Answering the big recruiting questions

We are a little over a month away from the National Signing period. While some big questions have been answered, including where the state’s top prospect, Young’s DJ Steward, is headed, there are others we continue to wait on.

Here are few more answers and other recruiting questions to follow in coming weeks.

When will Adam Miller decide?

After taking three official visits to Arizona, Arizona State and Illinois, the Adam Miller sweepstakes rolls on.

Miller, the high-scoring combo guard from Morgan Park, visited Illinois last weekend. It’s now been a week since that visit and all recruiting eyes are on the state’s No. 2 ranked prospect in the senior class. He announced a list of six schools on Twitter last week, which also included Louisville, Kansas and Wake Forest.

“It’s a lot of pressure, and it’s going to be a very hard decision,” says Miller. “But I have to keep a straight mind. It’s going to be a year of being with a group of people I haven’t been with before, so I am looking to go with people I trust.”

At this time Miller says he plans to make a decision “sometime around Christmas or my birthday” which is in January.

“I would like to see how the teams play,” Miller said of watching early-season college games.

The consensus is that it’s down to Arizona State and Illinois. Miller, though, says he may set up another visit to one of the remaining schools but doesn’t have any scheduled yet.

But the bet here is it will come down to the Sun Devils and the Fighting Illini. With the pressure and intensity that comes with the recruiting process, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a decision come sooner than the middle of the high school season.

Where will all the Bloom boys land?

The Bloom open gyms have been full this fall. There are five legitimate Division I prospects at Bloom, led by a pair of City/Suburban Hoops Report top five prospects –– 6-9 Martice Mitchell and athletic guard Keshawn Williams.

Mitchell, the versatile 4-man with the high ceiling, recently took official visits to Xavier and Minnesota the past two weekends. He’s also visited Rutgers officially and may go back again in a few weeks. Both Miami-Florida and Virginia Tech have remained in contact. But this one seems closer

The recruitment of Williams continues to be evolving. Some of the schools that were in on him early are now out, while a new face, Utah State, has entered the picture. Williams has Utah State, Tulsa, SMU and Boise State active with his recruitment. Ole Miss has started to check in and Illinois has been keeping tabs on Williams as it waits out the Miller recruitment.

With all of Dante Maddox’s official visits in the books, the 6-2 guard is close to making a decision. Cal-Sate Fullerton made a big impression and is right there with Kent State, Toledo and Missouri State.

Who’s hot right now?

Big men are a commodity in college basketball recruiting –– every single year. Thus, the interest in St. Charles North’s Connor Linke has picked up this fall.

Worsom Robinson/For the Sun-Times

Linke is a big body with nice bounce off the floor who is already a presence and factor defensively. As he fills out physically and his offensive game moves forward, mid-major programs are envisioning the potential of a player they can mold and develop over time.

Linke took unofficial visits this fall to Valparaiso, Cal-Poly, UC-Davis and Army while Bradley and William & Mary picked up their interest and offered the 6-9 center last week.

Who is still the most overlooked uncommitted senior prospect?

We’ll go back to Bloom where Donovan Newby, the rock solid point guard without the flash but with plenty of substance, remains vastly overlooked.

Newby is among the City/Suburban Hoops Report’s top 25 prospects in the class, yet hasn’t bee recruited like one. He makes the right plays and reads at the position, runs a team, defends and has become a capable perimeter shooter.

Newby wrapped up an official visit to Wisconsin-Milwaukee this past weekend.

Who’s already committed?

The list of senior commitments includes the top prospect in the class as Steward is headed to Duke.

The other committed Division I prospects include: Morgan Park’s Marcus Watson (Wake Forest); Marian Catholic’s Ahron Ulis (Iowa); Geneseo’s Isaiah Rivera (Colorado State); Niles North’s Aquan Smart (East Tennessee State); Curie’s Ramean Hinton (SEMO); St. Viator’s Connor Kochera (William & Mary); Bolingbrook’s Darius Burford (Elon); Loyola’s Bennett Kwiecinski (Siena) and Jordan Kwiecinski (Drake); Naperville Central’s Chris Conway (Oakland); Romeoville’s Destin Whitaker (Fresno State); Cary-Grove’s Frank Jakubicek (Belmont); York’s Nate Shockey (North Dakota); Marian Catholic’s Elijah Jones (Western Illinois) and Homewood-Flossmoor’s R.J. Ogom (College of Charleston).