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
Couple of new offers this week, plus a couple of roundup notes.
Stu Jackson / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
The big news from a team standpoint was former IU center Thomas Bryant's decision to sign with an agent and keep his name in consideration for this summer's NBA Draft, forgoing his final two seasons of eligibility at Indiana.
Bryant will also participate in the 5-on-5 portion of next week's draft combine, scheduled for May 9-14 in Chicago.
You won't see projected first round picks participating in that part of the combine. The live scrimmages are meant to help fringe players (read: projected second round picks) potentially boost their draft stock. Last year, Kansas' Cheick Diallo, Virginia's Malcolm Brogdon, Maryland's Melo Trimble, Iowa State's Georges Niang and Oakland's Kay Felder - all future second round picks last summer - participated in 5-on-5 at the combine.
With Bryant and former IU forward OG Anunoby having signed with agents, that leaves two Hoosiers who still have decisions to make: junior guards James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson. Both players declared without hiring representation, which means they have until May 24 to decide whether they want to keep their names in consideration for the draft or return to school.
It's hard to tell which way Blackmon and Johnson are leaning. IU head coach Archie Miller said all four of IU's NBA declarers were going to start taking a deeper dive into the draft process once the semester ends, and the semester wraps up this week. Just because Blackmon and Johnson didn't get invited to the combine doesn't mean they still can't get a better sense of where they stand. NBA teams could invite them to private workouts and evaluate them in that environment. Last year, former IU guard Yogi Ferrell participated in pre-draft workouts with 12 NBA teams by June 6. Again, though, the key date to remember for Blackmon and Johnson is May 24, which means they'll have 19 more days to make a decision.
Regarding recruiting, as Rivals National Basketball Analyst Eric Bossi told me on the podcast Thursday, 2018 four-star forward and IU target Cole Swider will get a sizable boost in the next Rivals150 rankings for his class after how well he played this spring. The 6-foot-8, 190-pound Swider averaged 20.6 points and 6.0 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game as a starter for Boston Amateur Basketball Club on the Nike EYBL circuit across eight games last month. Swider also shot 49.6 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from 3-point range, while his scoring average ranks ninth among all players in the EYBL.
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Sam Beishuizen / Football Beat & Recruiting News
If you’ve been keeping tabs on our daily recruiting updates, you’ll have noticed that Indiana continues to extend about half a dozen scholarship offers each day. That doesn’t appear to be slowing down, either.
IU linebackers coach William Inge was out and about in the state of Indiana checking out a few prospects and extending offers to the likes of 2019 Indianapolis cornerback Larry Smith, who called the Hoosiers a “dream offer.”
If this begins to sound like a broken record, we apologize, but Indiana is clearly laying out a large net to get in on a wide range of players. That’s why we’re seeing a handful of 2019 and 2018 prospects alike getting offers.
In terms of a potential new commitment, nobody really stands out right now. That’s not to say that one might not pop up out of nowhere much like the previous few did, but in terms of clear-cut guys there really isn’t anyone jumping out.
The closest thing appears to be three-star tight end TJ Ivy, who remains high on the Hoosiers. He continues to say he is interested in what’s going on in Bloomington, but he doesn’t seem to be the type of player to pull the trigger before summer. He’ll want to check out a few more schools still.
One name that still intrigues me is Luca Diamont, the younger brother of former Hoosier quarterback Zander Diamont. Luca is a 6-foot-2, 175-pound pro-style quarterback in the class of 2020. Hes got offers form North Texas and Utah State already, and Zander told me Monday on my radio show that he’s really excited about Luca’s future.
Perhaps a second Diamont winds up coming to Indiana? He’ll at least give the Hoosiers thought if they choose to offer. That’s just something to keep an eye on.
Another significant note came earlier this week when, in an interview with the Tennessee Rivals site, IU 2018 receiver commit Cam Jones made it clear he’s still open to other schools despite his verbal pledge to IU. The reporter with Tennessee’s site mentioned Jones’s heritage and connection to the Volunteers (his older brother played there) and Jones got a bit sentimental remembering going to those games.
Jones picked IU over Tennessee already, so I wouldn’t exactly worry about this type of talk. But it would have been nice for him to shut things down if you’re an Indiana fan. However, Jones is clearly just doing himself the favor of checking out all of his options.
Jordan Wells / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
Couple of new offers this week, plus a couple of roundup notes.
- Luguentz Dort - This junior played really well in front of IU during the first live period, and thus, now they have offered him. A ton of schools seem to be jumping into this recruitment so we’ll see what happens. Florida among others reportedly has done a lot of work here. But he’s got a nice upper build, tough, can shoot - everything Archie Miller likes. The 6-4, 190-pound four-star from Orlando (Fla.) Conrad Academy is ranked as the No. 38 player nationally.
- Race Thompson - IU also offered this D1 Minnesota forward this week. We’ve got a story about his recruitment, as well as some new video and scouting notes that showcases his strengths. Tom Ostrom is connected here - he graduated from Minnesota, and helped Dayton sign Minnesota native McKinley Wright (who also played for D1 Minnesota) in the 2017 cycle. His dad played football at Minnesota, and the Gophers have been recruiting him a long time, so that’s something to note. The 6-8, 200-pound forward is ranked as the No. 116 player nationally in 2018.
