Illinois Basketball: Key Hits and Misses From the Mac Irvin Fire
I can deal with recruits saying no to the Illini. While it hurts, I can get over it because I understand that they decided to pursue their dreams with another program.
Illinois Fighting Illini
But, what Cliff Alexander did to the Illinois faithful a few years ago was gut-wrenching. He picked up an Illinois hat to put it on, only to drop it and pick up the Kansas hat and commit to their program.
Despite the uneasy feeling I have towards Alexander, he was a big-time recruit who had Illinois as one of his top programs.
Alexander was a 5-star recruit that was ranked as the 4th best player in the class of 2014 and the 2nd best player in the state of Illinois.
While Alexander was down to four programs, I think most people knew it was between Illinois and Kansas. The Illini had been recruiting him for a long time and he was in their backyard.
Well, Alexander bolted for Kansas and Illinois was left with a big void at the center position.
In hindsight, it might have been a blessing in disguise because Alexander was shut down by the Jayhawks for a good part of the season due to the possibility that his mom received a loan she shouldn’t have.
Even though Illinois might have avoided the Alexander mess, it was another case of Illinois being the second best for a talented Mac Irvin Fire player.
Next: PG Marcus LoVett