Welcome to The Hoosier Insider, our weekly rundown of IU basketball and football news, notes and recruiting. Let's get to it:
Jordan Wells / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
This week started with five-star forward Kris Wilkes cutting his list to five on Sunday, including Indiana, Illinois, UCLA, Xavier and UConn in no order (LINK). The only visit set at this time for the Indianapolis North Central standout - ranked as the No. 17 player nationally - is UCLA Sept. 22-24.
Where do thing stand with Wilkes? We broke that down into tiers, feeling Indiana and Xavier at the top, followed by UCLA, and then those three followed by Illinois and UConn.
The interesting thing about Xavier is until Indianapolis Southport four-star Paul Scruggs - a 6-3, 190-pound guard ranked as the No. 33 player nationally - makes it through his other visits to Illinois, UConn and maybe Michigan State, and/or schedules a return trip to Indiana, it feels like Xavier could be his pick.
Scruggs and Wilkes, as most know, played AAU ball together with the Indy Hoosiers on the Under Armour Association circuit and remain close friends. Coincidentally (or not,) they have Illinois, UConn, Xavier and Indiana all in common on their final list of schools.
Despite that, the two are not a package deal. They are making independent decisions. But if Scruggs pops for Xavier, that certainly doesn’t hurt the Musketeers chances with Wilkes.
It should be interesting to see how it plays out.
Speaking of future visits for targets like Wilkes and Scruggs, I put together a future visitors list this week that’s pinned to the top of our premium page. The title of the thread includes an updated date to let readers know when anything has changed.
The post is organized both by name and date, so fans can quickly find either a specific target they want visit information about, OR an upcoming date/weekend to watch.
You can find that list here - LINK.
Three-star guard Alex Barcello - a 6-2, 165-pound guard from Tempe (Ariz.) Corona Del Sol, who’s ranked as the No. 123 player nationally - is looking to take an official visit to Indiana over the Sept. 17 weekend, his father Edward Barcello told us on Thursday.
I will have a full story up with his comments later today. He’s scheduled an official visit to Arizona Aug. 25-27, and he’s already been to the in-state campus twice unofficially, so there’s a chance they don’t make it all the way to the IU visit if he decides he likes the Wildcats enough. But if he doesn’t pop for Arizona, that’s the date they’re looking at.
Meanwhile, I continue to feel good about where Indiana currently stands with four-star South Kent (Conn.) High guard Tremont Waters The 5-11, 160-pound guard is ranked as the No. 39 player nationally. Louisville picked up a point guard commitment this week, which could have a ripple effect on Waters’ top list of schools. I broke that down here - LINK.
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Stu Jackson / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
Arguably the biggest news of the week was the confirmation of four-star forward De’Ron Davis’ arrival. His head coach at Overland High School, Danny Fisher, confirmed to TheHoosier.com that Davis is expected to arrived on Sunday, Aug. 21, the day before IU’s fall classes begin. Davis, 6-foot-10, 235 pounds, is IU’s highest-rated signee in the 2016 class. He had to finish up some summer coursework back home in Aurora, Colorado before arriving in Bloomington. Story can be found here.
Another IU newcomer already arrived within the last week. Like Davis, JUCO transfer forward Freddie McSwain Jr. also had to take summer classes to fulfill academic obligations. McSwain, 6-6, 220 pounds, arrived on Sunday, Aug. 14. IU’s other members of its 2016 signing class - two-star guard Grant Gelon, three-star guard Devonte Green and four-star guard Curtis Jones - all arrived in Bloomington and enrolled at IU in early June, allowing them to take part in the team’s summer workouts.
In other team news, sophomore center Thomas Bryant was named a first team All-American by Blue Ribbon this week, one of five players to earn the distinction. He was also one of three players from the Big Ten to be recognized as an All-American by the college basketball yearbook, joining Maryland’s Melo Trimble and Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes.
