First off it is a big weekend in the north Indy area as two shoe circuits (Nike EYBL & Under Armour Association/UAA) come to town for events in Westfield (Nike) and Fishers (UAA). In addition the Elevate Hoops circuit is also growing and will have its own event in Westfield where IU prospect Malik Williams and a few other Rivals150 players will be competing.
This will be a good test of priorities as it seems many games with IU prospects have been grouped at the same time at the EYBL event.
Both Jeff and I will be at the EYBL event tonight but plan to cover all three events over the weekend. We know a lot of fans will want to go and to help in that regard, we have thrown together a schedule for Nike EYBL and UAA for each day.
Nike EYBL (Westfield) - Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Under Armour (Fishers) - Friday | Saturday | Sunday
In addition the Elevate Hoops organization is hosting the Terrific 24 in Westfield. Hoosier '17 bigs Malik Williams (Legit Hoops) and Jack Nunge (Pocket City) will be there and facing off against each other tonight at 8:20 pm at Westfield Middle School (Ct 1).
Saturday chances to see Malik will also be at Westfield Middle School.
2:30 pm: Legit vs Wisconsin United (Ct 2)
6:00 pm: Legit vs. Southern Illinois Select (Ct 1)
Sunday is tourney play there and will update when brackets are out.
Nike EYBL is at the new Jonathan Byrd Fieldhouse in Westfield.
Directions: at Grand Park. 31 north from Indy, left (West) on 32, right at McDonald's (Wheeler road) to 186th street west, follow parking signs to lot F and G. Address is 200 E 186th St
Under Armour is at the Best Choice Fieldhouse in Fishers. That's right off I-69 at the first Fishers exit (205) heading north from Indianapolis. Address is 11825 Technology Dr.
Once change since yesterday is we took Jeremiah Tilmon off the list of players for the St. Louis Eagles due to his shoulder injury.
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The decision by Freddie McSwain comes down at 6:30 pm ET on his Neosho County CC (KS) campus this Sunday. He’s down to Kansas State and Indiana.
No leak on his leaning but the Hoosiers got the important last visit this week and K-State has been struggling the last couple seasons. The Wildcats do have an important connection as assistant Chris Lowry played with Freddie’s father at Southern Illinois and may offer more playing time opportunity. In fact we think the family is weighing starting at KSU versus coming off the bench at Indiana. Another factor is his father is very big on his son graduating and Indiana has done very well in this department under Tom Crean.
In talking this past week with some Kansas area basketball people that have seen McSwain they say he’s a really good athlete but may be closer to 6-foot-5 than the 6-foot-7 that has come up in some stories.
Does sound like he would make a logical replacement for Troy Williams and you wonder how the staff negotiate all this under the new draft rule that allows players to test things until late May. I spoke to a number of college coaches last weekend that were dealing with this issue. It’s better for the student-athlete but complicates managing the 13-scholarship limit. As things stand right now, assuming Troy Williams returns, Indiana is at the 13-scholarship max for next season.
Have heard from a couple different sources that NBA Combine invites get voted on April 26 (this coming Tuesday). Players will know by April 29th if they received a combine invite. The Chicago combine is May 11-15 and players have until May 25 to pull out of the draft if they have not hired an agent.
Should add that it is not really a hard vote like an election. From what we’ve heard, each club send the players they’d like to see and the league makes the final calls.
The combine has usually taken about 60 players but hearing they may take on 70-80 this year due to the new rules bringing in so many more guys with long term NBA potential.
Certainly not a surprise that OG Anunoby did not put his name in this year. But there was some investigative work or consideration there which obviously could be a hint that he may go next year if he has a big sophomore season.
You can tell Indiana is making a strong big man push this month with the recent offer to Zach Kent and the aggressive pursuit of NYC area 5-star bigs Mohamed Bamba and Nick Richards. Jeremiah Tilmon also mentioned IU quite a bit to us recently. The fact that IU may be in Richards’ top four was a bit of a surprise and maybe an indication of real progress made already this spring.
People have asked consistently in chat who may be the most likely next get for Indiana in the Class of 2017. Today would guess Paul Scruggs, especially now that it doesn’t look like his recruitment will expand to Kentucky and maybe Kansas. Kris Wilkes is a little harder to gauge as his academics and 5-star status gives him a host of options and he knows that and is taking his time. Call it a Cody Zeller type approach and opportunity.
Fair amount of Michigan State talk of late with Malik Williams but we’ll talk to him in Indy this weekend to see if we can continue to believe that IU is in as good of position as anyone. Iowa could be a sleeper here as Fran McCaffery has really made Williams a priority.
Not sure everyone here realizes that Indiana has put itself into outstanding position with a rising five-star point guard. We’re talking Darius Garland from the Nashville area. His family is from Indiana and he lived there until three years ago. More importantly he was in Assembly Hall for the big Senior Day win over Maryland. The only downside here is he’s just a 2018 or junior-to-be. Suppose you can nitpick his size but his play this month has most moving or expected to move him up to a five-star level ranking.
Between Garland, Robert Phinisee, Jonathan Kabongo and a couple others, have to think Indiana will land a very good point guard
In case you missed the news on Australian point guard William McDowell-White, he chose Fresno State this week. Surprised some but a lot of Aussies have been going to West Coast schools and Bulldogs coming off a very good season.
As far Spike Albrecht, I know there were rumors of him being in town for Little 500 but that may mean nothing. There seems to be some interest, maybe more with the Aussie out of the equation but Purdue and others may need him more. Being an in-state kid and seeing what Max Bielfeldt did in Bloomington, not surprising that there’s talk in the Region that he’s very interested in Indiana.
