Just a heads up that we'll be overhauling our message board format as early as Tuesday morning. It's much different with topic only view. Tons of great new features but it will bring a real adjustment period.
To get an idea what is in store, our Rivals main boards have already made the switch here:
Main boards
We'll have many more resources out by Tuesday to help with the transition.
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Another chance to catch Thomas Bryant on television tonight as he suits up for the East team in the Jordan Brand Classic game to be aired by ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET. That game is being played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
While Indiana hasn't announced that his letter of intent is in hand (signing period began Wednesday), he's been in Brooklyn for this All-Star game since Wednesday. Huntington Prep coach Arkell Bruce told our Jeff Rabjohns this morning that Bryant will be sending his signed LOI later today.
Feedback from practice play in Brooklyn is very positive for Bryant. Seems to have cemented himself into five-star territory, which would now make it five straight years that IU has signed a five-star prospect (Zeller, Ferrell, Vonleh, Blackmon, Bryant).
Several people have asked via email, twitter and on the boards about Bryant playing in more than two All-Star games. That rule was changed a couple years ago. Here's some notes on that legislative change that didn't really come into effect until last spring: All-star game rule change
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Some of the more newsy things to come out of our Dallas and Hampton trips last week:
Dallas - Rawle Alkins saying Indiana is giving him the most love among schools right now and his statement that he would like to sign very late, possibly as late as Jaylen Brown and Brandon Ingram are doing this year. Those are two of the four five-star ranked uncommitted players right now from the Class of 2015.
Did seem also that the presence for Alkins, Lamar Stevens and maybe others was stronger than with De'Ron Davis. Was this just the way things worked out this weekend or maybe there's a feeling that he'll be harder to land than it looked in the past? After all Steve McClain is no longer on the staff. We'll see what happens in that second eval period that begins a week from today.
Hampton - the new offer to point guard Tony Carr was big news, especially since he's a close friend and teammate of Lamar Stevens. Then I think the play of Stevens really convinced people how tough he is even though he's hard to classify as either a three or a four type forward.
The Hoosier staff watched Indianapolis Tech point guard C.J. Walker at least three times in Hampton. Indiana hasn't offered yet but seem very serious about the former Purdue commit. Walker's Spiece Indy Heat team lost all four games in Hampton but he had pretty good stats, averaging 20.8 points and 2.3 assists per game. More of a scoring, shooting point than a set up guy right now.
Another note to pass along from there is Miles Bridges mentioned IU heavily in interview with Jeff but not so much in an interview with another Rivals site colleague. Bit of a pattern with Bridges which makes it hard right now to read how serious Indiana's chances are with him, especially since he hasn't yet visited Bloomington.
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Adam Zagoria tweeted out this week that IU called on Miami-Fl transfer Manu Lecomte. Sophomore point guard who would have to sit out 2015-16. Only 5-foot-11 but solid player, averaged 7.9 points and just under two assists in 22 minutes per game. Shot 45.6 percent from the 3-pt distance. He's visiting Baylor today and a long list of schools have called on hime including Purdue and Illinois.
Speaking of transfers, if you missed the news, former IU signee Ron Patterson is coming back home to Indy to play for Jason Gardner at IUPUI. He saw very limited action in his two years at Syracuse.
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As far as Yogi Ferrell's decision a number of sources or those close to him have gone from believing he's more than likely to leave to thinking there's a good shot he'll come back for his senior season. And a consistent theme is the belief that he has yet to make up his mind.
James Blackmon Jr. has been quiet on his plans. Some think he may want to wait to see what Yogi does -- although Yogi's decision is coming only a day before the NBA deadline of April 26th.
If there's an expectation that one might not be back then this week's offer to Vincennes guard Mychal Mulder really makes sense. He's a terrific shooting guard prospect. While he may not be a point guard -- if Ferrell leaves then Robert Johnson takes on the point, freeing up his off guard minutes.
Mulder will be a tough get as Creighton has been on him the longest, Kentucky is now involved and has strong connections to staff there at VU. Wichita State is expected to get a visit soon and has a good track record with junior college players. Indiana, however, has used its proximity to get over to see him as much or more than any of the other three main schools here.
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Matt Weaver has a quick football update below:
The Hoosiers will hold their 12th practice of spring ball when they play the 2015 Cream & Crimson Game tomorrow afternoon at 2 P.M. inside Memorial Stadium. Earlier this week head coach Kevin Wilson spoke about the format for the game and how they plan to divide the teams. You can check out the story we did with video on what he had to say here.
