Truth & Rumors > NCAAB

Illini offer scholarship to sophomore

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06:35 AM ET 04.02 | Illinois coach Bruce Weber, who already has two commitments from the Class of 2010, has offered a scholarship to another high school sophomore: Lenzelle Smith of Zion-Benton (Ill.). Smith, a 6-foot-3-inch wing, averaged 13 points and seven rebounds for the Zee-Bees, who finished second in the Class 4A tournament. mith also has an offer from Southern Illinois, his father said. Smith said his son ranks 12th academically in a class of 844 and has heard from Northwestern, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Virginia, Kentucky, Southern California, Stanford and Indiana State.

Chicago Tribune

Bruce Weber, AP Bruce Weber, AP

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April 2, 2008  11:21 AM ET
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recruiting high school sophomores is just WRONG -- what is the kid -- 15 or 16?

April 2, 2008  12:00 PM ET
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My 10 year old son can hit 80% of his free throws. Think John Calipari at Memphis might be interested?

April 2, 2008  12:53 PM ET
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How is this even news? Almost every good sophomore already has tons of offers. It's sad, but definitely not newsworthy.

April 2, 2008  01:30 PM ET
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Weber is finally doing it right... After the Gordon trainwreck, he's starting to recruit as a 'backup plan' in case his high-profile recruit falls thru. With all that's happened this past year with Jereme Richmond, there's no guarantee that a scholarship won't be available for Smith. He lost out on a couple recruits because he counted on Gordon and now he's preparing earlier and better than in the past.

April 2, 2008  01:33 PM ET
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Being ranked 12th out of a class of 844 is a nice little booster shot to the illini program as well. If I recall correctly, Dee Brown had similar bragging rights. He didn't turn out to be a straight-A student, but academics were never a concern.

April 2, 2008  02:46 PM ET
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Zee-bees!!!!!!

 
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