Chicago Herald-American

We do a lot of stories on high school athletes who are overlooked by college recruiters, but Marcus Jordan would be about the last person to fit in that category. He's the son of Michael Jordan, for cryin' out loud. So if he had high-major Division I ability, high-major Division I schools would be all over him. Right?

Maybe, maybe not. Tribune stringer Mike Helfgot reported in Wednesday's paper that only after an impressive -- but far from dominant -- performance in leading Whitney Young to the Class 4A state basketball title last weekend, Marcus Jordan is getting "strong interest" from Davidson, Oklahoma, Arizona State and Marquette. His only offer is from Toledo.

According to Brian Davis, the summer-league coach who is handling Marcus' recruitment, the younger Jordan is a victim of his father's celebrity.

"His is the son of the greatest player ever, but ... they just don't know how to recruit him," Davis told the Tribune. "They figure he's too good for the mid-majors, and they figure Michael is going to take care of it. He's stuck in limbo."

I'm not sure about that. I would think it would almost be the opposite effect: Jordan is the one kid any school would take a chance on, because the upside is tremendous. And who wouldn't want to have Michael Jordan wearing your school's sweatshirts and attending your games for four years? Yet recruiting interest in Marcus Jordan isn't any better than it was for Dwyane Wade coming out of Richards High School in 2000.

For a better perspective on the Jordan recruiting scenario, here's the take of scouts Harv and Roy Schmidt of the Illinois Prep Bulls-Eye:

We stated repeatedly and emphatically this past summer upon the conclusion of the July evaluation period that 6'2 class of 2009 guard Marcus Jordan from Whitney Young High School in Chicago was a high major recruit and very few people listened. After turning in spectacular performances in the state finals in Peoria this past weekend hopefully more people will be listening now and they will realize that we were right on the money with our assessment.

There is no question that Jordan was the driving force, the catalyst if you will in propelling Whitney Young to the class 4A state championship. He scored 22 points in his team's semifinal win over Thornton and 19 points in Whitney Young's 69-66 championship game victory over Waukegan. In our minds Jordan was clearly the MVP of the state finals and has proven that he deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence with most all of the top back court prospects in Illinois from the class of 2009.

Despite Jordan's outstanding state tournament performances, even now there are still far too many people who are doubting him. All we can say is that either they have a severe case of tunnelvision or they simply don't know how to evaluate. The bottom line is that no matter how you slice it, anyone who sells him short runs a tremendous risk of being labeled a fool.

All of Jordan's critics have said that he is an erratic shooter and lacks 3-point range. Well, Jordan hit four three-pointers over the course of state finals weekend, including going 3-3 from beyond the arc in the championship game. The naysayers have also said that Jordan lacks a true position on the floor. While that may be true, our response to that is "so what?"

Jordan has proven to us that he is a classic example of a player where position doesn't matter. This is because he is skilled enough in all of the fundamental areas of the game that you can put him anywhere on the floor and he isn't going to hurt you. He handles the ball extremely well in the open court and above everything else is team-oriented, which is why we think he could actually project as a point at the next level.

Jordan's greatest attribute is that he is strong and physical, and he undoubtedly uses this to his advantage at both the offensive and defensive ends. He can consistently overpower weaker defenders by either posting them up or driving past them en route to the basket. Defensively, hopefully everyone who watched the state championship game noticed the outstanding job that Jordan did helping to defend Waukegan's Jereme Richmond. Jordan bodied up Richmond for the majority of the contest and we believe that as a result was successful in frustrating Richmond.

Having said all of this, we have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Jordan can play at the high major level. That is why we are absolutely amazed that he has no high major offers on the table. His recruitment still remains very much a mystery, although Davidson and Toledo remain at the forefront. Another interesting question to ponder is whether or not Jordan would consider the possibility of walking on at the University of Illinois as his older brother Jeff did his freshman year. There is no question that the Illini coaching staff would welcome Marcus with open arms if he were to decide to go that route. However, don't expectthe Illini to offer Jordan ascholarshipfor next season, as theysimply have no room forhim on their scholarship grid, regardless of how certain things pan out.

At the present time, 6'2 guard Darius Smith remains the top unsigned prospect in Illinois from the class of 2009. However, we have said it before and we will say it again--Marcus Jordan is not far behind.

(Thanks to my friends Roy and Harv Schmidt for that excerpt. You can check out their excellent recruiting web site at ilprepbullseye.com)