high school gyms watching recruits in addition to prospects still taking unofficial campus visits on an almost regular basis.  And of course many players continue to add scholarship offers to their collection.  With all of this in mind, the following is all of the recent recruiting activity of note as it pertains to prospects in the state of Illinois.

... One thing is for certain when it comes to the recruitment of 6'10 2014 center Jahlil Okafor from Whitney Young High School in Chicago--he is a household name along Tobacco Road.  That is because Okafor recently landed his third scholarship offer from an ACC school courtesy of the University Of North Carolina and head coach Roy Williams.  Okafor's previous ACC offers are from Duke and North Carolina State.  And this of course is in addition to a long line of offers from programs in the Big Ten, Big East, and Pac 12 conferences. 

    Okafor was absolutely awesome at the recently concluded Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, SC, where he was named to the all-tournament team.  Not only did Okafor put up double-doubles in points and rebounds in 3 of Whitney Young's 4 games at Beach Ball, but he also turned in a 36 point performance on 11-14 shooting in his team's opening round victory over Lexington, SC and scored 28 points in a double overtime loss to Lone Peek, UT in the semifinals.  As we have stated repeatedly, there is not a more dominant post player at the high school level.  While we still believe that Jabari Parker is the #1 prospect in Illinois regardless of class, Okafor is right behind him and is rapidly closing the gap.  

... Speaking of Jabari Parker, once again ESPN has acquired a "phantom" recruiting list consisting of 10 schools that some interpreted to be Parker's favorites.  We call this a "phantom" list because anyone who has been following Parker's recruitment with any ounce of objectivity knows that he does not have a top ten list.  The reality is that this list was nothing more than a rundown of the schools who have been active since the start of the high school season when it comes either being present at Parker's games or having him on campus to visit or attend a game.  What was most notable about the list was that no west coast schools were on it.  However, someone forgot to notify any of them that they are now out of the running.  In fact, BYU was recently in to watch Parker practice.  And anyone who thinks that Washington or Stanford have stopped recruiting Parker is crazy.

    What we find to be a most interesting development in Parker's recruitment is that he and his parents are paying very close attention to all of the local high majors, which is why at this time Illinois, DePaul and Northwestern all remain in the picture.  While we still don't believe that proximity to home is going to be the ultimate factor behind Parker's final decision, we do wonder if it is something that will be considered when the time comes for Parker to make his announcement.  In the mean time, plenty of other schools remain in the hunt and no prospective suitor has been eliminated.

... We told everyone a while back that 6'3 2012 guard Jerron Wilbut from Downers Grove South High School in Downers Grove, IL had plenty of new schools showing recruiting interest.  As it turns out, the list continues to expand even further.  Virginia Tech was on hand at Downers South last night to watch Wilbut score 19 points in a win over Fremd.  In addition to the Hokies, Boston College, Cleveland State, Dayton, DePaul, Florida State, Missouri State, Nebraska and Oregon are all among the programs that have been in contact and are now on the list.  Provided he continues to do what he needs to do away from the court, we look for Wilbut (who remains our #2 ranked prospect in Illinois from 2012) to be one of the most heavily sougt recruits during the Spring signing period.

... Wilbut's teammate at Downers South, that being 6'2 guard Jamal Millison has also begun to attract additional interest.  Valparaiso and Wayne State were in to watch Millison versus Fremd, while Northern Illinois and Utah Valley are also among the programs continuing to keep close tabs.

... Another program that has been highly present of late when it comes to recruiting the Chicago area is Cal-Irvine.  With assistant coach Nick Booker leading the way, the Anteaters are very much in the thick of things with a number of Illinois-based prospects in the 2013 class.  Cal-Irvine has offered a scholarship to 6'7 forward Ben Moore, whose stock continues to rise as rapidly as any player in the state from 2013 and are also very much involved with 6'2 2013 guard David Cohn from York Township High School in Elmhurst, IL and 6'11 center Andrew Zelis from Wheaton North High School in Wheaton, IL just to name a few.

 ... Getting back to Utah Valley, assistant coach Steve Payne, who has strong Chicago area roots going back to when he played at Shepard High School in Palos Heights, IL was front and center for every game at the Bob Hambric Memorial Shootout at T.F. North High School in Calumet City, IL this past Saturday and continues to recruit the Windy City region extremely hard.  One of the foremost recruiting priorities for Utah Valley and head coach Dick Hunsaker with respect to their 2012 class is to find a scoring point guard.  With that in mind, a player who has caught their eye is 5'11 2012 point guard Donald Moore from Bloom Township High School in Chicago Heights, IL.

... And finally, speaking of Moore, we still believe that he is the most underrated point guard in Illinois and a D1 prospect.  He has great quickness, can score and has proven that he can run an offense at any tempo.  While D1s have been slow to come around, Moore has started to attract interest from the likes of Indiana-Purdue-Ft. Wayne, Florida A&M and Texas-Pan American along with Utah Valley. 

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