If you don't know, not only is Chicago loaded with basketball talent, but the suburbs have equally impressive talent. The northern suburbs which are 1.5-3 hours away from Madison should be a hotbed for Wisconsin scouts. The Illinois colleges' basketball programs are not too good except for the University of Illinois.

Illinois is locking up prospects like Brandon Paul (best senior in IL) and Jereme Richmond (2nd best junior in the nation from Waukegan) in their sophomore or junior years. These players are not going to Illinois so much so because they live in Illinois. It is that Illinois offers them scholarships at a young age which would hard to turn down for 15/16 year olds. I don't think I'm in the minority when saying that I would rather be coached by Bo Ryan than Bruce Weber. More so Wisconsin's basketball program has been more successful recently. Other northern suburbs of Chicago players are going to other Big Ten schools. Matt Vogrich (all-state guard) is going to Michigan. Everybody know Evan Turner who is from Chicagoland (not the north suburbs) and is at Ohio State.

Illinois is one of the top 5 states in high school basketball and most of the talent is located in northern Illinois.  With UW-Madison's proximity to the area, we should have our fair share of players from that area.  Looking at this year's roster we had nobody from Illinois.