Ah, Signing Day.  When every recruit is perfect.  No academic issues, no turned ankles, no Weber doghouse because they skipped class.  You can simply put a number next to a guy’s name and expect him to live up to it.

And oh how I love those little numbers.  When you have a lot of them, a deep tournament run is likely.  No numbers, and you probably stay home.  No, the system isn’t perfect, but there’s a reason North Carolina won it all last year.  And Kansas the year before.  And Florida, and so on.  Little numbers, somewhere between 1 and 100, predicting the future.

The best numbers come from the RSCI.  They take all of the little numbers from the guys who give out the numbers, average them, and come up with even better numbers.  It has been incredibly accurate in predicting future success in college hoops.  It takes a Pat Kennedy or a Tommy Amaker to screw up low numbers.

The three guys who signed today? GREAT numbers.  Fantastic, low numbers.  Including the lowest number we’ve seen since the inception of the RSCI.  And, this was the first recruiting class this decade where every recruit had a number. (Last year came close, but the RSCI dropped HoopScoop from their list of experts before releasing their final Top-100, and Tyler Griffey fell off the list from #92 and Joe Bertrand fell off the list from #94).

You’ve probably read a dozen reports today on these recruits and their strengths, so I’ll just focus on the numbers.  In the 13 years that the RSCI has been published, Illinois has had 19 recruits listed. They are, as follows (with their ranking that year):

18 – Jereme Richmond
19 – Dee Brown
20 – Brian Cook
21 – Frank Williams
28 – Richard McBride
35 – DJ Richardson
36 – Meyers Leonard
36 – Alex Legion
48 – Deron Williams
49 – Brandon Paul
49 – Brian Carlwell
53 – Brian Randle
59 – Crandall Head
62 – Roger Powell
71 – Demetri McCamey
77 – Shawn Pruitt
78 – James Augustine
78 – Nick Smith
86 – Aaron Spears

And just for fun, let’s take a look at that list with next year’s team in bold:

18 – Jereme Richmond
19 – Dee Brown
20 – Brian Cook
21 – Frank Williams
28 – Richard McBride
35 – DJ Richardson
36 – Meyers Leonard
36 – Alex Legion
48 – Deron Williams
49 – Brandon Paul
49 – Brian Carlwell
53 – Brian Randle
59 – Crandall Head
62 – Roger Powell
71 – Demetri McCamey
77 – Shawn Pruitt
78 – James Augustine
78 – Nick Smith
86 – Aaron Spears

You know, that looks strikingly similar to…

18 – Jereme Richmond
19 – Dee Brown
20 – Brian Cook
21 – Frank Williams
28 – Richard McBride
35 – DJ Richardson
36 – Meyers Leonard
36 – Alex Legion
48 – Deron Williams
49 – Brandon Paul
49 – Brian Carlwell
53 – Brian Randle
59 – Crandall Head
62 – Roger Powell
71 – Demetri McCamey
77 – Shawn Pruitt
78 – James Augustine
78 – Nick Smith
86 – Aaron Spears

Just sayin’.