Incoming Denver basketball recruit DeAndre Craig was awarded Associated Press All-State Basketball 3A First Team honors in his home state of Illinois. Craig was also named to the 2023 Chicago Sun-Times All-Area Basketball Team – his second such award. He spearheaded the Mount Carmel Caravan, averaging 18 points, 6 assists, and 2 steals while leading his school to a 27-6 record heading into the Class 3A sectional final.
The signing will fill a true point guard spot next season. Craig is a 6’1″ and 170 lbs all-around player who can handle the ball, play the point, and score points as a shooting guard. He could back up current point guard senior Tommy Bruner next season and position him to quarterback the team the following season.
100% Committed! #GoPios ♥️🤍 pic.twitter.com/WEcsCTiMaH
— deandre craig 🤍 (@therealdcraig) August 5, 2022
2023 6’2 PG DeAndre Craig is one of the top guards in the country!! Holds Multiple D1 offers and is getting recruited by many! Colleges come watch him in @UANextBHoops @RiseCircuit Live Periods‼️‼️@therealdcraig @chilandprephoop @MHS_Boys_ @iamjrhymes pic.twitter.com/nSXZxzcI3s
— Midwest Renegade (@renegade_club) April 6, 2022
Craig’s school, Mount Carmel, competes in the Chicago Catholic League (CCL). Mt. Carmel is an athletic powerhouse, particularly in football, and has fielded NBA players in Lloyd Walton and Antoine Walker. Another graduate, Craig Robinson, is an ESPN Analyst and former head men’s basketball coach at Brown University and Oregon State University.
Dunker knows more. Craig Robinson starred at Princeton and is the brother of Michelle Obama
Congrats to the program and coaching staff. This young man will start at the point and allow Bruner to be moved to the #2 spot. Tommy can then concentrate on scoring and not be relied upon to make plays. This is a serious addition to the program. The only question will be how well can he guard out front. If he can square off penetration, we will be much better.
Looks like a great pick up for DU!
Excited to see him play at DU. It may take some time for him to adjust to D-I college basketball, as few freshmen are great right away, but first-team all-State players (especially those who played in well-populated states), usually turn out to be good D-I players. I love to see DU building the recruiting pipeline to Illinois, as Pios’ Tevin Smith, Justin Mullins and now Deandre Craig come from the Land of Lincoln.
Craig had scholarships offers from Illinois State and Radford (Va.) University – both programs with higher Ken-Pom rankings than DU.
Speaking of Ken-Pom rankings, DU can take a little comfort that the Pios are currently ranked higher at #295 than 4-28 Louisville is at #296, with both team’s seasons now finished. That’s a sentence I never thought I would write…
Swami- I had to do a double take on that Louisville ranking! WTF! They have a staff that has some pretty good resumes. What went wrong there? Probation? Loss of scholies?
I didn’t watch any of Louisville’s games this year. But this article explains it well…
https://slate.com/culture/2023/02/louisville-basketballs-horrible-losing-season-whos-to-blame.html