Moderator: Good afternoon everyone, thanks for coming by for another Illinois basketball chat. I'll be here for about an hour.

Klee

Jeff, Darien, IL: Hi Paul,

Grat job as usual with the Shootout coverage. My question relates to Brehm Prep and their prospects. Can you provide more detail about this school? I have never heard of it until recently. Where did the UI prospects grow up? Do any of them play AAU ball or is it a year round school? Thanks for your time.

Moderator: Jeff- Thanks. Forward James Siakam (a Cameroon native) and center Emmanuel Ochenje (Nigeria) are the top prospects on the Brehm Prep roster. Siakam and Ochenje also play AAU ball with the Illinois Titans. Aaron Lee, a longtime acquaintance of Bruce Weber, is the coach at Brehm Prep and for the Illinois Titans. Siakam is a Jeff Adrien-type of forward – though not as big as Adrien – that battles. He’s been undervalued as a college prospect.

I also liked Bruce Barron, another undervalued prospect who runs the point for Brehm Prep. He’s a high-energy player that likes to talk, and I enjoy point guards who like to talk on the court. He won’t be on the UI radar because the Illini already have a true point guard in 2011, but several Big Ten schools are on him. Wouldn’t surprise me if he plays at Purdue.

Brehm Prep doesn’t compete under the IHSA’s umbrella but plays a schedule that mostly includes other prep schools and jucos, like Wabash and John A. Logan and Rend Lake and Lincoln Trail.

Klee

Gary, Vincennes, IN: Klee, I was unable to attend the recent Shootout at the Hall but was curious on a couple things. First, I've never been and was

wondering if these events are free to the public. Also, when will the next one be at Assembly Hall?

Moderator: Gary- The Illinois Shootout is free and open to the public. The next one is next June. You can attend the WDWS/News-Gazette Shootout at the Hall in December. It’s similar.

Klee

Scott, Salem, Illinois: Mr. Klee,

I really enjoyed the team tournament this weekend! Is the satellite camp at Moody Bible set up the same way as the one this past weekend? Is it open to the general public?

Thanks,

Scott

Moderator: Scott- The Moody camp is under a similar format, but it spans two days. Teams play three games on June 22 and compete in a single-elimination tournament June 23. You can see the schedule on IlliniHQ. It’s open to the public.

Klee

Pan, Benson, West Virginia: What kind of impression did the young recruits from 2012 and 13 take away from the team camp? Who does Illinois stand best with? 11 is getting boring.

Moderator: Pan- Guys like Ron Patterson (Broad Ripple) and DeJuan Marrero (Bowman Academy) and A.J. Hammons (Carmel) seemed to enjoy themselves. Those are 2012 guys with a lot of time left in their recruitments, so it’s early to say where Illinois stands, and it probably will change over time anyway.

Marrero told me he would probably choose a school after his junior season, and Patterson said he’d like to choose a school after his sophomore season.

"I enjoy Illinois. It would be one of my top schools if I was going to make a decision now," Marrero said. "I took a tour of the new (practice) facility. It's open 24/7 to the players, and I really like that."

Then you've got the three 2013 would-be stars in Alex Foster, Jabari Parker and Tommy Hamilton Jr. Wouldn't surprise me to see a scholarship offer extended to each over the next few months. And they will probably get an offer at about the same time, so as to not ruffle any feathers.

And recruiting is anything but boring.

Klee

Ted, Champaign, IL: Klee, How's Chester Frazier doing in his 1st summer of coaching?

Moderator: Ted- He seems to be doing just fine. “They’re keeping me busy,” is what Chester said the other day. At the moment he’s working on summer camps and working out with the returning players. Frazier was in attendance all day Sunday at the Illinois Shootout. He’s in the basketball offices every time I’m over there.

Here’s a weird sidenote: Chester Frazier’s high school coach from Baltimore, Herman Harried, is one of the assistant coaches on the USA Basketball roster that includes Chasson Randle.

"Coach Harried is the coach that gets guys really pumped up if they’re tired or down," Chasson’s father, Willie Randle, said yesterday from the USA Basketball trials in Colorado Springs. "I think Chasson’s really enjoyed working with him.”

Chasson's father said the family probably will trim his list to four or five schools after the July evaluation period, make a few more visits and go from there.

Klee

ken, champaign, il: Who will start for the illini this year.

Moderator: Ken- One man's guess: McCamey, Richardson, Legion/Paul, Davis and Tisdale. Klee

Alex, Mattoon, IL: Hi Klee,

The Class of 2011 seems to be loaded in IL especially. Who do you see the U of I targeting as the top choices to go along with Abrams and what is your opinion of the chances we sign each of them.