- Cole Swider - Junior four-star forward cut his list to eight schools, including IU, who just jumped in with an offer after his play in the first live period. This kid is a great fit for IU and what Archie wants to do, and I think they see that, which helps IU gets in the recruitment. A lot of the other schools that made this cut have been on Swider a while, so this won’t be an easy one to win, but I give IU a shot here and think this is a recruitment to track going forward. The 6-8, 190-pound forward is ranked as the No. 90 player nationally in 2018, but Rivals national analyst Eric Bossi said we should see him get a big bump next rankings release.
- Other targets - For thoughts on many of IU’s targets from the live period weekend in Indianapolis, make sure you read my post from Monday - LINK.
- Updating the 2018 hot board - I plan to try to do this in the next week, hopefully earlier than later. Right now we have Rob Phinisee at the top, but based on his play this spring in front of IU I might have to bring him down. I’m considering bumping Darius Garland up high, and Swider will make his debut pretty high. We’ve got Musa Jallow No. 2 currently and he’ll probably hang around that area - he’s a great fit for Archie, and it’s curious that UVa hasn’t had a big presence at his games.
- Run N Slam - Nice event going on in Fort Wayne this weekend. Musa Jallow, Eric Hunter, Keion Brooks among others will be in-attendance. I’ll have a preview up this afternoon, so check back for that. If you want to go ahead and read the schedule, check it out here - LINK.
Stu Jackson / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
The big news from a team standpoint was former IU center Thomas Bryant's decision to sign with an agent and keep his name in consideration for this summer's NBA Draft, forgoing his final two seasons of eligibility at Indiana.
Bryant will also participate in the 5-on-5 portion of next week's draft combine, scheduled for May 9-14 in Chicago.
You won't see projected first round picks participating in that part of the combine. The live scrimmages are meant to help fringe players (read: projected second round picks) potentially boost their draft stock. Last year, Kansas' Cheick Diallo, Virginia's Malcolm Brogdon, Maryland's Melo Trimble, Iowa State's Georges Niang and Oakland's Kay Felder - all future second round picks last summer - participated in 5-on-5 at the combine.
With Bryant and former IU forward OG Anunoby having signed with agents, that leaves two Hoosiers who still have decisions to make: junior guards James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson. Both players declared without hiring representation, which means they have until May 24 to decide whether they want to keep their names in consideration for the draft or return to school.
It's hard to tell which way Blackmon and Johnson are leaning. IU head coach Archie Miller said all four of IU's NBA declarers were going to start taking a deeper dive into the draft process once the semester ends, and the semester wraps up this week. Just because Blackmon and Johnson didn't get invited to the combine doesn't mean they still can't get a better sense of where they stand. NBA teams could invite them to private workouts and evaluate them in that environment. Last year, former IU guard Yogi Ferrell participated in pre-draft workouts with 12 NBA teams by June 6. Again, though, the key date to remember for Blackmon and Johnson is May 24, which means they'll have 19 more days to make a decision.
Regarding recruiting, as Rivals National Basketball Analyst Eric Bossi told me on the podcast Thursday, 2018 four-star forward and IU target Cole Swider will get a sizable boost in the next Rivals150 rankings for his class after how well he played this spring. The 6-foot-8, 190-pound Swider averaged 20.6 points and 6.0 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game as a starter for Boston Amateur Basketball Club on the Nike EYBL circuit across eight games last month. Swider also shot 49.6 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from 3-point range, while his scoring average ranks ninth among all players in the EYBL.
------------
Sam Beishuizen / Football Beat & Recruiting News
If you’ve been keeping tabs on our daily recruiting updates, you’ll have noticed that Indiana continues to extend about half a dozen scholarship offers each day. That doesn’t appear to be slowing down, either.
IU linebackers coach William Inge was out and about in the state of Indiana checking out a few prospects and extending offers to the likes of 2019 Indianapolis cornerback Larry Smith, who called the Hoosiers a “dream offer.”
If this begins to sound like a broken record, we apologize, but Indiana is clearly laying out a large net to get in on a wide range of players. That’s why we’re seeing a handful of 2019 and 2018 prospects alike getting offers.
In terms of a potential new commitment, nobody really stands out right now. That’s not to say that one might not pop up out of nowhere much like the previous few did, but in terms of clear-cut guys there really isn’t anyone jumping out.
The closest thing appears to be three-star tight end TJ Ivy, who remains high on the Hoosiers. He continues to say he is interested in what’s going on in Bloomington, but he doesn’t seem to be the type of player to pull the trigger before summer. He’ll want to check out a few more schools still.
One name that still intrigues me is Luca Diamont, the younger brother of former Hoosier quarterback Zander Diamont. Luca is a 6-foot-2, 175-pound pro-style quarterback in the class of 2020. Hes got offers form North Texas and Utah State already, and Zander told me Monday on my radio show that he’s really excited about Luca’s future.
Perhaps a second Diamont winds up coming to Indiana? He’ll at least give the Hoosiers thought if they choose to offer. That’s just something to keep an eye on.
Another significant note came earlier this week when, in an interview with the Tennessee Rivals site, IU 2018 receiver commit Cam Jones made it clear he’s still open to other schools despite his verbal pledge to IU. The reporter with Tennessee’s site mentioned Jones’s heritage and connection to the Volunteers (his older brother played there) and Jones got a bit sentimental remembering going to those games.
Jones picked IU over Tennessee already, so I wouldn’t exactly worry about this type of talk. But it would have been nice for him to shut things down if you’re an Indiana fan. However, Jones is clearly just doing himself the favor of checking out all of his options.
