CHAMPAIGN – There are worse things than spending a year of high school in the Las Vegas area.

Like, not qualifying to play high-major basketball on scholarship as a college freshman.

So Illinois recruit D.J. Richardson is leaving Peoria Central to spend his senior year at a prep school in the Las Vegas area, in hopes of lifting his ACT score and “getting ready for college basketballwise,” he said.

The 6-foot-3 guard said the transition will not affect an oral commitment to Illinois, though he said it might delay his signing of a national letter of intent.

“I might sign after the season,” Richardson said today, referring to the spring signing period that begins in April. “(I) don’t want to rush anything. I know that (Illinois) is my school and I’m going to go there. I don’t want to rush anything.”

Illinois has four recruits in the high school graduating class of 2009: Warren’s Brandon Paul, Ballwin (Mo.) Lafayette’s Tyler Griffey, Sterling’s Joseph Bertrand and Richardson. Illinois was hoping for all four to sign letters of intent during the fall signing period, in November.

Richardson said he leaves Friday to attend Henderson Private School and play basketball with Findlay Prep, a nationally recognized pipeline for high-level college prospects.

As reported last month in the News-Gazette, his family also looked into prep school opportunities in Maine and at Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy. Richardson said Oak Hill did not have any scholarships remaining, and Maine was too far from home.

“I’m pretty much set on Illinois,” Richardson said. “(I will) probably get more looks (from other college programs, by playing a national schedule) but I’m pretty solid on Illinois.

Richardson said he expects a year at prep school will help him elevate an ACT score that will meet NCAA Clearinghouse requirements. He also said it will prepare him for his freshman season of college basketball.

"Basketballwise, I will have a college body already by the time I get there," he said. "That will help me when I get to college and I'll be more ready to play."

pklee@news-gazette.com