Former IU center Cody Zeller sat down for an on-camera interview about his summer and offseason for the Charlotte Hornets’ official website. He appears to be firmly entrenched as the Hornets’ full-time starting center this season after moving between that and the forward position last year. We put together a transcript of Zeller’s responses here.
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Sam Beishuizen / Football Beat & Recruiting News
Indiana's staff remained active on the recruiting trail this week, flipping Harry Crider from Virginia. The two-star offensive lineman out of Columbus, Indiana, might end up ranked higher than he currently is. He picked up a really late offer from Indiana, just getting in the weekend before he committed, but decided to come to Bloomington because it's his "dream school."
There's a few things I like about this commitment. First, it's another big man. This is the Hoosiers' third offensive lineman to commit in 2017. That's a good thing by itself. Crider seems like a driven kid who really wanted to play football at Indiana. Those are the kinds of kids you want to keep.
Secondly, it's telling that Indiana could wait on offering him so so late into the process but still wind up getting him to flip from another Power Five school in Virginia. The Hoosiers have been the victim of this in previous years, but not with Crider. The fact that the staff could wait so long, offer and still pick up an in-state talent says the program resonates with kids enough to make them rethink decisions. That's a good sign for Kevin Wilson.
Thirdly, that's commit number six from the state of Indiana. We've said this before, but that's a good sign for Wilson. You can't go winning too much talent out of state before you win it in the state. Wilson is starting to do just that.
A new name I hadn’t heard much about until just recently, 2018 CB Kalon Gervin, was high on the Hoosiers, according to our Josh Helmholdt. The Hoosiers offered him Aug. 3.
Apart from that commitment, we're still kind of at that "wait and see" point of the cycle. High school seasons started today in Indiana, meaning a lot of these kids are going to be busy there. We might have a few weeks until the next commitment if school and the high school season starts to become the priority.
In team news, all I can really say is "We're gettin' there." Classes start Monday and then game week begins the week after that, so fall practice seems to be coming to a close.
You'll notice our position previews have been rolling out. Every day, we're releasing a more traditional position preview story you've probably all seen before, a Q&A piece with a player talking mostly things that aren't football related and an analysis of the position group. Nobody is going to cover Indiana football with as much enthusiasm and content than TheHoosier. And that's something I'm really proud of. (Okay, I'm done selling that. Moving on...)
A pair of big news pieces came out this week, the first of which is that J-Shun Harris was lost for the season after suffering an ACL injury. You'll recall that the redshirt sophomore receiver did the same thing last summer and missed all of last year. This time, it was his OTHER knee. That's a really unfortunate break for a kid who was going to push Mitchell Paige for time in the slot and have an impact on the kick return/punt return game.
The other big news was that Richard Lagow appears to be out front of the quarterback race, Wilson said Monday. He cautioned that the leader could change, but I'm working under the assumption that Lagow starts week one against Florida International. But I'd bet lots of money that I don't have that we see a healthy amount of Zander Diamont in that game as well. In fact, I'm willing to predict we even get a Danny Cameron appearance. I think all three are going to get a chance to lead the offense at once point within the first couple of weeks. I think that's a mix of one guy not standing out and Wilson wanting to see how they play when the bullets are flying by.
From what teammates have said, Lagow is starting to ACT like a starting quarterback. That is, he's leading the practice lines and trying to be a vocal leader in the room. I still think Diamont gives the Hoosiers a bit of a gimmicky factor with his dual-threat ability that could win games. As I've said on this board, I'm not sure it's fair to judge him on what he did as a true freshman when he CLEARLY wasn't ready to play. Cameron has been the biggest surprise of camp to me. The fact that he's hung around as long as he had when maybe a few of us, myself included, figured he would be a non-factor is impressive. He's got the arm and is a coach's kid. The more I see him throw, the more confident I'd be in him.
I’m going to guess that Wilson doesn't name a starter until game week at this point. There's no benefit in him naming one next week, at least publicly. Might as well keep Ron Turner and the rest of FIU guessing, right?
