Illinois recruit Meyers Leonard is enthusiastically pursuing 2011 prospect Bradley Beal. Meyers says he text messages weekly with the St. Louis-area star.

"I've been texting him and everything, trying to get him to come here," Leonard said. "And we've got big Tommy Hamilton here tonight. I'm going to work on him. And everybody, I'm trying to get them down here."

-Leonard's odds on Bradley Beal choosing Illinois: "He's an unbelievable player. We've got to have him. He had 53 in one game this year and won a gold medal. He's an absolutely incredible player. I've heard it's between us (Illinois) and Kansas. So that's a 50-50 shot. He talks to me all the time about coming here."

CHAMPAIGN - The start of Nnanna Egwu's basketball career can be traced back to a specific afternoon.
"June 6, 2007," Illinois Wolves coach Mike Mullins said.
That was when, Egwu said, he played organized basketball for the first time. An assistant coach at the school, Ken Gryzwa, suggested to Egwu that, at 6-foot-6 or so, the sport might be in his future.

Nnanna Egwu, a 6-foot-9 junior at Chicago St. Ignatius, has given a verbal commitment to Illinois, according to his coach

Bowman Academy went 19-4 last season and returns several Division I prospects, including 6-1 guard Tyrae Robinson, 6-4 forward Chris Bond and 6-5 forward DeJuan Marrero. The latter is an Illini recruiting target after averaging about 17 points and 13 rebounds as a freshman.

/tylergriffey (UI freshman Tyler Griffey): I'm only a frosh, but don't the end of season rankings mean much, much more?

/illiniballa24 (UI junior Mike Davis): I personally think we're in the 15-20 range right now. But we can improve to top 10 as we gain more team chemistry!

Klee's Corner - Recruit Tracy Abrams, forward Mike Davis, forward Tyler Griffey, guard Joseph Bertrand, walk-on hopeful Matt O'Neal, recruit DeJuan Marrero

Here's a new one for you: DEVIN LANGFORD, a 6-foot-5 guard out of Huntsville (Ala.) Lee High School. And the 2011 prospect is firmly on the Illinois radar.

UI coaches have tripped to Huntsville on three occasions during the fall contact period, including a trip Monday by head coach BRUCE WEBER.

Six months after a tough loss to Western Kentucky, at least three of the current Illini haven't watched tape of the NCAA tournament game. One of those is DEMETRI McCAMEY, who doesn't even like to think about the abbreviated trip to Portland. "Probably the worst game of my life," he said.