WINNETKA – From inside Patrick McHugh's courtside office, the chirping sneakers and busy bleachers are muffled by a pane of glass. Through the window, it seems you can see the noise before you hear it. And it is hoppin' in the old crackerbox gym at North Shore Country Day school. Hoppin' like it rarely has on a frigid Friday night in early December

McHugh, the school's athletic director, keeps tabs on the student section from his office. In the front row, JV teammates from visiting Morgan Park Academy tap-tap-tap text messages on their Motorola Sidekicks, the first sign you're in a privileged crowd. Mere miles from the Chicago Public League, a tax bracket away in the Independent School League.

Four years of high school tuition at North Shore, with its 178 high school students, wooded 16-acre campus and 9:1 student-teacher ratio, runs just under $78,000. A can of Coke at the makeshift concession stand runs 50 cents. Sorry, a school mom behind the folding table tells an elderly customer, we only have buttered popcorn.

"We usually don't even have a concession stand," she says with a laugh.

"We were expecting a bigger crowd than usual," McHugh says. "We thought we'd better set one up."

You know why. For you know who. The kid. The freshman. Jereme Richmond.

"We've talked to people at Glenbrook (North) about when Jon Scheyer was a freshman and how they dealt with the crowds," McHugh says. North Shore doesn't charge admission for games. School officials have discussed the possibility.

McHugh glances toward his office phone. It's how, through a message left by The News-Gazette, he learned Thanksgiving eve that Richmond had given an oral commitment to attend the University of Illinois. For the Illini, now it's the waiting game. Under NCAA rules, coach Bruce Weber must wait until after Richmond's sophomore year before initiating contact, and until November 2009, when current freshmen can sign a national letter of intent, to comment on the first ninth-grader to commit to Illinois.

The night before, McHugh returned from Bloomington to find 20 messages. Each one posed a question about tonight, North Shore's first home game, the first time most curious fans planned to see the freshman. Interest – How good is he? – and doubt – But look at the competition he's playing against – stretches from Indiana to Iowa.

"I got a call from a guy from Pearl City, Illinois. He asked for a schedule and I said, 'Well, you can go to our Web site,' " McHugh says. "He said, 'We don't have Web sites down here.' "

The game had six minutes left in the fourth quarter when McHugh heard a roar from the gym. Through the window he saw the 6-foot-6 freshman and his size 18 Nikes swinging from the rim after a dunk.

North Shore wins 68-63. The kid has 31 points, 13 rebounds and a technical foul for slapping the backboard, halfway up the white square. Ten days later he scores 47 of his team's 49 points. Little Billy Gendell scores the other two. Coach Dan Powers pulls Jereme from the game in the fourth quarter, afraid for his safety, he says, after the opposing team resorts to rough play.

"He got his legs taken out from under him on a dunk," Powers says. "Just kids trying to make a name for themselves."

Jereme turns 15 in March.

"You don't want to say LeBron James, but you don't know," Powers says. "He's got the same type of body as LeBron. I think he's actually bigger than LeBron was as a freshman. I watched KG (Kevin Garnett) and Ronnie Fields when they were playing together. He's definitely got that kind of ability. A kid his age shouldn't be doing what he's doing."

* * *

When Eddie Fogler was the coach at South Carolina, an assistant called to say, "You've got to come see this kid. He's a freshman. He's going to be great."

"I said, 'I'm not even sure I'll be alive when that kid's a senior,' " Fogler says. " 'I'm not coming to watch some freshman. Forget it.' "

That was about 10 years ago.

"Maybe 10 years from today it's going to be freshmen committing regularly, or sophomores," says Fogler, who resigned at South Carolina in 2001. "I don't know. I'm glad I'm not doing it anymore."

"Spent a lot of time on Chris Webber and Shane Battier (as junior high and early high school athletes)," says Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. "Unfortunately we didn't get them."

"There are four freshmen committed across the country," says Scout.com recruiting analyst Dave Telep, who ranks the nation's top 100 seniors, top 50 juniors and top 10 sophomores. Not freshmen, yet. "It is a very high number for this time of year."

The phenomenon is nothing new, really. And it spans the country. This year, freshmen have committed from small-town Iowa (Jordan Dykstra, a 6-7 forward to Iowa State) and big-city Los Angeles (Dwayne Polee Jr., a 6-5 guard to Southern California). Neither had been born when Damon Bailey was famously recruited by Bob Knight as an eighth-grader.