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Jordan Wells / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
This week started with five-star forward Kris Wilkes cutting his list to five on Sunday, including Indiana, Illinois, UCLA, Xavier and UConn in no order (LINK). The only visit set at this time for the Indianapolis North Central standout - ranked as the No. 17 player nationally - is UCLA Sept. 22-24.
Where do thing stand with Wilkes? We broke that down into tiers, feeling Indiana and Xavier at the top, followed by UCLA, and then those three followed by Illinois and UConn.
The interesting thing about Xavier is until Indianapolis Southport four-star Paul Scruggs - a 6-3, 190-pound guard ranked as the No. 33 player nationally - makes it through his other visits to Illinois, UConn and maybe Michigan State, and/or schedules a return trip to Indiana, it feels like Xavier could be his pick.
Scruggs and Wilkes, as most know, played AAU ball together with the Indy Hoosiers on the Under Armour Association circuit and remain close friends. Coincidentally (or not,) they have Illinois, UConn, Xavier and Indiana all in common on their final list of schools.
Despite that, the two are not a package deal. They are making independent decisions. But if Scruggs pops for Xavier, that certainly doesn’t hurt the Musketeers chances with Wilkes.
It should be interesting to see how it plays out.
Speaking of future visits for targets like Wilkes and Scruggs, I put together a future visitors list this week that’s pinned to the top of our premium page. The title of the thread includes an updated date to let readers know when anything has changed.
The post is organized both by name and date, so fans can quickly find either a specific target they want visit information about, OR an upcoming date/weekend to watch.
You can find that list here - LINK.
Three-star guard Alex Barcello - a 6-2, 165-pound guard from Tempe (Ariz.) Corona Del Sol, who’s ranked as the No. 123 player nationally - is looking to take an official visit to Indiana over the Sept. 17 weekend, his father Edward Barcello told us on Thursday.
I will have a full story up with his comments later today. He’s scheduled an official visit to Arizona Aug. 25-27, and he’s already been to the in-state campus twice unofficially, so there’s a chance they don’t make it all the way to the IU visit if he decides he likes the Wildcats enough. But if he doesn’t pop for Arizona, that’s the date they’re looking at.
Meanwhile, I continue to feel good about where Indiana currently stands with four-star South Kent (Conn.) High guard Tremont Waters The 5-11, 160-pound guard is ranked as the No. 39 player nationally. Louisville picked up a point guard commitment this week, which could have a ripple effect on Waters’ top list of schools. I broke that down here - LINK.
----------------------------
Stu Jackson / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
Arguably the biggest news of the week was the confirmation of four-star forward De’Ron Davis’ arrival. His head coach at Overland High School, Danny Fisher, confirmed to TheHoosier.com that Davis is expected to arrived on Sunday, Aug. 21, the day before IU’s fall classes begin. Davis, 6-foot-10, 235 pounds, is IU’s highest-rated signee in the 2016 class. He had to finish up some summer coursework back home in Aurora, Colorado before arriving in Bloomington. Story can be found here.
Another IU newcomer already arrived within the last week. Like Davis, JUCO transfer forward Freddie McSwain Jr. also had to take summer classes to fulfill academic obligations. McSwain, 6-6, 220 pounds, arrived on Sunday, Aug. 14. IU’s other members of its 2016 signing class - two-star guard Grant Gelon, three-star guard Devonte Green and four-star guard Curtis Jones - all arrived in Bloomington and enrolled at IU in early June, allowing them to take part in the team’s summer workouts.
In other team news, sophomore center Thomas Bryant was named a first team All-American by Blue Ribbon this week, one of five players to earn the distinction. He was also one of three players from the Big Ten to be recognized as an All-American by the college basketball yearbook, joining Maryland’s Melo Trimble and Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes.
