Tom Crean got very active on the recruiting trail yesterday, heading to see Devonte Green in the NYC area before jetting down to a 9 pm game in Ohio for signee Curtis Jones.
Green is a 6-foot-1 shooting guard and the younger brother of Danny Green of the San Antonio Spurs (and UNC). He's an unranked senior who seems to be having a big final season. Known for his shooting, he hit five 3-pointers in the first half alone in front of the IU coach yesterday. Finished with 31 in a 97-58 victory.
Green's father said last night that the family is working on visits to Kansas State and Indiana. Tulsa, Iona, DePaul other schools involved and Villanova beginning to show interest per this SNY.tv update
Somebody asked today if there has been a press conference where Tom Crean or his staff went on the record about the signing class and can confirm that has not yet happened. At least one other class I remember it not happening until December. Team trip to Maui probably contributing to the delay.
Of course Indiana signed Grant Gelon, Curtis Jones and De'Ron Davis. Here's a quick update on all three signees:
Grant Gelon - the 6-foot-5 shooter from Crown Point had a big second game to his season, knocking down nine 3-pointers as part of a 31-point night in a December 5th 85-57 blowout over a normally tough Penn High team. All but two of his 16 shots were from behind the arc and Gelon missed just five shots in the game. Added four board and dished out four assists in the game.
Things didn't go as well in his season opener, as Gelon scored 15 at Lafayette Jeff in a 71-64 loss back on November 25th.
De'Ron Davis - had a productive start to his senior season, scoring 26 points on 10-for-13 shooting on December 1st in a 86-79 victory over George Washington High School. He also had 12 rebounds, five blocks and a pair of assists.
Earlier this week on Tuesday night he had eight points, six rebounds and four blocks in a 74-38 blowout win at Lakewood.
Curtis Jones - with Tom Crean on hand yesterday, Jones scored 17 points last night in Huntington Prep's 77-57 win over Orangeville Prep of Ontario. The game was played in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Our Jeff Rabjohns was on hand last week in Kentucky to see "CuJo" in the annual Marshall County Hoopfest. On Friday there he had 21 points in a 83-77 overtime loss to Prolific Prep of California (Josh Jackson). He was 6-for-15 from the field.
The next day he had 22 points versus Quality Education Academy in a 94-88 victory. Also in his most recent game this week against Montverde Academy, Jones had 21 points and four assists in a 63-59 loss.
Scouting type thoughts from Jeff:
Curtis Jones was very good last weekend in the Marshall County Hoopfest. Playing more like a shooting guard than a point guard, Jones was regularly able to get into the paint and scored several times on drives.
Jones also was able to hit from outside, although in his second game the entire Huntington Prep team looked a little winded and his shot didn't fall with the same frequency
Jones did have some nice drives when he dished off for easy baskets, but his skill scoring the ball on the drive and from the arc is ahead of his skills as a true point guard.
Here are some game updates on Indiana's solo 2017 commit at this time, 6-foot-3 shooting guard Al Durham from Berkmar High in Georgia:
In the season opener back on November 21 he had 15 points on 5-for-9 field goals in 65-56 loss. A few days later he had 18 points in 14-point win over Duluth.
Had 12 points in 62-58 loss to Newton on November 28. Followed that with 24 points and seven assists in 72-69 win over Central Gwinnett. Then had 16 points three days later in 60-33 win over South Gwinnett. Dished out eight assists in 73-46 win over Grayson on Tuesday night.
Don't have stat details from a 84-69 loss last Saturday to Brookwood. Can tell you that Berkmar and Durham now sit at 4-3 on the season.
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During his trip to Kentucky our Jeff Rabjohns spoke to Thon Maker's guardian Ed Smith. To make a long story short, Smith said if the NCAA delays a decision on Thon's eligibility past a certain date, he's likely not going to play college basketball. The Cheick Diallo situation with Kansas is what was specifically mentioned. Diallo wasn't ruled eligible till late November.
"Thon will never go through that," Smith told Peegs.com.
Maker already has all of his core courses complete and only needs to take his standard college entrance exam.
"One of the things we're evaluating is the NCAA itself," Smith said. "If they don't get their homework done early, we'll look at other options."
Indiana, Kansas and Arizona State are the three schools at the top with Maker, his guardian said.
"Kansas is making a national championship push. I think their guards are going to come back. They have wings," Smith said in discussing the Kansas program.
"With Indiana, it's a wait-and-see, see how things play out, see what things look like at the end of the season," Smith said.
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A reminder that tomorrow is a great opportunity to see Grant Gelon and a long list of Hoosier targets as the Forum Credit Union Tip-Off Classic comes back to the Southport Fieldhouse.
