High Majors Missing on Mullins

Point guard Bryan Mullins led the Illinois Wolves to an impressive 22-1 record in the month of July, with the only loss being a 2 point defeat to the vaunted Georgia Stars. Mullins, 6-foot, 180-pounds from Downers Grove South (Ill.) High School might very well end up at a top mid-major school, which is exactly why those schools make noise in the month of March.

“I will try to narrow down to five schools or something like that in the coming weeks,” said Mullins, the No. 136 ranked player in the class of 2005. “I really don’t want to put out a list of names right now.”

Mullins did say that he has official visits scheduled for Southern Illinois on September 18 and UMass on September 23. He also has in-home visits scheduled with Wyoming, UMass, and Davidson.

What is missing from Mullins’ recruitment right now are high majors. Mullins does not seem concerned, and it looks like some power conference schools are missing on a player that could adeptly run their team.

“It doesn’t bother me that high majors are not recruiting me right now,” said Mullins. “The way I look at it, the lower level high major teams are no better than the better mid-major teams. Schools like Southern Illinois always do well every March against schools from power conferences.”

Strong, quick, and competitive, Mullins is a defensive stopper on either guard position and is a very good ball handler and passer who knows how to run the team.

“I am looking for a school that best suits me,” he said. “I want to play my first year and get some time. I want to go somewhere where they will give me the ball and let me run the team. Academics are important, and I want to go somewhere where I can live ten months out of the year and enjoy myself.”

The one area of his game that needs work is his shooting. Mullins, however, scored when he needed to over the summer and makes up for any shooting deficiency with his heady, skilled, and hard nosed approach to the game.

“I do want to improve my shot,” he said. “I am working on shooting and on my pull up shot.”

While it is nice to have "five tool" players on a team, it is even more important to have "winners" on a team.