by Kent Sterling
Tom Crean is rolling. The years of building relationships with summer and high school coaches, and families around Indiana is paying off. The result is a 2012 recruiting class that Rivals has named the best in the country.
Already committed are (with Rivals ranking in parentheses):
| PF Hanner Perea (#15) PG Kevin Ferrell (#28) SF Jeremy Hollowell (#42) SG Ron Patterson (#115) C Peter Jurkin |
Waiting in the wings are uncommitted recruits like Hamilton Southeastern’s Gary Harris (#26) and North Central’s (but headed to Oak Hill Academy next year) D’Vauntes Smith Rivera (#21). Seven-footer Kaleb Tarczewski and 6’10” Mitch McGary have offers from IU, according to Rivals, but I’ve not heard of any serious interest from either.
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This is the watershed class that Hoosiers fans have waited for, and the wait will continue for one more year. But the light at the end of the tunnel keeps getting a little brighter.
Rankings are a decent ballpark estimate of the potential kids have shown, but are more than fallible. I’ve seen all those kids quite a bit, and would adjust the rankings.
Perea scored four points at Bloomington South last year, and the 15th best player in the country ought to be more productive than that, even with triple teams shadowing him everywhere. Jeremy Hollowell can look disinterested, and while his former and supposedly less talented summer team is taking home trophies, the team with all the IU commits loses.
I believe Ferrell and Harris are ranked beneath than their play, so it will probably all come out in the wash.
Physically, 7’0″ albatross Jurkin is very similar to JaJuan Johnson at the same point in their development, but the question that needs to be answered is whether Jurkin has JJ’s ability to listen and passionately work on his game.
These kids will have a little time to develop as IU will have a number of players, who if healthy, are going to be able to carry some of the load themselves while the freshmen get their sea legs. Maurice Creek, Christian Watford, and Jordan Hulls will be seniors. Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey will be juniors, and Cody Zeller and Austin Etherington sophs. That’s a nice roster – minus the lack of a big man.
Indiana and Crean are entering a critical stretch of time in the evolution of the Hoosiers program. All but the easily disenchanted remain patient, and are willing to wait for the nation’s best recruiting class to play for a year before casting judgment on the Crean Era.
Whether Indiana is successful will always depend upon the strength of the in-state players available to Crean. IU is not a national program like Kentucky, and it’s doubtful it ever becomes one.
Bob Knight’s teams were best when the in-state talent was best. He was able to grab some kids from Ohio and Illinois as well. When players from that area were outstanding, Indiana won championships. When IU left the midwest to grab kids, the results didn’t hang banners.
Purdue rebuilt its program with kids starting with the great bounty of the 2007 high school class, and 2012 looks to be that next great group of Indiana basketball excellence.
From day one on the job at IU, Crean has worked his ass off to generate relationships that would allow him into the homes of Indiana’s best, and those relationships are paying off, along with the facility upgrades IU has made.
The academic facilities and construction of Cook Hall have made a huge impact, as has the development of the Excellence Academy that parents love as a difference maker. That Indiana cares enough about its athletes to invest this heavily in the development of young men and women, rather than simply finding methods to keep them eligible and get them through so the program’s APR doesn’t drop is a big deal – maybe not for all the kids, but smart parents embrace it.
At some point the lost horizon of the fading past and relentlessly approaching future needs to become the current reality, but for the moment, shangri la appears to be approaching.
Now wait a minute, “when IU left the midwest to grab kids, the results didn’t hang banners?” What about 1987? That was the last time IU won the whole thing and the real additions or Keystone recruits there were Keith Smart (Louisiana by way of a Kansas JUCO) and Dean Garret and I can’t remember where he was from but not from around here and he was also a JUCO. It is true Steve Alford and a few other people helped but without those guys, IU doesn’t win the national title. Indiana, as probably from your interpretation, is not a “national program”, they are well known nationally. I have traveled all over the U.S and even now they are very well known and can still attract national players. The key for Crean is always to get the RIGHT players not just players rated at a certain place by these recruiting services.
Yeah, 1987 was the strange bird in the group of champs. Not sure how the hell they won that NCAA Tourney. Darryl Thomas was also a key on that team. Knight went and got that great Indiana/Ohio class with Cheaney, Graham, Knight, Funderburke, etc… after that that should have won at least one more championship.
DSR has about as much chance of being on the IU BB team as I do. Perea is a beast, and his AAU play this year is showing that, he’s continually in double figures. And McGary was once a very strong IU lean until he reclassifed to 2012. Now he’s blown up and getting interest from everywhere, so its hard to say. He has said that IU is still very much in contact with him.