Richmond is scheduled to suit up for Illinois in 2010-11. He could play with current UI freshman Rich Semrau, who would be a fifth-year senior if he pursues a medical redshirt after undergoing chest surgery earlier this month. The rest of the current roster probably will be gone by then.

The most highly recruited current Illini was Rich McBride. A prep phenom – dubbed "King Rich" at Springfield's Lanphier High – McBride opened recruiting letters as a ninth-grader.

"Miami, Tennessee. Mostly Southern schools," McBride says. "I didn't even know what college basketball was at that point."

"I started recruiting a kid in New Jersey when he was an eighth-grader," says Rutgers coach Fred Hill, referring to his time as a Villanova assistant. "The kid's name was Randy Foye."

Foye eventually signed with Villanova, turned into the Big East Player of the Year and in June became the seventh overall pick in the NBA draft.

"I don't think everyone's going to go out and sign every eighth-grader," Hill says. "But I think there are certain situations where it makes a lot of sense. If that young man wants to make a commitment and you have confidence as a coaching staff, why not?"

Richmond is a classic example of a prospect committing to his favorite school early in the recruiting process. His father, Bill Richmond, a sales trainer at a Downers Grove autopark, recalls the time 8-year-old Jereme was rooting for the Illini during an NCAA tournament game. "It was pretty difficult for me to understand how a kid that young would pick a team," Dad says.

Illinois assistant coach Tracy Webster saw Richmond play as a seventh-grader. "I met Tracy probably two years ago," says Jereme's mom, Kim Richmond. A few months after Jereme became a teenager and five years before he can enroll at Illinois, the recruiting process was under way.

"It meant a great deal Illinois was knowledgeable about Jereme at that time," Bill Richmond says.

The timing of the commitment raised eyebrows. It came one month after Illinois got burned by the devastating turnabout of Indianapolis prep star Eric Gordon, who signed with Indiana after being committed to Illinois for a year. Was this a makeup scholarship offer from Weber, whose recruiting abilities are constantly in question? A change in philosophy for a coach perceived as more old school than prep school?

Neither. To Weber, the idea of an early chase encompasses what might be his greatest joy in recruiting. And there aren't many for a coach whose golden-rule ethics are said to be a sore thumb and a hindrance in the scummiest aspect of the profession.

"Weber does it the right way," says Bob Gibbons, recruiting analyst with the Bob Gibbons All Star Report.

"To me, it's kind of the old-time recruiting. When we had some success at Purdue, over the course of time we started getting in on kids early," says Weber, an assistant there from 1981 to '98. "Early (commitments) back then was maybe junior year. Guys like Luke Recker, he committed as a sophomore, I think. Damon Bailey, those guys. That was pretty different."

Weber began recruiting Glenn Robinson to Purdue when Robinson was in the eighth grade. Like Richmond with Illinois, Robinson attended a summer team camp at his future university. Like Hill with Foye, the one-time child prodigy turned into an NBA lottery pick.

"When Glenn became a national player, we already got him wrapped up. We didn't have to go through some of the other stuff. When other schools came calling, we already had him," Weber says. "That's the thing about it, the stuff you don't hear about. If you compared all the coaches in the country, I'd be in the top 20 of all the coaches getting out and getting in on kids. I know I'm out more than a lot of guys."

Weber pauses.

"But you've got to get results," he says. "If you don't get results then you're not having success."

The flip side is when an eighth- or ninth-grade prospect doesn't pan out. The freshman Fogler declined to watch?

"He turned into not being good enough to play at our level," Fogler says. "And you know what, his best friend, who was not being recruited at all, was Raymond Felton. True story. Now if it was Raymond Felton that I didn't go down to see, I would have felt bad for not going to see him play."

* * *

By securing a commitment from a 14-year-old after he's played one varsity game, Illinois hopes to sidestep the grimy side of the recruiting process.

"I'm still getting letters (from other schools)," says Westchester St. Joseph point guard Demetri McCamey, a highly touted senior who signed with the Illini in November. "I just throw them away."

"I was no saint, and I never claimed to be," Fogler says. "But the whole committing and decommitting and recruiting another guy's players is (expletive)."

The saga involving Gordon, Illinois and Indiana pushed into focus a disturbing trend of players choosing one school before his commitment. "A little over 10 percent" of the top 100 high school seniors last year decommitted from their initial school of choice, Telep says. "Only two of them recommitted to their first choice. That's too close to the football number for a basketball guy's liking."

"You very, very seldom see a school or a coach back out of a commitment. But you're getting to see a lot more players back out of them," Izzo says. "It's like losing a kid you've already got. Sometimes it even hurts worse because you work on a kid and you recruit for the position you need. ... It's a vicious cycle."

