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For the most part it looks like Illinois' 2014 basketball class is wrapped up. Yes, there's a possibility that Cliff Alexander could be added to the group, but even if he isn't, Leron Black, Quentin Snider and Michael Finke make a pretty good group.
For the most part John Groce and his staff have set their eyes on the 2015 class, and one of those players they have their eye on in Chicago's Charles Matthews. On Saturday (I'd have posted about it yesterday, but, you know, I was kind of busy) the five-star guard cut his list down to ten, and you're damn right the Illini were on it.
Blessed to be deciding my school. Considering these 10 schools: Duke Illinois Kansas Kentucky Marquette MSU OSU SMU Stanford Wisconsin
— Charles Matthews (@CMATTHEWS_1) September 21, 2013
As you can see, Matthews listed the schools in alphabetical order, but I'm going to pretend that he listed them in order of interesting. It's between us and Duke! Fuck off, Kansas and Kentucky!
Seriously, this isn't a surprise. Matthews is the top player in the state, and the top players in the state generally give Illinois the respect of including them in their top ten. Whether or not Matthews ends up here -- the very early prognostications lean heavily toward Kentucky -- I don't know, but given what John Groce has shown us in recent months, you can't rule us out, either.
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