who are some of the top juco programs in illinois?

For a D1, South Suburban College, unqestionably.

anyone have any opinions on oakton cc or parkland cc?

And what about Harper?

I have heard good things about Heartland and also elgin.

there are alot of good JUCO PROGRAMS in Illinois
the majority of the Division I programs are in Southern Illinois in the GRAC conference--John Logan College, Rend Lake, Southeastern, Southwest , Olney, Lincoln Trail, Wabash, Lakeland

Division II schools are up north mainly--Kankakee Community College also has a nice program and great facilities...

Division III schools--Joliet is a good baseball school

You cannot go wrong with junior college baseball inIllinois----great programs available for kids--it just depends on where You fit in

All of who woodly said and Kaskaskia has also built a nice program.

A lot of kids from our area go to Parkland. Have always been under the impression they are a top program.

Lincoln Land in Springfield has a couple WS titles to their credit and have had many many draft picks. At one time more than U of I. Program has been down lately mainly due to Springfield College who has been winning the recruiting war around here.

and...Parkland is a national powerhouse

As far as Division one Juco's go south sub and John A. Logan are tops. Division two you have to look at Elgin CC. They have been to the world series four years in a row. Parkland is always tough but off to a slow start this year. Heartland in its first year, who knows how they will do? Oakton, great talent but can't seem to put it together in may.

Let's talk about Illinois JUCO's. I will break down the top programs in Illinois. If your school isn't mentioned don't take it as insult. There are alot of QUALITY programs in Illinois, however these are the top dogs.

D1: John A Logan- bar none top dog in Illinois. Coach Halstead seems to get whoever he wants year in and year out. Have been a top dog for 6-8 years now. Always have a mix of talent from southern Illinois, northern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.

South Sub- Went to the D1 series a couple of years ago. Best northern Illinos D1 program without a doubt. Ruzich doesn't get the props he deserves either. Going to the D1 series is nothing to sneeze at my friend.

D2: Elgin- What Logan is to D1, Elgin is the equivalent if not better in D2. Did someone say 4 straight world series appearances? That's unheard of in any division. What Billy Angelo does over there should be sold as the blueprint on how to run a successful program.

D3: Joliet- Wayne King just keeps building winning teams. Ho-hum, ho-hum we've won another region title. No big deal for this program! They could compete with most of the states D1 and D2 schools. Great hotbed for talent in the Joliet area, but you still have to know what you're doing to get the kids to go there. Have gone to a few world series' over the past decade also. Won a World Series in the early 90's.

Honorable mentions: Lincoln Trail, Olney Central, Springfield, Parkland

I would have to say Triton is one of the premiere programs in the state. They are always a tough team.

Joliet is currently ranked #1 in NJCAA D3

Kishwaukee College in Malta, IL has produced some players over the years.

South Suburban- http://www.southsuburbancollege.edu/stulife/sports/baseball/index.htm

just an fyi, Triton lost to Olive Harvey this weekend in the JUCO playoffs. This ended the Triton season. Olive Harvey hadn't won a game all year.

Without Bob Symonds Triton has turned into just an average, run of the mill junior college program.

just my .02 cents.

congrats to Joliet JC on winning the birth to the D3 JC World Series. The Rourke kid is really good.

I heard that if you go to Parkland for two years you get an automatic admittance to U of I Champaigne. Does anyone know if that is true?

I think a lot of kids believe that but its not true

My advice is be carefull whenever you hear something that's too good to be true or someone guarantee something. It's true some juco's will serve as feeders for a bigger program like U of I but I highly doubt any school would guarantee you acceptance after playing juco ball. Now if U of I liked a kid but he didn't qualify academically, they might suggest he go to Parkland and they will keep an eye on the player. But after a year or two the kid might not want to go to Illinois, or he might still not be able to get in, or possibly he didn't improve enough for Illinois to want him. See there are alot of variables there. If he's at Parkland, U of I will have a great idea of what type of player he is and be able to see the kid alot which can be good or bad. The main goal would be to get your associates degree, then you can go to virtually any state school academically. Baseball wise, that's another story as I expressed and they certainly aren't guaranteeing Parkland's entire roster they can play at Illinois when done, if they did this it would be with 1-2 players max.