Welcome to The Hoosier Insider, our weekly insider roundup of the latest IU basketball and football news, notes & recruiting. Let's get to it:
Jordan Wells / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
Stu Jackson / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
Indiana has its second and final exhibition game Saturday night when it hosts Bellarmine at 7 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Indiana won its first exhibition game 98-65 over Hope College, with freshman guard Devonte Green scoring 17 points off the bench.
IU came in at No. 11 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll, and although Indiana was also slated at No. 12 in the preseason USA TODAY Coaches poll, IU head coach Tom Crean appears to be asking for patience with this year's team. In comments made on his weekly radio show, Crean compared the offseason losses for this year's team to the 2013-14 team which lost Jordan Hulls, Derek Elston, Cody Zeller, Christian Watford and Victor Oladipo.
adidas unveiled commemorative alternate uniforms for Indiana and Kansas in the Armed Forces Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. You can read more about that here. That game serves as the regular season-opener for both teams and will tip off at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN on Nov. 11.
As far as former players go, it was a good week to be a former IU basketball player. Former Indiana All-Americans Oladipo and Zeller signed $140 million in contract extensions Monday night, while former IU forward Troy Williams scored 14 points in the first start of his NBA career for the Memphis Grizzlies.
I'm still continuing my series on the Top 20 opposing players Indiana will face this season, and it will run through the Thursday before the IU-Kansas game. If you have any feedback on those stories, I'd love to hear it.
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Sam Beishuizen / Football Beat & Recruiting News
At the beginning of the year if I would have told you Indiana would be in a position where it needs just two wins over its final four games to get to six wins, would you have taken it?
I feel like most of you would have.
It's a pretty good spot to be in, if you're Indiana. Is it progress from a year ago? It's hard to tell exactly because the win total might wind up being the exact same. But I think we can all agree that this defense is better. The offense is worse. The special teams is a little worse. But I think the marginal steps backward on the special teams and offensive sides of the ball are countered enough by the gains defensively where this team and last year's team would probably be a pretty nice ballgame.
A big part about success is perception in recruits' minds. I always like asking high school players what their perception of Indiana football is. Last night I was talking with new IU offer Peyton Woulard and he knew IU's record and the teams they've beaten and lost to. He sounded generally pretty pleased with that. I think in the eyes of high school players, IU is certainly still perceived as a "team on the rise." I'll have more on Woulard up on the site later tonight.
Indiana offered Brian Asamoah this week, a 2018 linebacker who is teammates with current 2017 commit Derrius Mullins. I watched Asamoah play earlier this year at the same time IU linebackers coach William Inge did. I think he saw something there that he liked, so he pounced.
Like I've said the last few Insiders, this is a slow, slow recruiting time. But it seems like IU is really unloading on its 2018 offers. It's hard to tell the direction of that class right now, but it seems like it will most certainly include a quarterback (if it doesn't, IU is in trouble) along with multiple linebackers at the top of the priority list. Skill positions will be a pretty firm must-get. I'm surprised the Hoosiers don't have more receivers in the 2017 class, quite frankly. I'm of the opinion that they need to keep bringing some of those guys in, but we haven't really seen much. Maybe next year's class will be the one.
Someone asked me the other day who the jewel of the 2018 class would be, and my answer was lame in saying whoever the big quarterback winds up being. That's not fun, but it's true. I also think landing Cam McGrone would be a huge deal.
Of the remaining 2017 kids, it's hard to tell. Again, whoever the quarterback would be would take the top spot if there's still one out there.
WBB Note: I'm hearing that IU's early signing period class with the current four commits is pretty set. It sounds like Bendu Yeaney would be the only target IU is still going after between now and then. She's set to announce her decision on Sunday. I think things have cooled off between her and IU because of the guard talent she'd have to compete again at this point, but I've seen bigger surprises.
Jordan Wells / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
- Current commits - All three, including Al Durham Clifton Moore and Justin Smith should be signing for the fall period.
- David Beatty - Not visiting this weekend as previously scheduled. He’s been trying to set up this visit for a while, and now it seems it’s still not happening. Since I know people will ask, that smells like perhaps there's less interest from the other side of the aisle than Beatty’s end, but that’s pure, unsourced speculation. Regardless, facts are he's not visiting this weekend now, and the signing period begins Nov. 9. The 6-2, 180-pound three-star Philadelphia Imhotep guard is ranked as the No. 135 player nationally.
- Kris Wilkes - I hate to even list this, but some people are still starting topics/asking questions. He will not be committing to Indiana when he announces on Nov. 13. The 6-7, 185-pound five-star forward from Indianapolis North Central is ranked as the No. 18 player nationally.
