Signing Day: Weber adds Crete-Monee PG Michael Orris

CHAMPAIGN, ILL.-University of Illinois head coach Bruce Weber announced Wednesday the signing of Michael Orris to a national letter of intent on the first day of the initial signing period.

Orris is a 6-2, 180-pound senior point guard from Crete, Ill. He attends Crete-Monee High School, under the direction of head coach Tom Cappel. Orris averaged 10.2 points, 6.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds last season, leading Crete-Monee to a 25-4 record and the school's first-ever sectional championship. Crete-Monee won the South Holland Thornwood Sectional, defeating Harvey Thornton in the title game to advance to the super-sectional of Class 4A.

An honorable mention All-State selection by the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Orris shot 50 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent from the free throw line. He attended Palatine High School during his freshman and sophomore seasons and is a member of the Illinois Old School AAU program, coached by Scott Lidskin.

"Michael is a pure point guard, first and foremost," Weber said. "He fits everything you want at that position: he's an excellent passer, knows how to play and is very competitive. He helped lead Crete-Monee to its best finish in school history last year, going to the elite eight. Michael had great talent around him, a couple of D-1 recruits, so he didn't really look to score and instead was more of a distributor and floor general. But he showed his offensive ability this past summer, had some great scoring performances in AAU, and has worked on his perimeter shooting to become effective out to 3-point range."

Orris received the lone scholarship Illinois had available for this year's recruiting class.