Date: October 10, 2008 at 11:00

The Illinois Elite, 2008 Illinois State AAU and USSSA Champions put on a show much of the week in the USSSA National Championships and continued to impress with a convincing win over the Knights 84-68 in the championship game. Bigger and much deeper than the Knights, the athletic Elite from Champaign, ILL. dazzled crowds with two players ranked in the top 150 of the class of 2009. The Knights battled throughout but could not overcome a 19-4 run midway through the third quarter that did them in. The Knights had just finished a physically draining semi-final victory against the VBC Hawks that took it's toll on the Knights as it went down to the wire. That semi-final game ended less than an hour before the Knights had to take the floor against a more rested Illinois team that featured five players receiving interest from mid-major Division I programs as shown below in this article from the team's web site. Tim Burns used three Kevin Lewis passes to put on a slamfest as he scored 17 but saw his final game as a Knights player end in dissapointment, very much unlike most of his games during his Knights career. Burns, along with Tracy Elliot depart as Knights players with a 17-4 record in USSSA National Championship play with All Tournament and MVP accolades in tow. They led the Knights to a #3 national finish in 2006 when the Knights were ranked #1 nationally for part of the season. In 2007 the talented duo led the Knights to the Silver Division National Title and topped it off with a Gold Division Runner-up and #2 national ranking in 2008.
Scoring: T. Burns 17, Lewis 12, Holmes 10, Daniels 8, Elliott 6, Cooper 6, Coles 4, Trower 2, Gary 2.
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Find out more information on the Illinois Elite web page on LeagueLineup.com. The information below was taken from their web site.

SCHOLARSHIP INTERESTS AND OFFERS
2008-2009 ILLINOIS ELITE U17 PLAYERS:

MIKEL BRIGHAM: INTEREST -- IOWA STATE, MURRAY STATE, NORTH DAKOTA, LOYOLA, MICHIGAN STATE

DEMARCO BURDEN: INTEREST --TENNESEE, ARKANSAS STATE, BLACKHAWK EAST AND WEST, LORAS, IOWA, ILLINOIS TECH, ST. JOHN UNIVERSITY

BRYSON DAVIS-JOHNSON: INTEREST -- BALL STATE, COLGATE UNIVERSITY @NY, WESTPOINT@NY, KNOX COLLEGE, ARKANSAS STATE, UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS

JORDAN JOHNSON: INTEREST -- KNOX COLLEGE

JAMES KINNEY, JR. OFFERS -- GEORGE MASON, NORTH DAKOTA STATE, EVANSVILLE UNIVERSITY, MURRAY STATE, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY @ EDWARDSVILLE, COLORADO STATE, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE, IUPUI, PENN STATE, NORTHEASTERN, WRIGHT STATE, OHIO UNIVERSITY, DETROIT UNIVERSITY, EASTERN ILLINOIS

INTERESTS -- ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY, WESTERN MICHIGAN,IOWA, IOWA STATE, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY, ARMY, ILLINOIS, ARKANSAS STATE.