conns7901 wrote:
Plays for a high level team and a connected coach. No one is interested. Reminds me a bit of Max Strus. No one would offer him. The state directional schools didn't think he was athletic enough despite the fact he almost beat Simeon by himself in the state playoffs. After a season at Lewis, those same coaches were trying to get him to transfer.
Why won't any college offer Morgan Park's Cam Burrell?
Michael O'Brien
PEORIA—The dismal state of college basketball in Illinois over the past decade is well-documented.
On Friday at Carver Arena, one example of why Illinois colleges are struggling to make the NCAA Tournament was streaking up and down the court blocking shots, dunking and rebounding. Morgan Park’s Cam Burrell has been one of the state’s best players this season, but no local college seems to care.
The 6-6 senior averaged 18 points and 13 rebounds. Those aren’t hollow numbers. The Mustangs play in the Red-South/Central, one of the best high school conferences in the nation. Morgan Park traveled all over the country this season, playing teams from six different states.
Burrell was a dominant force in all of those games. He was the talk of Peoria on Friday afternoon after scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in Morgan Park’s Class 3A state semifinal win against Marian Catholic, a team with plenty of size.
One Peoria-based reporter asked me if it was possible that Burrell really shot 91 percent from the field this season. Morgan Park has a reputation for fudging a bit on their stats. I told him I wasn’t sure about 91 percent, but I’d probably buy 70 or 80.
Then Burrell went out and shot 10-for-11 from the field in the Mustangs’ biggest game of the season.
Fans all over the state were watching the game and asking about Burrell on Twitter, everyone assumed he had already signed with a major Division I college or had a lengthy list of scholarship offers.
After the game, Burrell laid out his situation: “My only offer is from Chicago State but their coaches got fired so I don’t know about that.”
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Burrell says there are some coaches texting him and showing a little interest.
“There have been some texing,” Burrell said. “Louisiana-Monroe, Bradley, Eastern Illinois, Quinnipiac, East Tennessee State, St. Bonaventure. That’s it.”
Burrell’s situation is eerily similar to where Lucas Williamson was last season. Williamson was Young’s best player. He led them to the Class 4A state title and was one of the city’s best players for all four years of his high school career. He had a couple of very low-DI offers and nothing else when the state tournament ended.
This season, as a freshman, he’s been a key player for a Loyola squad that is in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“I’ve watched [Williamson] on TV yesterday and I was thinking about that,” Burrell said. “It was pretty interesting seeing how he played in that game.”
So why hasn’t any college other than Chicago State offered Burrell a scholarship? Most likely he didn’t impress over the summer. College coaches value club basketball quite a bit more than high school these days.
But because he’s a city kid, Burrell has to deal with everyone wondering if he has lousy grades or a bad attitude. That’s simply not true.
“I’m a qualifier,” Burrell said. “I don’t know why they aren’t offering. I’m just trying to stay focused and win a state championship. After the season I’ll try and figure that out.”
It has more to do with the fact that he really didn't play at Morgan Park until this season. He was an 8th or 9th man last season.
It still doesn't relate to my original point which is that none of the transfers were offerred while playing at Catholic Schools.
Xavier Pinson is going to Missouri because of Simeon. Not Catholic Schools or AAU.
Chase Adams was offerred by UIC because of Orr High School. Not AAU or MC.
Cam Burrell was not on anyone's radar because he didn't play much until this year. His Brother and another kid were the starting bigs for Morgan Park last year.
That doesn't even begin to address D2 and D3 schools. Most of them are offerring kids based on seeing them play high school ball.
The kid also may have had unrealistic expectations. One of the things that is impacting kids and their recruitment are the expectations that they and their parents have. Every kid thinks that they are Kentucky or Duke bound. They may be a Milliken Univ talent but they will only listen to offers from Div 1 schools.
Their level is D2 or D3 yet they can't accept it. They blow off coaches from those programs because they think they are D1 players. When D1s don't check for them they end up without a school.
You don't attend schools like Morgan Park and end up without a college to attend. There is no way that is going to happen.
He will play college basketball somewhere next year.
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The Hawk wrote:
This is going to reach a head pretty soon.