Approximately 19 seconds ago, Mike Shaw announced that he has chosen the University of Illinois. This is big for three reasons:  1) It’s about time we won one of these drawn-out recruitments, 2) We’re now probably the 6th most talented team in college basketball for 2011/12, and we still have two open scholarships, and 3) We need bigs.

As to the second point, here’s some research I did the other night. Using the class rankings from Rivals.com, only 6 schools have brought in top-25 classes in 2009, 2010, and 2011. (I’m leaving 2008 out of this because many of the top players and top classes have already been hit with early entries.)

Kentucky (1, 1, and 1)
UNC (5, 4, and 2)
Texas (2, 8, and 5)
Duke (8, 10, and 9)
Illinois (14, 13, and 8*) *Certain to move up with Shaw.
Florida (15, 19, and 13)

Only 11 schools even had two top-25 classes over those 3 years. Of those, due to two top-end classes, I’d probably say that Ohio State (#3 in 2010, #11 in 2011) is ahead of us cumulative-talent-wise.  Syracuse is close.

Stringing classes together is the key. And we’ve done that. When you look at all of the college basketball rosters a year from today, we’re easily in the top-10 in talent and depth. I’d put us 6th, behind Kentucky, UNC, Duke, Texas, and Ohio State, just edging out Syracuse and Michigan State with Florida and Villanova rounding out the Top 10.

Let’s look at that another way.

The roster 2 years ago, with RSCI ranking for each player:

Calvin Brock (NR)
Bill Cole (NR)
Mike Davis (NR)
Chester Frazier (NR)
CJ Jackson (NR)
Jeff Jordan (NR)
Dominique Keller (NR)
Alex Legion (36)
Demetri McCamey (71)
Trent Meacham (NR)
Richard Semrau (NR)
Stan Simpson (NR)
Mike Tisdale (NR)

The roster next year, with RSCI ranking for each player:

Tracy Abrams (60)
Joe Bertrand (NR)
Nnanna Egwu (NR)
Tyler Griffey (NR)
Crandall Head (76)
Mycheal Henry (56)
Meyers Leonard (29)
Brandon Paul (49)
DJ Richardson (35)
Jereme Richmond (24)
Mike Shaw (50)

My utmost apologies for the 2008/09 bus tossing there – that team scratched and clawed their way to a solid season, where some more talented teams in the past didn’t make it – but DID YOU SEE THE TALENT ON NEXT YEAR’S TEAM? And the three guys that aren’t ranked (Bertrand, Griffey, and Egwu) were all very close to making the cut. Bertrand and Griffey were both in the second to last RSCI ranking before falling out of the final one. And I believe Egwu is in the top-100 on 4 of the 7 RSCI services, but doesn’t have enough cumulative points to make the list.

What does this mean? It means that on paper, this is one of, if not the, most talented teams in Illini history. Talent isn’t the only thing, mind you – you have to have experience and leadership and, most importantly, a solid rotation. Which brings us to the third reason we needed Mike Shaw.

Bigs. We need ‘em. Our roster before the Shaw verbal had seven players in the PG-2G-SF range and only three at PF-C. Abrams, Bertrand, Paul, Richardson, Head, Henry, and Richmond would fight it out for guard/wing minutes, and only Griffey, Egwu, and Leonard would rotate at PF-C. Yes, I think Richmond can play a little 4, and that will help, but having Shaw in the mix is a huge boost.

(As an aside… I love Tyler Griffey, and typing this out, I’m realizing what a huge, huge role he will play in 2011/12 and 2012/13. Huge. Like, 31 minutes per game huge.)

Mike Shaw gives us the flexibility to go a bit smaller/faster when we want to. As long as he’s strong enough to guard the four, we’ll have lots of flexibility at both ends. And in a few years, I could see him as a Roger Powell-ish glue guy that gets the tough rebound and blocks the big shot and puts back his own three pointer to start a rally in the second half of the national semifinal game at the Final Four.

And yes, especially if everyone sticks around after the 2011/12 season (a big if), the Final Four is the expectation for 2012/13. Why? Here’s why.

Every RSCI player recruited by Illinois since the inception of the consensus index in 1998.  2011/12 (and 2012/13) roster in bold:

19 Dee Brown
20 Brian Cook
21 Frank Williams
24 Jereme Richmond
28 Rich McBride
29 Meyers Leonard
35 DJ Richardson
36 Alex Legion
48 Deron Williams
49 Brandon Paul
49 Brian Carlwell
50 Mike Shaw
53 Brian Randle
56 Mycheal Henry
60 Tracy Abrams
62 Roger Powell
71 Demetri McCamey
76 Crandall Head
77 Shaun Pruitt
78 James Augustine
78 Nick Smith
86 Aaron Spears

14 years, 22 consensus top-100 players, eight on the same team.

Good choice, Mr. Shaw.