The day that Coach Wilson spoke to the media was the day that former running back Tevin Coleman and former offensive lineman Collin Rahrig worked out for NFL teams. Coleman had a very good day as he was timed in the forty yard dash at around 4.35 seconds. He also looked good doing the various drills the scouts put him through and it seems he did nothing but solidify his draft position which looks to be early to mid-second round with an outside chance of sneaking into the first round. You can watch what Coleman had to say to the media after his workout here.
Rahrig also had to postpone his pro day workout because of an injury he suffered while training following the season. He ran well for an O-lineman and he was pleased with how the day went for him. Here is video of him and Coach Wilson talking to the media after his Pro Day.
Peegs.com recently spoke to Indiana Strength & Conditioning Coach Mark Hill about training former IU players for the NFL. Coach Hill and his staff have worked with a number of former Hoosiers after their Indiana careers are over and they have done a very good job in this day and age where most guys try to go off campus to train. Coach Hill did a great job of breaking down this year's draft hopefuls from IU, as well as explaining what it is he and his staff do and how they go about working with the players. You can read that story here.
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At tomorrow's spring game Peegs.com has heard that there are expected to be around two dozen recruits in attendance with about 8-10 of those higher priority targets. We have put together a list of the names we have confirmed will be on campus this weekend either for the spring game tomorrow or for the Hoosiers' 13th practice of spring ball on Sunday. That list is on our Premium FB Board and you can see it here.
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Last weekend the Indians staff hosted one of their top cornerback targets when Hamilton, Ohio prospect A'shon Riggins made an unofficial visit to IU. The three-star recruit stayed overnight and afterwards he told Peegs.com that he had a great time. You can read more about what Riggins had to see in this story that we did on him.
Another southwestern Ohio target that is very high on IU is quarterback Peyton Ramsey from Elder H.S. in Cincinnati. After losing out on Brandon Peters the Indiana staff is still trying to find the signal-caller for this class and Ramsey could be the guy they land. The Hoosiers are joined in his top three along with Boston College and Wake Forest. He still has to visit B.C. before he decides, but his decision could happen by the end of the month. Here is the story we did on Ramsey and his thoughts on the Indiana program.
This post was edited on 4/17 11:53 AM by Peegs
To get an idea what is in store, our Rivals main boards have already made the switch here:
Main boards
We'll have many more resources out by Tuesday to help with the transition.
--------
Another chance to catch Thomas Bryant on television tonight as he suits up for the East team in the Jordan Brand Classic game to be aired by ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET. That game is being played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
While Indiana hasn't announced that his letter of intent is in hand (signing period began Wednesday), he's been in Brooklyn for this All-Star game since Wednesday. Huntington Prep coach Arkell Bruce told our Jeff Rabjohns this morning that Bryant will be sending his signed LOI later today.
Feedback from practice play in Brooklyn is very positive for Bryant. Seems to have cemented himself into five-star territory, which would now make it five straight years that IU has signed a five-star prospect (Zeller, Ferrell, Vonleh, Blackmon, Bryant).
Several people have asked via email, twitter and on the boards about Bryant playing in more than two All-Star games. That rule was changed a couple years ago. Here's some notes on that legislative change that didn't really come into effect until last spring: All-star game rule change
----------
Some of the more newsy things to come out of our Dallas and Hampton trips last week:
Dallas - Rawle Alkins saying Indiana is giving him the most love among schools right now and his statement that he would like to sign very late, possibly as late as Jaylen Brown and Brandon Ingram are doing this year. Those are two of the four five-star ranked uncommitted players right now from the Class of 2015.
Did seem also that the presence for Alkins, Lamar Stevens and maybe others was stronger than with De'Ron Davis. Was this just the way things worked out this weekend or maybe there's a feeling that he'll be harder to land than it looked in the past? After all Steve McClain is no longer on the staff. We'll see what happens in that second eval period that begins a week from today.
Hampton - the new offer to point guard Tony Carr was big news, especially since he's a close friend and teammate of Lamar Stevens. Then I think the play of Stevens really convinced people how tough he is even though he's hard to classify as either a three or a four type forward.
The Hoosier staff watched Indianapolis Tech point guard C.J. Walker at least three times in Hampton. Indiana hasn't offered yet but seem very serious about the former Purdue commit. Walker's Spiece Indy Heat team lost all four games in Hampton but he had pretty good stats, averaging 20.8 points and 2.3 assists per game. More of a scoring, shooting point than a set up guy right now.
