There hasn't been a lot of activity on the Illinois basketball recruiting scene with the team in Italy on a 10 day tour, but a couple of events have occurred back in the states that bring about questions regarding the recruiting process and the system that has created this monster that is basketball recruiting.

Obviously, the Jereme Richmond arrest and subsequent release on bond shows that he hasn't learned his lesson. Then you throw in a DePaul offer for Jordan Ash, a 2015 prospect that has yet to enroll in high school, and you see a couple of issues. Are they related?

By Brad Sturdy

From the time he committed to Illinois as a freshman, Jereme Richmond has had his issues. He's been criticized for his on court demeanor, a lack of effort, and his off court actions. Yet, excuses have been made for him all the way through. He's just a kid. He's a target. Everyone that made excuses for him were enablers, whether it was his parents, his uncle, his high school and AAU coaches, writers, or the Illinois coaching staff. There is plenty of blame to spread around.

Don't get me wrong, Richmond is responsible for his own behavior. He is the one that made the bad choices. He is the one that made the poor decisions. He did that all on his own, and he probably didn't need any help. The question is, could he have been helped? His high school coach tried, suspending him and kicking him off the team during his sophomore season, yet he probably got more backlash than Richmond did. Sure enough, the next two seasons he was back playing for the Bulldogs and leading them to high finishes in the state tournament. Everyone was happy. Waukegan was winning, and winning big, and the great Illini recruit was showing his talents. It was onto college for Richmond.

Bruce Weber suspended him when he went AWOL in January, and people complained about him not starting or not playing. But there he was a few games later out on the floor again, because the fact of the matter was, Jereme Richmond was good at basketball. Sure he had flaws, like a non-existent jump shot, but he was a dynamic player and Weber needed him to win. Fans wanted him to play, didn't matter what he had done, he could help them win. Finally, Weber had enough as the Illini entered the NCAA tourney, and Richmond didn't play. He was on the sideline cheering on his teammates. When he announced for the NBA, he had moved on and so had Illinois. Remember, this is a coach in Bruce Weber that loves to give out second chances. Jamar Smith still credits Weber for helping to save his life and turn him around. Same with Luther Head. How many chances do you think Richmond actually got, behind the scenes? At the NBA draft, the reality of life came crashing down on Jereme Richmond.

Richmond went undrafted, despite the fact that some NBA scouts loved his talent and potential. They just didn't trust his maturity. They didn't think he was reliable, as he missed workouts. Those questions caused him to go undrafted. An NBA lockout left him without a summer league to show off his talents. Instead, he was loose at 19 years old with nowhere to go and no education. Regardless of his own failings and his own issues, which are many, the system failed Jereme Richmond. And it started back when he was in the 8th grade.

Jereme Richmond committed to Illinois as a freshman, but he had been scouted and followed since he was in the 8th grade. Last week, DePaul offered 2015 PG prospect Jordan Ash and it won't be long before Illinois offers him. The Illini appear to be waiting until he enters high school. That doesn't mean that Ash is going to end up like Richmond or that getting an offer that early screws a kid up. Jabari Parker was offered early by the Illini, and he seems to have his head on straight and appears to be doing quite well. He does have a great support system though, something not every player has in place.

So, what if Jordan Ash commits to DePaul or Illinois now? Is that a good thing? Is it better that he wait and take away some of the recruiting pressure or commit early and have a different type of pressure. Hard to say, but the fact that we are thinking about 15 year olds making huge and important decisions is part of the problem. Ash will have a tremendous support system in place led by Illinois Wolves CEO Mike Mullins. Not every kid has that.

Coaches now throw out offers like they throw out expletives at practice. They don't mean a lot to the coach, but they probably mean something to the kid when he hears it. I know of one situation where a prospect and his family begged Illinois for an offer for upwards of 6 months, intimating they would most assuredly commit. Illinois waited to make sure, then the kid accepted the offer, said thanks, and committed elsewhere. That's the nature of the beast, but why is it that a kid needs an offer so early? Why are coaches watching 13U and 14U games in the July period? Why are they attending Junior High games and practices?

They do it because they have to. It's about getting players and winning games. John Calipari is a saint in Kentucky, until he vacates another Final Four. No one really cares how they get players, just that they do. Some schools have to do it differently.