Also, Hollowell is under-ranked at #42. He’s a flat stud, probably the best all around player of the recruiting class.
Jeremy is going to have to bring some passion and consistent effort. He has the raw material to be really good, but Yogi Ferrell is the best point guard recruit in a generation or more. He elevates the play of his team.
doesn’t sound like ferrell’s doing it this spring
You probably haven’t seen Yogi this spring. He has been pretty solid and makes good guys look great.
i watched ferrell play and he flat doesnt make mistakes. he can score when you try to take away other players and if you take away him he has some of the best court vision I have seen!
“IU is not a national program like Kentucky, and it’s doubtful it ever becomes one.”
Give me a fucking break….UK isn’t about UK, its about Cal. The moment he walks out the door to the NBA, they’ll go back to just like they were with Tubby and Gillespie. Good, but certainly nothing any different recruiting-wise than IU. In fact every “national” recruiting school is that way because of their coach. Kids go to Duke becuase its Coach K. To UNC for Williams. To UK for Cal.
Start winning titles, or making consistent FFs, or put kids in the NBA year after year, and you can recruit wherever you want.
But being able to recruit wherever you want didn’t help IU when they did that. The anomaly, as was pointed out in another comment was 1987, which was a nutty season on a lot of levels at IU.
Kids in Florida, Texas, and California are simply not going to spend their college years in Bloomington if they have their choice of programs. Hasn’t happened. Won’t happen. Kids will go to the Research Triangle, UCLA, Gainesville, and Austin, all else being equal.
That’s fine. You can win championships with kids from Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.
when was the last time that happened? i mean a roster just of players from those three states
1981 would be close with Jim Thomas being from Florida – but if I remember correctly his parents taught or worked at IU in some capacity. Other than that, every player was from either Illinois (5) or Indiana (9).
close don’t count
they were alums.
IU is as a national program as any….How do you SUCK for 3 season yet still maintain one of the countries top attendance records. How does IU get national tv games with Pitt, UK, and others…?
Tough to admit, IU is always going to be IU…including the national stage.
What is meant by “national program” is that top ten kids from Oregon, California, Texas, and Florida are not viable targets for Indiana. UNC, Duke, Kentucky, and Kansas can recruit everywhere. Indiana can not, and frankly shouldn’t.
this one of the funniest articles i have ever read. these guys just got beat by a crappy aau team that the week before was pushed by a team of 6 rising juniors who played team ball and had no one over 6-5. good luck.
Better they lose now while trying to figure out how to play together than when they get to Bloomington.
yeah crean will be as much help in that regard as their aau coach is now.
If you dont like an article dont read it. Chuck, you are like the guy at the bar who is like “that girl is slutty” “ya right that girl is ugly” and then you go home alone and end up watching late night cinimax (referring to soft core pornography). Get bent!
please answer this age-old question for me: how will i know if i don’t like an article until after i’ve read it. i never said i didn’t like it, anyway, i said it was funny. there’s a difference. i like funny.
just remember what old chuck stake says a– life is like a meat grinder baby.
and i only watch the real stuff usually with about 3 or 4 chickees attending to me.
I am still looking on Rivals site where they actually say IU has #1 recruiting class…still looking…and looking. Wait…no….here!….no, no that’s not it. IT’S NOT THERE KENT, no wonder you lost your last job, you make up stories.
Found it on the Rivals basketball recruiting front page (again) in under 10 seconds. Here’s the link. You need to move the arrow with your mouse over the top of the link and click the mouse to get it to open. You might need to copy and paste to see the content. I have neither the time nor inclination to explain how to execute those complex actions. I wish you luck.
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1223142
Bitter and stupid is quite a combination for a miserable life.
I believe Indiana is a national school, however because we have the best high school basketball in the country we haven’t needed to go outside the region often, Kentucky, Kansas and Duke wouldn’t exist if they had to count on their in state players. Jim
Who was the last top 50 recruit who came to IU to play basketball? I wish I knew. It hasn’t been a recent recruit. Maybe Bracey Wright or D.J. White?
Are you serious….Eric Gordon maybe?
I hope you (as a fan) weren’t serious when you asked that question. Even I know that and I am a Pudue fan! Stick to your day job!
Yea dumbass…Gordon was top 5 nationally. Jordan Crawford was top 50 too. I hope this isn’t your day job!!! Can anyone say credibility? Kent obviously can’t.
What I meant and should have specified was, who was the last non-Indiana kid who decided to play for IU?
Not sure about Crawford’s ranking, but it makes sense he would be Top 50.
The point is that IU does not have a national brand for recruiting, nor does it need to have one. If Davis had concentrated his recruiting efforts in Indiana, he would still be coaching in Bloomington.