Full schedule with names to see in parantheses)
11:30 - Park Tudor (Jaren Jackson) vs. Tri-West
1:15 - Warren Central vs. Crown Point (Grant Gelon)
3:00 - Brebeuf vs. Ft. Wayne Snider (Malik Williams)
5:00 - Indianapolis Pike vs. New Albany (Romeo Langford)
6:45 - Lawrence Central vs. Cathedral (Eron Gordon)
8:30 - Southport (Paul Scruggs) vs. East St. Louis
Unfortunately for this event Hoosier target Jeremiah Tillmon left East St. Louis before this season to move to La Lumiere Academy in La Porte. He's a five-star junior center who picked up an offer from North Carolina yesterday. He has long held an Indiana offer and other schools that had pulled the trigger before include Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Iowa and NC State.
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Look for Juwan Morgan to return soon to the Indiana lineup as he recovers from a foot injury suffered in the second half of the UNLV loss in Maui. This week he participated in light contact drills but was still in street clothes for the IPFW game on Wednesday night.
Walk-on forward Ryan Burton was also in street clothes on Wednesday but that was just due to an illness.
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The big news this week for the Hoosiers football program was the announcement that they will be heading to New York City later this month to play in the Pinstripe Bowl against the Duke Blue Devils. IU had a press conference Sunday night after the announcement and Peegs.com was there. Here are the stories we had from that press conference with Coach Kevin Wilson and a few of the players:
Indiana, like Duke, finding football success
Reaction: Players discuss bowl destination
Coach TV: Heading to NYC
Hoosiers to play Duke in Pinstripe Bowl
There was also a press conference on Tuesday in New York at Yankee Stadium with representatives of the Yankees and bowl sponsor New Era, as well as the athletic directors and head coaches from both Indiana and Duke. Peegs.com has the transcript and video of that press conference here.
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The other big news for the IU football program this week was the two commitments they got for 2016. The Hoosiers were looking for some experienced players at both QB and TE and they got with quarterback Richard Lagow and tight end Ian Thomas. Lagow played at Cisco C.C. in Cisco, Texas. He will be enrolling at Indiana next month. IU really needed to bring in an experienced QB that could step in and play immediately and Lagow looks like he can be that guy. He is a similar type player to current Indiana QB Nate Sudfeld and he has a chance to put up big numbers leading the IU attack. Here is the story we did on Lagow after his commitment.
You can also check out this podcast of him on the Hoosier Report from 1450 The Sports Buzz.
Thomas played at Nassau C.C. and he will be a May graduate and will join the program next June. With tight ends Michael Cooper and Anthony Corsaro both graduating the Hoosiers were looking for a tight end that could come and help early on and they zeroed in on Thomas and were able to get his commitment. Thomas is a good receiving tight end that can also help out some in the run game as a blocker. He probably needs to add a little weight and get stronger, but he will have all summer with the IU strength staff to do that. Here is the story we did on Thomas after he committed.
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It is another weekend of official visits for the Indiana football program before the dead period gets started in a few days. There are seven recruits expected to be on campus this weekend and you can read more about them in this preview story Peegs.com did.
We spoke with a couple of the prospects expected to visit this weekend earlier in the week about their recruiting. One was current commit Allen Cater. The Georgia defensive end was recently offered by Arkansas and he has made a couple visits to check out the Razorbacks’ program, including an official visit this past weekend. He told Peegs.com in this story that he is still committed to IU.
Another visitor for this weekend we spoke to was Texas athlete Tyler Natee. The standout from Trinity H.S. in Euless, Texas just picked up an offer from IU this week. Here is the story we did on him.
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In-state offensive lineman Coy Cronk was at IU last weekend and he told Rivals.com Recruiting Analyst Josh Helmholdt that he had a great time and that the Hoosiers are in very good shape with him. Here is the story that Helmholdt did on Cronk.
Another lineman that could be an option for the Hoosiers is four-star prospect Sean Foster. The Illinois native originally committed to Minnesota but opened things back up when there was a staff shake-up after Jerry Kill resigned. Peegs.com spoke with Foster earlier this week and you can read the story we did on him here.
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Several Indiana players were recognized by the Big Ten after the end of the regular season and many of those same players have earned honors from some other media outlets. Offensive lineman Jason Spriggs and Dan Feeney were both named All-Americans this year. Here is the release from IUHoosiers.com about it.
Feeney was also named First Team All-Big Ten by ESPN along with running back Jordan Howard and kicker Griffin Oakes. Here is the story from ESPN that talks about their all-conference team.
Indiana safety Jonathan Crawford was also recognized by ESPN on their All-Freshmen team. Here is the story from ESPN talking about the top freshmen in the conference this season.
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The NFL just finished up week 13 of the 2015 season and there are a handful of Hoosiers who are getting playing time for their respective teams. Each week Peegs.com puts out a weekly feature on how former Hoosiers playing in the NFL are doing. Here is the update on how five former IU players did in week 13 of the NFL season.