Moderator: Alex- There's some talent in 2011, though I think it's been overhyped. I’m in the minority, though. It’s a deeper class in the state, for sure, but I don’t see the drive in many of the top players that I’d like to see. I’ll take the top three players in 2010 (Richmond, Abrams, Leonard) over the top three players in 2011. That's a hell of a Gus Macker team too.

Klee

Quinton, Btown, The state that is ILL: Klee,

I haven't really looked into it but, how's the schedule looking next year? Are we playing some legit competition or are we loaded up with Oakland/Utah State Tech? I'd like to see us play some tougher games against NCAA tourney teams so we can have a better idea where we stand. Thanks

Moderator: Quinton- Schedule inclues Mizzou, Vandy, two of Oklahoma State/Bradley/Utah, Georgia, Clemson and Gonzaga. Throw in a handful of Assembly Hall cupcakes and you've got the nonconference portion. Last I was told, they still needed one game. Look for a release in August. That's been the rough timetable in the past.

Klee

fat man, chicago, il: Why is every one wanting more rebounds from Mike Davis even thou he leads the team and is shorter than Tisdale who can not out rebound the guards on the team?

Moderator: Fat Man- Don't know if that's the case. I'm part of everyone and I think Mike D is an exceptional rebounder. He'll be even more effective when he starts to block out people. Lou Henson commented on Mike Tisdale's rebounding in Klee's Corner last week. It's on HQ.

Klee

Travis, Salt Lake City, UT: Assuming a full recovery, where does Davis stack up in the Big Ten as far as big men? Are there any early talks of being an NBA draft pick?

Moderator: Travis- I think the upper tier of Big Ten big men starts with JaJuan Johnson and will include Delvon Roe, DeShawn Sims, Kevin Coble and Mike Davis. I expect Roe to make a huge, Mike Davis-like leap as a sophomore.

It might seem like a stretch, but with Mike D’s work ethic in the spring and how he was playing, I thought he could be a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate as a junior. We’ll see how long the ankle injury keeps him off the court. And he has a long way to go before he's an NBA draft pick.

Klee

Tiny, Danville, IL: Can the Illini basketball and football radio broadcasts be podcast, so I can listen to them at a later date when I am out of town?

In fact, I would love to be able to listen to some of last season's games during this rather boring time between seasons.

Moderator: Tiny- The university owns the rights to the game broadcasts, so we can't put them on an HQ podcats. We do post the podcasts of the post-game shows. Starting next year we'll podcast the pre-game shows leading up to the signature pre-game show. Hope that helps.

Klee

Bob, Champaign, IL: Klee, In regards to the recent news about Davis breaking his ankle, wouldn't you think that a player that plays that similar position

would start practicing harder to make a hard push to earn playing time? I hate that this has happened to Davis, but could be a

blessing in disguise forcing others to step up.

Moderator: Bob- If these guys need an injury for motivation they've got bigger issues. The work ethic at Ubben among most of the players has been very good in the spring. Remember, there's four months between now and the first day of practice in October, plenty of time for a full recovery for Mike D.

Klee

Moderator: Illinois Wolves coach Mike Mullins said this morning one of the reasons Chasson Randle was selected to the U16 USA Basketball roster is his versatility. These international outfits like guys that can play multiple positions.

"To play an international style of ball, you want guys to defend multiple positions too," Mullins said. "Because of his length, Chasson can do that, and he can run the offense from the point or play the other guard."

You can read an interview with Chasson Randle on the USA Basketball Web site.

Klee

L. Maran, Naples, FL: So what is Calvin Brock up to these days?

Moderator: L- Last time I saw Calvin he was in the basketball offices. That was probably a week ago, so it appears he's still on campus. He said his plan was to pursue basketball on same level, perhaps overseas.

Klee

Bill, Chicago, IL: Klee, I was watching Minnesota basketball's "The Journey" and was thinking to myself and out loud why Illinois hasn't done something

like that? At least the university could sponser it and make like a video diary of the upcoming season.

Moderator: Bill- It's possible. Haven't heard anything about such a project, though, and The Journey won't return to the Big Ten Network, at least in the form that you saw. Klee

Alex, Sullivan, Illinois: Klee,

What would happen if a college offers a scholarship to a player after their freshman season in High School and the player accepts. However, over the next three years, the player doesn't appear to improve. Can the school take the scholarship offer back up until the player signs, or how does that work?

Moderator: Alex- Several options, pulling an offer is one of them, but that doesn't look good and will be used against a program in recruiting. Other times a staff might place the player at a prep school and see where he stands after a year at prep school. That happens from time to time. That's one of the drawbacks of early scholarship offers - if a guy doesn't continue to improve - but early scholarship offers have been the biggest change in Illinois' recruiting approach.

Klee

Moderator: Going to wrap this up, thanks for the questions and I apologize to those that didn't get answered. Log on to Twitter to chime in with your preferred recruits in 2011 and 2012. We'll post your responses on Klee's Corner this week.

Klee