Ha, *everybody* hits the Chicago area - that's the problem! Hitting it and actually pulling decent players out of there are two different things, unfortunately.
In the Fran era...
- Cully Payne was from Schaumburg
- Charlie Rose was from Elmhurst
- Isaiah Moss was from Chicago (Simeon, one of the elite, if not THE elite, public school talent factories)
- Nicolas Hobbs is from Chicago
- Ahron Ulis is from Chicago (we also went hard after his brother, but lost out to Kentucky)
Of those players, the only one with solid name recognition is Moss. Ulis definitely has the potential to make a name for himself.
Chicago is a national recruiting ground for sure - a tough nut to crack and, in the Big Ten, you've got to deal with a several decent programs that are in close geographic proximity to Chicago (Illinois, Wisconsin, and Purdue).