Green is a 6-foot-1 shooting guard and the younger brother of Danny Green of the San Antonio Spurs (and UNC). He's an unranked senior who seems to be having a big final season. Known for his shooting, he hit five 3-pointers in the first half alone in front of the IU coach yesterday. Finished with 31 in a 97-58 victory.
Green's father said last night that the family is working on visits to Kansas State and Indiana. Tulsa, Iona, DePaul other schools involved and Villanova beginning to show interest per this SNY.tv update
Somebody asked today if there has been a press conference where Tom Crean or his staff went on the record about the signing class and can confirm that has not yet happened. At least one other class I remember it not happening until December. Team trip to Maui probably contributing to the delay.
Of course Indiana signed Grant Gelon, Curtis Jones and De'Ron Davis. Here's a quick update on all three signees:
Grant Gelon - the 6-foot-5 shooter from Crown Point had a big second game to his season, knocking down nine 3-pointers as part of a 31-point night in a December 5th 85-57 blowout over a normally tough Penn High team. All but two of his 16 shots were from behind the arc and Gelon missed just five shots in the game. Added four board and dished out four assists in the game.
Things didn't go as well in his season opener, as Gelon scored 15 at Lafayette Jeff in a 71-64 loss back on November 25th.
De'Ron Davis - had a productive start to his senior season, scoring 26 points on 10-for-13 shooting on December 1st in a 86-79 victory over George Washington High School. He also had 12 rebounds, five blocks and a pair of assists.
Earlier this week on Tuesday night he had eight points, six rebounds and four blocks in a 74-38 blowout win at Lakewood.
Curtis Jones - with Tom Crean on hand yesterday, Jones scored 17 points last night in Huntington Prep's 77-57 win over Orangeville Prep of Ontario. The game was played in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Our Jeff Rabjohns was on hand last week in Kentucky to see "CuJo" in the annual Marshall County Hoopfest. On Friday there he had 21 points in a 83-77 overtime loss to Prolific Prep of California (Josh Jackson). He was 6-for-15 from the field.
The next day he had 22 points versus Quality Education Academy in a 94-88 victory. Also in his most recent game this week against Montverde Academy, Jones had 21 points and four assists in a 63-59 loss.
Scouting type thoughts from Jeff:
Curtis Jones was very good last weekend in the Marshall County Hoopfest. Playing more like a shooting guard than a point guard, Jones was regularly able to get into the paint and scored several times on drives.
Jones also was able to hit from outside, although in his second game the entire Huntington Prep team looked a little winded and his shot didn't fall with the same frequency
Jones did have some nice drives when he dished off for easy baskets, but his skill scoring the ball on the drive and from the arc is ahead of his skills as a true point guard.
Here are some game updates on Indiana's solo 2017 commit at this time, 6-foot-3 shooting guard Al Durham from Berkmar High in Georgia:
In the season opener back on November 21 he had 15 points on 5-for-9 field goals in 65-56 loss. A few days later he had 18 points in 14-point win over Duluth.
Had 12 points in 62-58 loss to Newton on November 28. Followed that with 24 points and seven assists in 72-69 win over Central Gwinnett. Then had 16 points three days later in 60-33 win over South Gwinnett. Dished out eight assists in 73-46 win over Grayson on Tuesday night.
Don't have stat details from a 84-69 loss last Saturday to Brookwood. Can tell you that Berkmar and Durham now sit at 4-3 on the season.
-----------
During his trip to Kentucky our Jeff Rabjohns spoke to Thon Maker's guardian Ed Smith. To make a long story short, Smith said if the NCAA delays a decision on Thon's eligibility past a certain date, he's likely not going to play college basketball. The Cheick Diallo situation with Kansas is what was specifically mentioned. Diallo wasn't ruled eligible till late November.
"Thon will never go through that," Smith told Peegs.com.
Maker already has all of his core courses complete and only needs to take his standard college entrance exam.
"One of the things we're evaluating is the NCAA itself," Smith said. "If they don't get their homework done early, we'll look at other options."
Indiana, Kansas and Arizona State are the three schools at the top with Maker, his guardian said.
"Kansas is making a national championship push. I think their guards are going to come back. They have wings," Smith said in discussing the Kansas program.
"With Indiana, it's a wait-and-see, see how things play out, see what things look like at the end of the season," Smith said.
------------
A reminder that tomorrow is a great opportunity to see Grant Gelon and a long list of Hoosier targets as the Forum Credit Union Tip-Off Classic comes back to the Southport Fieldhouse.
