Keion Brooks Dad tweeted this update about his recruitment yesterday:
It’s not over but getting close! Recruiting doesn’t start until the parents and player start asking all the hard questions. #noFluff
— Keion Brooks (@keion_brooks) February 18, 2019
And I don’t care. He’s the 38th ranked player in the 2019 class, so he’s highly sought after, but it makes no difference to me whether he pledges Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina – and anyone else.
Nothing against the kid. I don’t know him. It’s not that I’m above caring about where a high school senior chooses to play basketball. I drove to New Albany to see the Romeo Langford commitment, so I’m as susceptible to the recruiting drama as the next guy. (It’s also important to note that I spent my high school years in New Albany, and spent a little time with Langford, so I have an affinity for the kid.)
But news about Brooks does nothing for me.
Some of it is that I don’t like prep schools like La Lumiere strip-mining talented basketball players from their hometowns as a marketing ploy. They prey on the inability of kids and their parents to deal with the adversity of high school basketball.
I think jumping to a prep school encourages a kid to take the path of least resistance, rather than learn to overcome temporary struggles.
A more significant reason for my ambivalence about Brooks is the state of Indiana University Basketball. Until the current roster plays with purpose as a unit, I don’t much care who those players are.
Until a culture of toughness is instilled at IU, I’m afraid tough-minded recruits will opt to play among like-minded teammates. That means IU will remain a mish-mash of players with a variety of agendas.
Maybe Brooks can be a transformational player who should be coveted by coaches and fans, but the transformation I need to see at Indiana is in a demand for behavioral change for the Hoosiers.
Until that happens, Brooks updates – and those like them – will escape my attention.
Kent Sterling hosts the fastest growing sportstalk show in Indianapolis on CBS Sports 1430 every weekday from 3p-7p, and writes about Indiana sports at kentsterling.com.