They say perception is reality.

And as Michael O'Brien's piece for the Chicago Sun-Times laid out on Monday, the perception and the reality are that Illini head coach Brad Underwood hasn't seen a high school game in Chicago this season.

That's a fact. And at a base level, it's understandable that the narrative from up north says it's 'not a good look'.

But what if the perception that is further prosecuted from that doesn't really reach out far enough to grasp reality in its entirety? And maybe it doesn't care to.

So let's dive into that... Morgan Park and Whitney Young -- two premier programs with two of the premier players in the state (Adam Miller and DJ Steward) -- began their seasons on Nov. 24 at the Jordan Brand Invitational in Chicago.

Meanwhile, Illinois had just returned from three games in Maui and had a game at home on Nov. 25 against Mississippi Valley State... As part of a stretch of seven games in 17 days with six of them being away from home.

Miller and Steward played at the Chicago Elite Classic on Dec. 1. Underwood and his staff were not in attendance. They were in Lincoln preparing to play Nebraska -- one of the league's tougher opponents -- the next day.

There was the Team Rose Shootout on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9. The Illini hosted UNLV on Dec. 8, when 2020 big Shon Robinson (Chicago native who now plays in Arizona) was playing in the event. After that, no player at the shootout outside of Miller had an Illinois offer, which frankly, you could point to as one of Chicago's issues. Not Illinois'.

Though, juniors Martice Mitchell (Bloom) and Seryee Lewis (Kenwood) are very much on the Illini radar.

Regardless of either way you look at that, you also have to consider that Illinois is a 4-7 team. They came home from Maui on a four-game losing streak. You can see why the head man of that team has made working with his guys his No. 1 preference.

On that day when the Illini played Nebraska, Underwood had six offensive plays on his play card that he was prepared to run. With an extremely young team and limited practice time, there were definitely less than six he felt comfortable with after the fact.

It's part of the painful process of the rebuild and the system install. And it's why the recent breaks in between games have produced some highly-cherished practice time, as well as some more favorable results. The Illini can make it three in a row on Saturday if they manage to beat Missouri for the sixth straight time in the Braggin' Rights rivalry.

Underwood hasn't been in Chicago to recruit for a day yet this season, but he has been working with one of Chicago's favorite sons, Ayo Dosunmu, on the daily to get the most out of his freshman season.

As much as seeing Underwood in the stands can aid the Chicago effort, having recruits and coaches see Dosunmu develop, succeed and win at Illinois might be even more important when it comes to what the city thinks about sending him more talent.

Meanwhile, it’s not like the Illini presence has completely evaporated.

Assistant coach Chin Coleman watched Miller at a Morgan Park game earlier this month. And that’s one place you won’t hear Illini criticism. If one thing has been made clear in the last 14 months… Illinois and the Irvins are tight.

Coleman and assistant coach Jamall Walker have also visited Whitney Young practices to see Steward since the beginning of the fall. And Coleman will be in Las Vegas this week to see Steward in action at the Tarkanian Classic.

But yes, having your head coach at games is important. And the Illini get that. That’s why Underwood plans to hit the holiday tourney trail starting next week to see these guys. That's always been the plan.

A couple other important points are being glossed over. Illinois has one commit and no signees in the 2019 class. Even with that, there’s no arguing that Miller and Steward should be on any kind of back burner. And they aren’t.

But while 2021 players like Max Christie, Ahamad Bynum, Anthony Sayles and Bryce Hopkins are talented prospects for the future, it makes sense why prospects who are two classes away haven’t been Illinois' prime focus for the first four weeks of their sophomore seasons.

Hopkins was a recruiting visitor at Illinois’ game against Ohio State at the United Center earlier this month, though.

As for other recruits… Underwood downed some blood thinners (required after his knee replacement surgery) to hop a plane and get out to see Kofi Cockburn last month. The top-40 center will take his official visit to Champaign next weekend. And Underwood will be at the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. on Wednesday to see him again.

He also hit the road last week to see a handful of guys out west. That included top-100 big man and 2019 commit Antwan January, as well as five-star 2020 guard Kyree Walker -- a hot candidate to reclass to 2019.

Two other names stick out from Underwood’s recruiting tour last week: Top-50 guard Nimari Burnett and three-star forward Shon Robinson. Two years ago, those were two of the top five 2020 prospects in Chicago. But they left the state… Just like the two top-ranked Chicago natives in 2019 (Kahlil Whitney and Terrence Shannon Jr.).

Underwood was in the building when Whitney tipped in a game-winner at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday. Despite being unsigned, Whitney is still committed to Kentucky. And Underwood was there seeing other targets. But that's where the soon-to-be next McDonald's All-American from Chicago (and first since Jalen Brunson) was at.

There’s obviously still a handful of no-doubters at the high-major level in the Chicago area. But let’s not act like this is Chicago hoops’ heyday either.

Still, that’s a place you want to get talent when you’re at Illinois. And ideally, Underwood would have been there to see some of it already this season.

There’s two sides to it. On one hand, he hasn’t been there. On the other, it’s still early in the year. On one hand, there’s coaches wondering where he’s at. On the other, there’s reasons it hasn’t been in their gym.

But he will be soon.

So maybe, just maybe, this 'weak recruiting effort' -- as designated by the headline -- wouldn't be a story if it were a week or two from now.