Various developments, such as a coaching move, also can induce a change of heart. Decatur Eisenhower junior Jeremy Robinson, a transfer from Oxford, Miss., committed to Mississippi after his freshman season. Robinson decommitted last March when Ole Miss coach Rod Barnes was fired.

"After (Barnes) left, he wanted to look elsewhere," Decatur Eisenhower coach Jeremy Moore says.

"It (growing number of decommitments) is a very, very serious problem," Telep says. "Guys are rushing to the altar to get married and they haven't gotten a good look at their wife."

All of which, given the Gordon heartbreak, is bound to concern the Illinois contingent in regards to Richmond. All indications suggest a potential decommitment is a non-issue. The family was certain enough about choosing Illinois, it initially wanted to commit in August. The Richmonds emphasized Jereme will honor the commitment.

"The University of Illinois was there before Bruce Weber got there, and it will be there long after Bruce Weber is gone," Bill Richmond says. "We're going to stick to what we decided."

"I just hope the other schools will respect his verbal and not keep bugging him. I'm sure there are going to be people trying to talk to him. I'm sure. That's going to happen," Powers says. "It's just crazy. You know it's happening and it's a shame. People are cheating and paying people. You wish it doesn't happen. You wish people would just keep it real and keep it honest. But you know it's going on."

* * *

The North Shore varsity runs through a layup line. Under the basket is a boy in plain clothes who is clearly the team's second-best athlete, despite standing still. That's Eric Dortch, a 6-2 sophomore guard and potential Division I prospect. Jereme's second cousin and closest friend can't play this season after transferring from public Evanston Township to private North Shore. (North Shore appealed the ruling Dec. 7 but was denied).

"Family is very important to us," Bill Richmond says. Jereme and Eric "don't remember not knowing each other," Kim says, and the two wore a path in the grass between their neighboring homes as children.

Thanksgiving dinner included more than 50 relatives. Bill is one of six siblings, as is Kim. You know quickly why his father thinks the 6-6 Jereme, whose usual position is point guard, "could be 6-9 or so." Brothers Bill (6-5) and Justin (6-6) make for intense pickup games on the hoop out back.

Gatherings often center around basketball. That's especially true when Xavier Crawford, Bill Richmond Sr.'s brother and a former teammate of Craig Hodges, joins in the fray. "Jereme has gotten busted up pretty bad with the older guys," Kim says.

Truth is, the competition between family is better than what Jereme sees in the Independent School League. After eight games, Powers estimates Richmond is averaging about 36 points and 20 rebounds.

"We've never been strong (in basketball). They're smart kids here. It's like coaching at Northwestern," Powers says. "(Bill) Carmody coaches a lot of bright kids. And it's hard to win at Northwestern."

Waukegan High School was the first option for Jereme. Justin, his brother, is a senior on the varsity basketball team, and Jereme would not have a 38-minute train ride to school several days a week. The Richmonds wanted Jereme to play for Brian Colbert at Waukegan. But Colbert is no longer the coach there. Asked if Jereme plans to attend North Shore all four years, his mom says, "I'm sure he will."

"There's no reason for him not to," Kim Richmond says. "He likes it there. We like it there. At this point I don't think there will be any reason (to change schools)."

Jereme Richmond's arrival is a boon for this tiny school, which educated Horace Grant Jr. in junior high, requires a passed entrance exam prior to enrollment, has students from 23 communities in a 30-mile radius and has zero basketball history to speak of (three players have earned Division I basketball scholarships in North Shore's 88-year history). It has never seen anything like the varsity team's lone freshman, who dunked as a seventh-grader and is watching his rep grow quicker than his facial hair.

Already, the taunting has started to rain down from opposing crowds. And Jereme doesn't handle it well. Against Morgan Park Academy, Jereme blows a mock kiss toward an opponent who mutters something about his mom. Wait until he steps out of the rosy Independent School League after more stories like this one circulate. It will get worse.

"He was visiting Wisconsin (during the fall)," Powers says. "Wisconsin has a sign over the men's room (at the Kohl Center). One of the guys said, 'None of our players have ever been able to get that, including Alando Tucker.' Jereme went up and got it easily. It was almost 12 feet. He just went up, grabbed it."

An hour has passed since Jereme swished a buzzer-beating three-pointer and slammed three dunks. The sounds inside the North Shore gymnasium are limited to the concession stand being folded up and a basketball bouncing from Jereme's right hand. But the buzz will continue to grow.