Another note to pass along from there is Miles Bridges mentioned IU heavily in interview with Jeff but not so much in an interview with another Rivals site colleague. Bit of a pattern with Bridges which makes it hard right now to read how serious Indiana's chances are with him, especially since he hasn't yet visited Bloomington.
--------
Adam Zagoria tweeted out this week that IU called on Miami-Fl transfer Manu Lecomte. Sophomore point guard who would have to sit out 2015-16. Only 5-foot-11 but solid player, averaged 7.9 points and just under two assists in 22 minutes per game. Shot 45.6 percent from the 3-pt distance. He's visiting Baylor today and a long list of schools have called on hime including Purdue and Illinois.
Speaking of transfers, if you missed the news, former IU signee Ron Patterson is coming back home to Indy to play for Jason Gardner at IUPUI. He saw very limited action in his two years at Syracuse.
-----
As far as Yogi Ferrell's decision a number of sources or those close to him have gone from believing he's more than likely to leave to thinking there's a good shot he'll come back for his senior season. And a consistent theme is the belief that he has yet to make up his mind.
James Blackmon Jr. has been quiet on his plans. Some think he may want to wait to see what Yogi does -- although Yogi's decision is coming only a day before the NBA deadline of April 26th.
If there's an expectation that one might not be back then this week's offer to Vincennes guard Mychal Mulder really makes sense. He's a terrific shooting guard prospect. While he may not be a point guard -- if Ferrell leaves then Robert Johnson takes on the point, freeing up his off guard minutes.
Mulder will be a tough get as Creighton has been on him the longest, Kentucky is now involved and has strong connections to staff there at VU. Wichita State is expected to get a visit soon and has a good track record with junior college players. Indiana, however, has used its proximity to get over to see him as much or more than any of the other three main schools here.
----------
Matt Weaver has a quick football update below:
The Hoosiers will hold their 12th practice of spring ball when they play the 2015 Cream & Crimson Game tomorrow afternoon at 2 P.M. inside Memorial Stadium. Earlier this week head coach Kevin Wilson spoke about the format for the game and how they plan to divide the teams. You can check out the story we did with video on what he had to say here.
The day that Coach Wilson spoke to the media was the day that former running back Tevin Coleman and former offensive lineman Collin Rahrig worked out for NFL teams. Coleman had a very good day as he was timed in the forty yard dash at around 4.35 seconds. He also looked good doing the various drills the scouts put him through and it seems he did nothing but solidify his draft position which looks to be early to mid-second round with an outside chance of sneaking into the first round. You can watch what Coleman had to say to the media after his workout here.
Rahrig also had to postpone his pro day workout because of an injury he suffered while training following the season. He ran well for an O-lineman and he was pleased with how the day went for him. Here is video of him and Coach Wilson talking to the media after his Pro Day.
Peegs.com recently spoke to Indiana Strength & Conditioning Coach Mark Hill about training former IU players for the NFL. Coach Hill and his staff have worked with a number of former Hoosiers after their Indiana careers are over and they have done a very good job in this day and age where most guys try to go off campus to train. Coach Hill did a great job of breaking down this year's draft hopefuls from IU, as well as explaining what it is he and his staff do and how they go about working with the players. You can read that story here.
-----
At tomorrow's spring game Peegs.com has heard that there are expected to be around two dozen recruits in attendance with about 8-10 of those higher priority targets. We have put together a list of the names we have confirmed will be on campus this weekend either for the spring game tomorrow or for the Hoosiers' 13th practice of spring ball on Sunday. That list is on our Premium FB Board and you can see it here.
-----
Last weekend the Indians staff hosted one of their top cornerback targets when Hamilton, Ohio prospect A'shon Riggins made an unofficial visit to IU. The three-star recruit stayed overnight and afterwards he told Peegs.com that he had a great time. You can read more about what Riggins had to see in this story that we did on him.
Another southwestern Ohio target that is very high on IU is quarterback Peyton Ramsey from Elder H.S. in Cincinnati. After losing out on Brandon Peters the Indiana staff is still trying to find the signal-caller for this class and Ramsey could be the guy they land. The Hoosiers are joined in his top three along with Boston College and Wake Forest. He still has to visit B.C. before he decides, but his decision could happen by the end of the month. Here is the story we did on Ramsey and his thoughts on the Indiana program.
This post was edited on 4/17 11:53 AM by Peegs
