by Alex Schwartz

Bruce Weber has been knocked by Illinois faithful for his "recruiting woes." The Fighting Illini's head man has put together a fantastic class of 2010 thus far. Right at the top is Jereme Richmond, who is regarded as one of the premiere players in his class in the country. Richmond, who was selected for the Boost Mobile Elite 24 Classic at Rucker Park in Harlem, New York on August 22nd, was at the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando with his Rising Stars Gold (IL) U-17 squad, which also features Marcus Jordan '09. I had the opportunity to catch up with Richmond via telephone after his team's first day of games. The top-notch Springfield State star told me that he chose Illinois because "first of all, they had a lot of talent in-state that was leaving the state [for college]. I wanted to keep some of that talent of the talent in state. They were one of the first schools to start recruiting me." The rising junior specifically mentioned "Sherron Collins [and] Jon Scheyer" as Illinois players who left the state, for Kansas and Duke respectively. Richmond is not the only 2010 in-stater headed to Illinois, as fellow superstar Crandall Head will also be suiting up for Weber in a couple of years. Head is the younger brother of former Illini guard, Luther Head, who is currently with the Houston Rockets. Jereme knew what he wanted college-wise at a young age, as he committed "after [his] first [home] game freshman year . . . [in] November '05." Richmond told me that Illinois being "one of the first programs to recruit [him] . . . was a big thing." Also, he added his thinking of "why not keep talent in our state?" as a key part of his decision.

Richmond told me that he thinks "getting to the basket, . . . [and] trying to finish around the basket" is the biggest strength of his game "mainly because [he] generally creates mismatch problems . . . [so he] tries to get around smaller defenders and finish around the basket." Some people feel that Richmond has an "attitude problem," but he does not see that as the main weakness in his game. Rather, Jereme said this: "I wouldn't say it's weak, it's developing, . . . moving around the perimeter, . . . moving without the basketball." Want an idea of how Jereme plays? "Donte' Green when he was at Syracuse" is who the prized recruit compares himself to.

Jereme Richmond is a player to keep an eye on, and it probably won't be hard to do so. The Illinois superstar will be an all-everything baller and will be in the spotlight in college as he tries to bring Illinois back to prominence.

Note- photo is from http://scouthoops.scout.com/.