Iman Shumpert.....movin' on up

.....to a de-luxe apartment in the sky-high-high.

Hey, maybe Iman Shumpert is in line for a pad on one of the upper floors of Humphrey Hall. In the meantime, the senior from Oak Park/River Forest continues to gain recognition as one of the best players in the class of 2008.

This weekend, the Chicago Sun-Times ran a worthwhile feature on Illinois' two best high school seniors, Shumpert and Michael Dunigan, an Oregon commit from the Windy City. The article cites Bob Gibbons, the sometimes unreliable Van Coleman, as well as the consistent Roy and Harv Schmidt of Illinois Prep Bulls-Eye as experts who were initially surprised by Shumpert's breakout summer but now are comfortable in placing the 6-4 combo guard among the nation's best. For example,

''We never thought he was No. 15 in the country, but he warrants being considered in the top 50,'' Roy Schmidt said. ''Shumpert is a great team player, but he needs to play with more intensity on defense. He tends to coast from time to time.''

Coleman, too, was hesitant about touting Shumpert too early. But after seeing him on four occasions, Coleman said the youngster was a contender for a spot on McDonald's 25-member All-America squad.

In case you were unaware, we're in the middle of an open recruiting period for college hoops. Shumpert and others are likely to schedule in-home visits with Marquette and other suitors this week. We'll let you know about those as information emerges.

In the meantime, we do know that MU has interest in SF Mookie Jones -- but does not have an in-home visit schedule just yet. No word on in-home visits with Goulbourne, Woolridge, Ben-Eze, Swopshire, Taylor, Crittle or Sutton at this time.

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