Scott,
You've been an IU fan over 40 years - but you don't remember what led to IU only having 3 Indiana players on that '87 team - namely, the talent in the classes from Alford's senior year to then were not very good?
1983
Mr Basketball - Alford
Blackmon -UK. James fell in love with Wildcat Lodge during his recruiting visit.
Mike Heineman - Connersville/Wisconsin. A player Knight later admitted he wished he would have looked at more.
Who else in 1983 from this state was worth looking at?
1984
Mr. Basketball - Brooks
Co-Mr BB - Lewis. Became a Boiler. Knight never made Troy (or Heineman from the year before) much of a priority because he thought he was getting something special in Brooks.
1985
Mr. Basketball - Jeff Grose, Warsaw. Went to Northwestern.
So in the 3 years preceding, Knight got two of the 4 kids he targeted - and he never seriously went after either Lewis or Heineman extensively because of Delray. THAT"S why he started bringing in JUCO's - which led to the great year in 1987. And
nine of the 15 members of the team were from Knight's primary recruiting base - Ohio, Illinois and Indiana.
Knight would always focus on Indiana first - then branch outward. Did he get all the guys who were among the state's best players? Of course not; some just didn't want to play for a demanding guy like Knight. Ddin't mean they weren't worthy, some guys didn't want to deal with that for 3-4 years.
When Indiana had years of great talent in numbers, IU always got their share. Like in the stretch from 1987-91 - IU got 4 of the 6 individuals named Mr. Basketball and hauled in 10 Indians kids.
It's clear that 1987 was an aberration, not the norm.