Jalen James chooses Illinois

"The relationship I had with Bruce Weber, the coaching staff and the players was something special," James said. "Seeing guys like Nnanna (Egwu), Tracy (Abrams), Mike Shaw, and Mycheal Henry come together is great and I think the class of 2013 should be something for Illinois. LeBron said he wanted to take his talents to South Beach but I want to keep my talents here at Illinois and play with the guys that I know."

"Mycheal Henry, Mike Shaw, Nnanna Egwu and Tracy Abrams; they were friends that didn't necessarily play on the same teams but came together to come to Illinois," James said. "I work out Jabari (Parker) and Tommy (Hamilton) and I'm going to try the best I can to recruit those guys."

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