Fighting Illini Basketball Recruiting Update In a recent post, Illini Wonk brought you the news that the Illini were still in the lead in a recruiting battle over Eric Gordon of Indianapolis. At least, they were in the lead until Duke entered the picture. Gregg Doyel of CBS SportsLine.com reports in his latest Dribbles (sort of like a blog) that Gordon says the Blue Devils -- who weren't even on his radar, or vice versa, as of last month -- are among his top choices.

Doyel goes on to point out that whenever Illinois ends up in a recruiting battle with Duke, it usually doesn't work out well for the Orange & Blue. (However, for Doyel to say that Jon Scheyer committed to late-charging Duke is not exactly how it played out. Scheyer wanted to go to Duke since he was six years old and the Blue Devils were able to hold off a late charge from Illinois). Regardless of the past, it looks like another recruiting battle is erupting between Illinois and Duke. Stay tuned for updates.

In other recruiting news, Illinois Prep Bulls-eye has the Recruiting Buzz From Orlando on the Illinois high school recruits who played in the 17-Under National AAU Tournament. Here's what they had to say about the Fighting Illini recruiting in Florida:

While the University of Illinois is among the leaders for many of the top guard prospects in both the classes of 2006 and 2007, including 5'10 Sherron Collins from Crane Tech High School in Chicago, 6'3 junior Derrick Rose from Simeon High School in Chicago and 6'4 junior Eric Gordon from North Central High School in Indianapolis, IN, Illini assistant coach Jay Price was nevertheless taking an active interest in a couple of other guards in Orlando. Price spent a good deal of time watching both 6'3 Adrion Graves from Hughes High School in Cincinnati and 6'3 E'Twaun Moore from Central High School in East Chicago, IN. Both Graves and Moore looked good when we saw them in action. The current leaders for Graves are Xavier and Dayton.

ChicagoHoops.com updated their Top Illinois (HS) Class of 2006 Basketball Prospects and Fighting Illini recruit Brian Carwell is ranked fourth.

To see who the Illini are recruiting, be sure to check in on the listings for 2006 and 2007 at Illiniboard.com. Or, just keep coming back to Illini Wonk.  posted by Illiniwonk at 9:36 PM