ibruce1 Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Brad Sturdy OrangeandBlueNews.com Staff Talk about it in The Orange Crush' Em board Scott Suggs has long been a target for the University of Illinois basketball program, but afterhis performance last Sunday at the Illinois High School shootout served notice that the 71st ranked player in the Rivals 150 for 2008 is an impact player. Scott Suggs The wing prospect is no stranger to the Illinois campus, having tripped up to Champaign on a few occasions. He enjoys the opportunity to play against the talent on the other teams. "I've been up here a few times, so I pretty much know my way around a little bit," Suggs said. "I like to play against other good players, and of course it's good for our team to get ready for the season and work on some offense. Illinois is a great program and I have a very good relationship with the coaching staff." Whenever fans are able to attend these types of shootouts, it is common for them to look for a marquee matchup between two elite level players. The players also look forward to those challenges, but in the case of Suggs he didn't get the chance to plan for that until right before the games. "Actually, coach didn't even give us a schedule," Suggs said. "I didn't even know what times we played. Before the games he'll tell us about the other team, and once you get out there you want to go after them a little bit." One of the most exciting battles on the day may have been his one on one battle with 2009 guard prospect Joseph Bertrand of Sterling. Suggs came away impressed with him. "I thought he was pretty good," Suggs said. "He's got some nice moves and he can get to the basket pretty good. He's going to be a good player." Suggs used his 6-foot-7, 185-pound frame and long arms to be a factor on both ends against Bertrand, and Bertrand noted the length of Suggs had an effect on both ends. For Suggs it was just a matter of using what you have. "You always try and use what you have," Suggs said. "With your length you try and take as big a stride as you can and get to the basket, and you can use it to get into passing lanes on defense." Suggs had previously narrowed his list to seven schools, including Illinois, Missouri, Washington, Florida, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Clemson . Since that time he has added another school. "St. Louis might be on that list now so it is really eight schools," Suggs said. "We went down there a couple of weekends ago." Billiknes head coach Rick Majerus has a track record of turning programs around and Suggs has noticed. He feels he has to take a look at the local school. "He's turned a whole bunch of programs around and you expect him to turn this one around too," Suggs said. "It's something you have to look at." As he works on trimming his list, Suggs is also working on his game trying to better prepare himself for the next level. "I need to get stronger obviously," Suggs said. "I'm just gonna keep working on shooting and ball handling." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLU_Nick Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 wow, there is some actual news. That is awesome to actually hear him say our name rather than just everyone talking about him without any real confirmation from him. Come Here Scott! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Four Seventeen Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Who are the Billiknes? Is that us? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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