Dartmouth-bound Mike Lang is one of Illinois'
55 graduating seniors with a D1 scholarship.
Dartmouth-bound Mike Lang is one of Illinois'
55 graduating seniors with a D1 scholarship.
Complete DI Commitment List
By Frank Rusnak
One thing you
could say is that this group's Forte was playing basketball. Starting
when they were Young, these guys showed their love for the game. While
walking down the Hall(s), driving in their Ford or even
in the Poole, their love of hoops always shown through brightly, never
just a Little. Making dramatic Gaines in their progress,
there was never any Stalling(s), as their main goal and objective was to
always get to the next level. Mission accomplished. Congratulations C/O 2002.
In all, there is a whopping 55 Illinois High School graduating seniors who will accept Division I basketball scholarships this year. This number is made all the more amazing when you factor in the extreme number of players going the junior college or prep school route (a related article will be posted next week) due to academic or exposure problems.
Of the 55 players, 22 will stay at in-state institutions and 33 are headed elsewhere around the country. Of the 10 in-state colleges that have signed Illinois players, eight of the programs have multiple players. Illinois and Illinois State both are bringing in three, while Northern Illinois leads the pack with four Illinois players being put on scholarship. Note: Bartlett's Anthony Maestranzi was a preferred walk-on at NIU before a scholarship opened up.
Of the 55 players, there were six high schools that have two players: Pekin, Thornwood, Lisle, Lyons Township, Shepard and Farragut. Forty-one of the players hail from the Chicagoland area, while five are from the Peoria area and one each from the areas of Rockford, Quad Cities and Southern Illinois (below I-64).
Only three of the signed players are below 6'0", while 31 were 6'5" or taller. Two of the players, Cortez Forte (Eastern Illinois) and Elliott Poole (Illinois at Chicago), are expected to sit out their first year as partial academic qualifiers.
| Marcus Arnold | 6'8" | PF/C | Morgan Park | Illinois State |
| James Augustine | 6'9" | PF/C | Lincoln-Way Central | Illinois |
| Charles Bass | 6'10" | WF/PF | Crete-Monee | Ohio State |
| John Bowler | 6'8" | PF/C | Niles Notre Dame | Eastern Michigan |
| Dee Brown | 6'0" | PF | Proviso East | Illinois |
| Joe Brownfield | 6'1" | PG | Pekin | Western Illinois |
| Marlon Brumfield | 6'9" | PF | Collins | DePaul |
| Melvin Buckley | 6'7" | WG/WF | Thornwood | Purdue (IN) |
| Chris Burras | 6'6" | WF/PF | Leo | Illinois State |
| Joe Chapman | 6'5" | WG/WF | Bloom Township | Marquette (WI) |
| Brandon Cole | 6'7" | PF | Rich South | Xavier (OH) |
| Ricky Cornett | 6'8" | PF | H. Christian Academy | Notre Dame (IN) |
| Joe Cortez | 6'4" | PG | Lisle | Eastern Illinois |
| Pattrick Cuttica | 6'3" | WG | Naperville Central | Dartmouth (NH) |
| Marc Daniels | 6'8" | C | Waubonsie Valley | Colgate (NY) |
| Sean Dockery | 6'3" | PG | Julian | Duke (NC) |
| Kellen Easley | 6'7" | PG/WF | Joliet Township | Southwest Missouri State |
| Adam Finley | 6'7" | WF/PF | Rockford Boylan | Wisconsin-Milwaukee |
| Dana Ford | 6'4" | PG/WG | Tamms Egyptian | Illinois State |
| Cortez Forte | 6'5" | WG/WF | Lyons Township | Eastern Illinois |
| Jon Foss | 6'7" | WF | Princeton | Colgate (NY) |
| Stan Gaines | 6'7" | WF | Providence St. Mel | Minnesota |
| David Genslinger | 6'8" | PF | Stagg | Western Illinois |
| Mitch Gilfillan | 5'11" | PG | Peoria Notre Dame | LeHigh (PA) |
| Cole Grapperhaus | 6'7" | PF/WF | Mater-Dei | Southeast Missouri |
| Mike Hall | 6'7" | WF | Shepard | George Washington |
| Jibril Hodges | 6'0" | PG/WG | Rich East | Long Beach State (CA) |
| Tom Howland | 6'9" | C | Normal West | Ball State (IN) |
| James Hughes | 6'10" | C | United Township | Northern Illinois |
| Andre Iguodala | 6'7" | PG/WF | Springfield Lanphier | Arizona |
| Nathan Koster | 6'0" | PG | Lewistown | Evansville (IN) |
| Mike Lang | 6'3" | WG | Gordon Tech | Dartmouth (NH) |
| Troy Lindbick | 6'2" | WG | Collinsville | Central Florida |
| John Little | 6'2" | WG/PG | Peoria Richwoods | Northern Iowa |
| Anthony Maestranzi | 5'10" | PG | Bartlett | Northern Illinois |
| Jim Maley | 6'7" | WF/WG | Lyons Township | Northwestern |
| Marcetteaus McGee | 6'2" | WG/PG | Farragut | Wisconsin |
| David Moss | 6'5" | WG | Thornwood | Indiana State |
| T.J. Parker | 6'2" | PG/WG | Lisle | Northwestern |
| Joey Paul | 6'3" | WG | Highland Park | Bradley |
| Todd Peterson | 6'7" | WF/WG | Pekin | Northern Illinois |
| Elliott Poole | 6'6" | PF | Farragut | Illinois at Chicago |
| Giovanni Roldan | 6'2" | WG/WF | Northridge Prep | Naval Academy |
| James Romey | 6'2" | PG/WG | New Trier | Santa Clara (CA) |
| Rome Sanders | 6'7" | PF | Curie | Northern Illinois |
| Mike Smith | 6'2" | WG/PG | Shepard | Illinois at Chicago |
| Aaron Spears | 6'9" | C | Dunbar | Illinois |
| Jawan Stallings | 6'0" | PG | Hales Franciscan | Western Kentucky |
| Michael Thompson | 6'10" | C | Providence Catholic | Duke (NC) |
| Alando Tucker | 6'5" | WG | Lockport | Wisconsin |
| Ryan Walker | 6'3" | WG/PG | Galesburg | Southern Illinois |
| Aaron Wellington | 5'11" | PG | De LaSalle | Maryland Eastern Shore |
| Marcus White | 6'7" | PF | Whitney Young | Connecticut |
| Tony Young | 6'1" | PG | Schaumburg | Southern Illinois |
| Greg Zimny | 6'0" | PG | Stevenson | Samford (AL) |
| Preferred Walk-Ons | ||||
| Dan Adams | 6'5" | WG | Metamora | Bradley |
| Wes DeVries | 6'9" | C | Wheaton Warrenville South | Western Michigan |
| Jerald Hunter | 6'7" | PF | Kennedy | Bowling Green (OH) |
| Chris Mroz | 6'0" | PG | St. Patrick | Bradley |
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