Former IU center Cody Zeller sat down for an on-camera interview about his summer and offseason for the Charlotte Hornets’ official website. He appears to be firmly entrenched as the Hornets’ full-time starting center this season after moving between that and the forward position last year. We put together a transcript of Zeller’s responses here.
------------------------
Sam Beishuizen / Football Beat & Recruiting News
Indiana's staff remained active on the recruiting trail this week, flipping Harry Crider from Virginia. The two-star offensive lineman out of Columbus, Indiana, might end up ranked higher than he currently is. He picked up a really late offer from Indiana, just getting in the weekend before he committed, but decided to come to Bloomington because it's his "dream school."
There's a few things I like about this commitment. First, it's another big man. This is the Hoosiers' third offensive lineman to commit in 2017. That's a good thing by itself. Crider seems like a driven kid who really wanted to play football at Indiana. Those are the kinds of kids you want to keep.
Secondly, it's telling that Indiana could wait on offering him so so late into the process but still wind up getting him to flip from another Power Five school in Virginia. The Hoosiers have been the victim of this in previous years, but not with Crider. The fact that the staff could wait so long, offer and still pick up an in-state talent says the program resonates with kids enough to make them rethink decisions. That's a good sign for Kevin Wilson.
Thirdly, that's commit number six from the state of Indiana. We've said this before, but that's a good sign for Wilson. You can't go winning too much talent out of state before you win it in the state. Wilson is starting to do just that.
A new name I hadn’t heard much about until just recently, 2018 CB Kalon Gervin, was high on the Hoosiers, according to our Josh Helmholdt. The Hoosiers offered him Aug. 3.
Apart from that commitment, we're still kind of at that "wait and see" point of the cycle. High school seasons started today in Indiana, meaning a lot of these kids are going to be busy there. We might have a few weeks until the next commitment if school and the high school season starts to become the priority.
In team news, all I can really say is "We're gettin' there." Classes start Monday and then game week begins the week after that, so fall practice seems to be coming to a close.
You'll notice our position previews have been rolling out. Every day, we're releasing a more traditional position preview story you've probably all seen before, a Q&A piece with a player talking mostly things that aren't football related and an analysis of the position group. Nobody is going to cover Indiana football with as much enthusiasm and content than TheHoosier. And that's something I'm really proud of. (Okay, I'm done selling that. Moving on...)
A pair of big news pieces came out this week, the first of which is that J-Shun Harris was lost for the season after suffering an ACL injury. You'll recall that the redshirt sophomore receiver did the same thing last summer and missed all of last year. This time, it was his OTHER knee. That's a really unfortunate break for a kid who was going to push Mitchell Paige for time in the slot and have an impact on the kick return/punt return game.
The other big news was that Richard Lagow appears to be out front of the quarterback race, Wilson said Monday. He cautioned that the leader could change, but I'm working under the assumption that Lagow starts week one against Florida International. But I'd bet lots of money that I don't have that we see a healthy amount of Zander Diamont in that game as well. In fact, I'm willing to predict we even get a Danny Cameron appearance. I think all three are going to get a chance to lead the offense at once point within the first couple of weeks. I think that's a mix of one guy not standing out and Wilson wanting to see how they play when the bullets are flying by.
From what teammates have said, Lagow is starting to ACT like a starting quarterback. That is, he's leading the practice lines and trying to be a vocal leader in the room. I still think Diamont gives the Hoosiers a bit of a gimmicky factor with his dual-threat ability that could win games. As I've said on this board, I'm not sure it's fair to judge him on what he did as a true freshman when he CLEARLY wasn't ready to play. Cameron has been the biggest surprise of camp to me. The fact that he's hung around as long as he had when maybe a few of us, myself included, figured he would be a non-factor is impressive. He's got the arm and is a coach's kid. The more I see him throw, the more confident I'd be in him.
I’m going to guess that Wilson doesn't name a starter until game week at this point. There's no benefit in him naming one next week, at least publicly. Might as well keep Ron Turner and the rest of FIU guessing, right?
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