Illinois and Purdue were two schools that watched Larry Austin as a middle schooler at Grant in Springfield. I remember sitting near Paul Lusk at a game, and with another reporter, John Supinie, while we watched the action. Illinois was the only school three years ago watching the 'Dream Team' with Parker, Thomas Hamilton, and Alex Foster at a 9PM game on a Saturday night in July in Deerfield. The game started 45 minutes late, and they actually lost. Didn't matter, an impression was made. To get those elite players, schools like Illinois and Purdue may have to fend off the Duke's and the Carolina's of the world, schools that can come in late. They have to build that rapport early on.

But it isn't just basketball. As many of you may know, I'm also a softball coach. Recently I had a coach tell one of my players that she needs to formulate a list of schools and decide on a career path now. She just finished her freshman year and turned 15 years old. Maybe she should if she wants to go to a certain school, but if that is the case, it's a flawed system.

Recruiting is a crazy business, and it starts too early. Kids are asked to grow up too fast. That isn't to absolve Jereme Richmond, Lenny Cooke, Ronnie Fields or anyone else that didn't make it of their own personal responsibility. Many other kids are able to overcome worse conditions than Jereme Richmond would ever dream of. Myke Henry lost a brother, yet he is one of the most affable kids you will ever meet. Ever heard the Meyers Leonard story? Richmond is likely facing jail time. You make choices in life and have to deal with the consequences. Some will overcome it all, but some need help and support. Some need a lot more than others. It's clear the NCAA is happy as they cash checks and see ratings and TV packages grow.

While that happens, Jereme Richmond is out on bond, awaiting the next chapter of his life. Maybe we could have avoided this back in 8th grade, with a little more guidance and a little less enabling. As I say that, I'm on the lookout for the next great 8th grade basketball player, along with college coaches from around the country. It's a system that needs some fixing, but everyone does what they have to do.

By Doug Bucshon

I would like to debunk the myth that anyone or any system is to blame for Jereme Richmond's downfall, other than Jereme Richmond himself.

The conventional wisdom goes something like this….a culture surrounds the sport of basketball that coddles players from a very young age and serves as a catalyst to transform them each into arrogant young men with gargantuan egos and an inflated sense of entitlement. Bull-spit.

That's not to say the cultural surrounding youth basketball, particularly the AAU circuit, isn't flawed. To some extent, it's a system in which young people can be exposed to some dubious characters who have ulterior motives and hidden agendas, not the least of which is making money for themselves. But it's also a heck of a lot of fun, and a positive experience for those who do it the right way.

But the AAU scene, and really the entire basketball culture to include college basketball recruiting, is not a system that turns saints into sinners. No system can do that without willing participants. Like in all sectors of American society, it is the decisions that individuals make, and the underlying character of those individuals, that determines the path each person will travel.

College coaches, who have an incredible amount of pressure on them to recruit top talent, are perhaps the best example. Some programs have been caught cheating and were penalized by the NCAA. But the system is impossible to police thoroughly; there are just too many schools, too many coaches, and too many recruits. Coaches have the freedom to operate in the grey area, if that's what they chose to do, with more rewards than punishments. So coaches face a moral decision…how far outside the system am I willing to go to win basketball games, and subsequently make a lot of money?

Since Richmond's ill-advised entry into the NBA draft and subsequent arrest, a cast of characters that populated his life have been blamed in the media; his parents (which probably has the most merit), the Illinois coaching staff (inexplicably), his AAU coaches, his circle of friends. But like those college coaches facing the decision to follow the rules or manipulate the system, Jereme Richmond had the freedom to make decisions for himself.

He chose poorly, most of the time. The system doesn't create problem children. Some snakes are drawn to it because they can prosper without having to work real hard at it. For every Richmond, however, there are dozens of high school basketball superstars who follow a different path, one that leads to a positive outcome. Perhaps they had better support systems than Richmond; I'm not discounting that as a factor entirely. But the system didn't create Jereme Richmond. It exposed him.

And now it is up to Richmond, not the others who some in the media blamed, to look in the mirror and understand the situation that he created for himself. And then… pick himself up and get it together, start doing things the right way, before it's too late. Let's hope he can do it. He is still a very young man, with most of his life ahead of him. I'm rooting for him.