The Last Dance: Illinois Standouts
With a huge and expansive field that a live recruiting period event entails. I thought I would be remiss if I didn’t a group of players from the host state. Following are the standouts from the Land of Lincoln from…
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Continue ReadingWith a huge and expansive field that a live recruiting period event entails. I thought I would be remiss if I didn’t a group of players from the host state. Following are the standouts from the Land of Lincoln from the Last Dance
Al Brooks Al Brooks 6'6" | SF Hansberry | 2025 State #239 Nation IL 6-5 2025 Hansberry One of the top players in Illinois 2025 class. Brooks still looked to be getting comfortable with his new EYBL squad. That being said. I enjoyed watching him run with shoe circuit team. It confirmed something I wondered about in regards to his game. Simply put, Brooks is a next level athlete. Doesn’t matter who he is going up against. Is an elite “grab and go” prospect. Can snag a rebound and get down the court quickly. Either by filling lanes. Or by doing it himself with the dribble. Explodes to the rim with super quick elevation. There are still areas of his game he will need to smooth out Those were apparent in the Saturday morning loss. However there is a lot of positive uncoachable traits to work with already.
Myles Ellis 6-0 2026 Homewood Flossmoor As I wrote on Friday night. My clubhouse leader for performance of the weekend— and nobody took that number down. His Vikings Unified squad might have the most impressive 0-4 weekend a team could have. Three losses by three points or less. Ellis was electric in all of them. One quickest players I saw on the weekend. Regardless of class. Could stop on a dime and change direction quickly. Drive to the basket without fear. Despite not being the biggest prospect. There is a lot of backcourt talent in the HF program. I don’t see any reason why Ellis cannot eventually earn time within that deep unit.
Tre Himes 6-1 2024 Maine West After Ellis had wrapped up scorching the nets Friday night. They didn’t get much of break. Himes came out with Big 3 Basketball Daniel and lit it up against against a lengthy Chapman Academy squad out of Wisconsin. I used lengthy intentionally. Himes came out on fire. However I wondered if he could stay that way against this particular opponent. This was due to Himes’ unorthodox release. Almost shoots it from the side of his head. Not the highest release point either. I thought the defense might catch up to what he was doing. Never really happened. This was mostly due to how well he move off the ball. Relocated well and caught the ball feet set. This allowed to get it up quickly. Finished with 24 points in that contest. Kept it up all weekend. Leading Big 3 to undefeated and frankly untested performance.
Kolby Capers 6-2 2024 Lindblom Like Himes Capers led his Full Package Gold to undefeated record on the weekend. Unlike Himes’ run though. Capers squad was tested in a big way. Falling behind quickly to a good Archangels ‘ last=”] unit on Saturday night. Capers led a dramatic comeback from the point guard position. However it wasn’t just simply the comeback. It was the way he spearheaded it. Did it largely on the defensive end of the court. Applying heavy ball pressure that disrupted his opponents offense. As far as Capers offense. He attacked the basket with constant penetration. Was able to find open teammates with kick out passes when defenses collapsed on him. Was more than just a passer though. Finished with a team high 17 points in the victory.
Ian Case Ian Case 6'7" | SF Macomb | 2024 State IL 6-5 2024 Macomb I enjoyed this Western Illinois forward two summer ago. As a Michigan based writer. Haven’t seen much of him since. This weekend he showed how his game has expanded. Is still an old school throwback player. While also adding some new school wrinkles. Has the stocky frame and physicality to bang with anyone on the blocks. However he can also stretch the floor with a nice touch from beyond the arc. Has good ball skills and is a particularly good passer out of the high post.