Not a lot to add on Romeo Langford but he did blow up as we have been expecting. This weekend may change my mind but of the current belief is he could be headed to becoming the top ranked non-big man in the Class of 2018. That would put him squarely in one and done territory.
This will be a good test of priorities as it seems many games with IU prospects have been grouped at the same time at the EYBL event.
Both Jeff and I will be at the EYBL event tonight but plan to cover all three events over the weekend. We know a lot of fans will want to go and to help in that regard, we have thrown together a schedule for Nike EYBL and UAA for each day.
Nike EYBL (Westfield) - Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Under Armour (Fishers) - Friday | Saturday | Sunday
In addition the Elevate Hoops organization is hosting the Terrific 24 in Westfield. Hoosier '17 bigs Malik Williams (Legit Hoops) and Jack Nunge (Pocket City) will be there and facing off against each other tonight at 8:20 pm at Westfield Middle School (Ct 1).
Saturday chances to see Malik will also be at Westfield Middle School.
2:30 pm: Legit vs Wisconsin United (Ct 2)
6:00 pm: Legit vs. Southern Illinois Select (Ct 1)
Sunday is tourney play there and will update when brackets are out.
Nike EYBL is at the new Jonathan Byrd Fieldhouse in Westfield.
Directions: at Grand Park. 31 north from Indy, left (West) on 32, right at McDonald's (Wheeler road) to 186th street west, follow parking signs to lot F and G. Address is 200 E 186th St
Under Armour is at the Best Choice Fieldhouse in Fishers. That's right off I-69 at the first Fishers exit (205) heading north from Indianapolis. Address is 11825 Technology Dr.
Once change since yesterday is we took Jeremiah Tilmon off the list of players for the St. Louis Eagles due to his shoulder injury.
————
The decision by Freddie McSwain comes down at 6:30 pm ET on his Neosho County CC (KS) campus this Sunday. He’s down to Kansas State and Indiana.
No leak on his leaning but the Hoosiers got the important last visit this week and K-State has been struggling the last couple seasons. The Wildcats do have an important connection as assistant Chris Lowry played with Freddie’s father at Southern Illinois and may offer more playing time opportunity. In fact we think the family is weighing starting at KSU versus coming off the bench at Indiana. Another factor is his father is very big on his son graduating and Indiana has done very well in this department under Tom Crean.
In talking this past week with some Kansas area basketball people that have seen McSwain they say he’s a really good athlete but may be closer to 6-foot-5 than the 6-foot-7 that has come up in some stories.
Does sound like he would make a logical replacement for Troy Williams and you wonder how the staff negotiate all this under the new draft rule that allows players to test things until late May. I spoke to a number of college coaches last weekend that were dealing with this issue. It’s better for the student-athlete but complicates managing the 13-scholarship limit. As things stand right now, assuming Troy Williams returns, Indiana is at the 13-scholarship max for next season.
Have heard from a couple different sources that NBA Combine invites get voted on April 26 (this coming Tuesday). Players will know by April 29th if they received a combine invite. The Chicago combine is May 11-15 and players have until May 25 to pull out of the draft if they have not hired an agent.
Should add that it is not really a hard vote like an election. From what we’ve heard, each club send the players they’d like to see and the league makes the final calls.
The combine has usually taken about 60 players but hearing they may take on 70-80 this year due to the new rules bringing in so many more guys with long term NBA potential.
Certainly not a surprise that OG Anunoby did not put his name in this year. But there was some investigative work or consideration there which obviously could be a hint that he may go next year if he has a big sophomore season.
You can tell Indiana is making a strong big man push this month with the recent offer to Zach Kent and the aggressive pursuit of NYC area 5-star bigs Mohamed Bamba and Nick Richards. Jeremiah Tilmon also mentioned IU quite a bit to us recently. The fact that IU may be in Richards’ top four was a bit of a surprise and maybe an indication of real progress made already this spring.
People have asked consistently in chat who may be the most likely next get for Indiana in the Class of 2017. Today would guess Paul Scruggs, especially now that it doesn’t look like his recruitment will expand to Kentucky and maybe Kansas. Kris Wilkes is a little harder to gauge as his academics and 5-star status gives him a host of options and he knows that and is taking his time. Call it a Cody Zeller type approach and opportunity.
Fair amount of Michigan State talk of late with Malik Williams but we’ll talk to him in Indy this weekend to see if we can continue to believe that IU is in as good of position as anyone. Iowa could be a sleeper here as Fran McCaffery has really made Williams a priority.
Not sure everyone here realizes that Indiana has put itself into outstanding position with a rising five-star point guard. We’re talking Darius Garland from the Nashville area. His family is from Indiana and he lived there until three years ago. More importantly he was in Assembly Hall for the big Senior Day win over Maryland. The only downside here is he’s just a 2018 or junior-to-be. Suppose you can nitpick his size but his play this month has most moving or expected to move him up to a five-star level ranking.
Between Garland, Robert Phinisee, Jonathan Kabongo and a couple others, have to think Indiana will land a very good point guard
In case you missed the news on Australian point guard William McDowell-White, he chose Fresno State this week. Surprised some but a lot of Aussies have been going to West Coast schools and Bulldogs coming off a very good season.
As far Spike Albrecht, I know there were rumors of him being in town for Little 500 but that may mean nothing. There seems to be some interest, maybe more with the Aussie out of the equation but Purdue and others may need him more. Being an in-state kid and seeing what Max Bielfeldt did in Bloomington, not surprising that there’s talk in the Region that he’s very interested in Indiana.
Not a lot to add on Romeo Langford but he did blow up as we have been expecting. This weekend may change my mind but of the current belief is he could be headed to becoming the top ranked non-big man in the Class of 2018. That would put him squarely in one and done territory.
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