- Billy Preston - Thought he might be a fall signee given the way he scheduled four consecutive official visits prior to the signing period, but sounds like he plans to wait until the spring. He’s still listing four “main” schools - Kansas, Indiana, Syracuse and USC - but says his recruitment remains open to other options. The 6-9, 220-pound five-star forward from Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy is ranked as the No. 8 player nationally.
- Jordan Tucker - As the list of names has dwindled off the board, this is one that I’m becoming intrigued by again. If Indiana can get Tucker back on campus - he’s already visited once, and talked about visiting again before transferring schools - that’s multiple trips to Bloomington, and anytime an out-of-state kid takes more than one trip to a school, that means business. The 6-7, 200-pound forward from Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler is ranked as the No. 42 player nationally.
Stu Jackson / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
Indiana has its second and final exhibition game Saturday night when it hosts Bellarmine at 7 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Indiana won its first exhibition game 98-65 over Hope College, with freshman guard Devonte Green scoring 17 points off the bench.
IU came in at No. 11 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll, and although Indiana was also slated at No. 12 in the preseason USA TODAY Coaches poll, IU head coach Tom Crean appears to be asking for patience with this year's team. In comments made on his weekly radio show, Crean compared the offseason losses for this year's team to the 2013-14 team which lost Jordan Hulls, Derek Elston, Cody Zeller, Christian Watford and Victor Oladipo.
adidas unveiled commemorative alternate uniforms for Indiana and Kansas in the Armed Forces Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. You can read more about that here. That game serves as the regular season-opener for both teams and will tip off at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN on Nov. 11.
As far as former players go, it was a good week to be a former IU basketball player. Former Indiana All-Americans Oladipo and Zeller signed $140 million in contract extensions Monday night, while former IU forward Troy Williams scored 14 points in the first start of his NBA career for the Memphis Grizzlies.
I'm still continuing my series on the Top 20 opposing players Indiana will face this season, and it will run through the Thursday before the IU-Kansas game. If you have any feedback on those stories, I'd love to hear it.
---------------------------------------
Sam Beishuizen / Football Beat & Recruiting News
At the beginning of the year if I would have told you Indiana would be in a position where it needs just two wins over its final four games to get to six wins, would you have taken it?
I feel like most of you would have.
It's a pretty good spot to be in, if you're Indiana. Is it progress from a year ago? It's hard to tell exactly because the win total might wind up being the exact same. But I think we can all agree that this defense is better. The offense is worse. The special teams is a little worse. But I think the marginal steps backward on the special teams and offensive sides of the ball are countered enough by the gains defensively where this team and last year's team would probably be a pretty nice ballgame.
A big part about success is perception in recruits' minds. I always like asking high school players what their perception of Indiana football is. Last night I was talking with new IU offer Peyton Woulard and he knew IU's record and the teams they've beaten and lost to. He sounded generally pretty pleased with that. I think in the eyes of high school players, IU is certainly still perceived as a "team on the rise." I'll have more on Woulard up on the site later tonight.
Indiana offered Brian Asamoah this week, a 2018 linebacker who is teammates with current 2017 commit Derrius Mullins. I watched Asamoah play earlier this year at the same time IU linebackers coach William Inge did. I think he saw something there that he liked, so he pounced.
Like I've said the last few Insiders, this is a slow, slow recruiting time. But it seems like IU is really unloading on its 2018 offers. It's hard to tell the direction of that class right now, but it seems like it will most certainly include a quarterback (if it doesn't, IU is in trouble) along with multiple linebackers at the top of the priority list. Skill positions will be a pretty firm must-get. I'm surprised the Hoosiers don't have more receivers in the 2017 class, quite frankly. I'm of the opinion that they need to keep bringing some of those guys in, but we haven't really seen much. Maybe next year's class will be the one.
Someone asked me the other day who the jewel of the 2018 class would be, and my answer was lame in saying whoever the big quarterback winds up being. That's not fun, but it's true. I also think landing Cam McGrone would be a huge deal.
Of the remaining 2017 kids, it's hard to tell. Again, whoever the quarterback would be would take the top spot if there's still one out there.
WBB Note: I'm hearing that IU's early signing period class with the current four commits is pretty set. It sounds like Bendu Yeaney would be the only target IU is still going after between now and then. She's set to announce her decision on Sunday. I think things have cooled off between her and IU because of the guard talent she'd have to compete again at this point, but I've seen bigger surprises.
