Apparently the only way Illinois can attract notice in the offseason is by missing out on yet another really good player. Elite recruits keep putting on ball caps or unzipping hoodies to reveal shirts that don't say Illinois.
Today, however, I want to break free from this well-covered topic and talk about the players whom John Groce already has on his roster. Yes, you heard that correctly, Illinois has enough players to put a full team on the floor. I'm even hearing reports from sources close to the program that there are enough warm bodies on hand for two squads of players to practice against one another. Let's see if we can substantiate these wild rumors with same cold, hard numbers.
Groce currently has five players on scholarship who were rated as top 100 recruits out of high school. Granted, that figure isn't keeping Kentucky up nights, and, anyway, the team won't be getting much help this season from onetime top-100 prospect Tracy Abrams, who's out for the year with a torn ACL. Still, that's not so very far out of line from what one sees at several (though by no means all) other Big Ten programs.
Rather than focus on who's not at Illinois or on who might come in the future, it might be equally profitable to consider the roster as it is: Rayvonte Rice, Kendrick Nunn, Ahmad Starks, Aaron Cosby, Leron Black (ESPN's No. 44-ranked prospect in the class of 2014), Malcolm Hill, Nnanna Egwu et al. How good are these guys going to be in 2014-15?