Full schedule with names to see in parantheses)
11:30 - Park Tudor (Jaren Jackson) vs. Tri-West
1:15 - Warren Central vs. Crown Point (Grant Gelon)
3:00 - Brebeuf vs. Ft. Wayne Snider (Malik Williams)
5:00 - Indianapolis Pike vs. New Albany (Romeo Langford)
6:45 - Lawrence Central vs. Cathedral (Eron Gordon)
8:30 - Southport (Paul Scruggs) vs. East St. Louis
Unfortunately for this event Hoosier target Jeremiah Tillmon left East St. Louis before this season to move to La Lumiere Academy in La Porte. He's a five-star junior center who picked up an offer from North Carolina yesterday. He has long held an Indiana offer and other schools that had pulled the trigger before include Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Iowa and NC State.
------------
Look for Juwan Morgan to return soon to the Indiana lineup as he recovers from a foot injury suffered in the second half of the UNLV loss in Maui. This week he participated in light contact drills but was still in street clothes for the IPFW game on Wednesday night.
Walk-on forward Ryan Burton was also in street clothes on Wednesday but that was just due to an illness.
--------------------
The big news this week for the Hoosiers football program was the announcement that they will be heading to New York City later this month to play in the Pinstripe Bowl against the Duke Blue Devils. IU had a press conference Sunday night after the announcement and Peegs.com was there. Here are the stories we had from that press conference with Coach Kevin Wilson and a few of the players:
Indiana, like Duke, finding football success
Reaction: Players discuss bowl destination
Coach TV: Heading to NYC
Hoosiers to play Duke in Pinstripe Bowl
There was also a press conference on Tuesday in New York at Yankee Stadium with representatives of the Yankees and bowl sponsor New Era, as well as the athletic directors and head coaches from both Indiana and Duke. Peegs.com has the transcript and video of that press conference here.
-----
The other big news for the IU football program this week was the two commitments they got for 2016. The Hoosiers were looking for some experienced players at both QB and TE and they got with quarterback Richard Lagow and tight end Ian Thomas. Lagow played at Cisco C.C. in Cisco, Texas. He will be enrolling at Indiana next month. IU really needed to bring in an experienced QB that could step in and play immediately and Lagow looks like he can be that guy. He is a similar type player to current Indiana QB Nate Sudfeld and he has a chance to put up big numbers leading the IU attack. Here is the story we did on Lagow after his commitment.
You can also check out this podcast of him on the Hoosier Report from 1450 The Sports Buzz.
Thomas played at Nassau C.C. and he will be a May graduate and will join the program next June. With tight ends Michael Cooper and Anthony Corsaro both graduating the Hoosiers were looking for a tight end that could come and help early on and they zeroed in on Thomas and were able to get his commitment. Thomas is a good receiving tight end that can also help out some in the run game as a blocker. He probably needs to add a little weight and get stronger, but he will have all summer with the IU strength staff to do that. Here is the story we did on Thomas after he committed.
-----
It is another weekend of official visits for the Indiana football program before the dead period gets started in a few days. There are seven recruits expected to be on campus this weekend and you can read more about them in this preview story Peegs.com did.
We spoke with a couple of the prospects expected to visit this weekend earlier in the week about their recruiting. One was current commit Allen Cater. The Georgia defensive end was recently offered by Arkansas and he has made a couple visits to check out the Razorbacks’ program, including an official visit this past weekend. He told Peegs.com in this story that he is still committed to IU.
Another visitor for this weekend we spoke to was Texas athlete Tyler Natee. The standout from Trinity H.S. in Euless, Texas just picked up an offer from IU this week. Here is the story we did on him.
-----
In-state offensive lineman Coy Cronk was at IU last weekend and he told Rivals.com Recruiting Analyst Josh Helmholdt that he had a great time and that the Hoosiers are in very good shape with him. Here is the story that Helmholdt did on Cronk.
Another lineman that could be an option for the Hoosiers is four-star prospect Sean Foster. The Illinois native originally committed to Minnesota but opened things back up when there was a staff shake-up after Jerry Kill resigned. Peegs.com spoke with Foster earlier this week and you can read the story we did on him here.
-----
Several Indiana players were recognized by the Big Ten after the end of the regular season and many of those same players have earned honors from some other media outlets. Offensive lineman Jason Spriggs and Dan Feeney were both named All-Americans this year. Here is the release from IUHoosiers.com about it.
Feeney was also named First Team All-Big Ten by ESPN along with running back Jordan Howard and kicker Griffin Oakes. Here is the story from ESPN that talks about their all-conference team.
Indiana safety Jonathan Crawford was also recognized by ESPN on their All-Freshmen team. Here is the story from ESPN talking about the top freshmen in the conference this season.
-----
The NFL just finished up week 13 of the 2015 season and there are a handful of Hoosiers who are getting playing time for their respective teams. Each week Peegs.com puts out a weekly feature on how former Hoosiers playing in the NFL are doing. Here is the update on how five former IU players did in week 13 of the NFL season.
