The most important recruiting weekend in Tom Crean’s tenure at Indiana is already netting profits.
Just not how Hoosier fans expected.
Cody
Zeller, Tyler and Luke’s younger brother and a top 25 prospect in the
class of 2011, did not commit to the Hoosiers this weekend while on his official visit, but another
Indiana native did. Hanner Perea, a 6’8″ forward with all the
measureables that make scouts drool, committed to Indiana after visiting the campus over the weekend. Perea has a 7’4″ wing span, is very athletic,
and can run the floor. While he can knock down a mid-range jump shot,
Perea is quite raw offensively, but there is enough potential for
Rivals to rank him in the top 10 in the class of 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/v/NXhYPdU1CGk?fs=1&hl=en_US
If
the name Hanner Perea sounds familiar, it should, even if you aren’t a
recruitnik; Perea, who is originally from Colombia, was the player that
Baylor assistant coach Mark Morefield was recruiting when he sent impermissible text messages.
One of those texts, sent to Perea’s high school coach, said “I
guarantee u if he does [commit to another school] he will be in
Colombia for the spring and summer and next year. Don’t forget it.”
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that he picked the Hoosiers over Baylor. (To be fair, Perea seems like the only recruit Drew has actually missed on since taking over the Baylor program.)
But I digress.
The
point is that Tom Crean is making the in roads where he needs to in
order to build this Indiana program back to the level of prestige the
Hoosier faithful expect. Specifically, he’s doing what Josh Pastner has
done in Memphis — building a wall around Indiana for other programs
looking to recruit. He needs to ensure that the talent the Hoosier
State produces become Hoosiers.
Austin Etherington, an Indiana
native and an AAU teammate of Perea and Zeller, has already committed
to Indiana as a member of the class of 2011. Ron Patterson, a 6’3″
guard from Indianapolis, and (the unfortunately named) Peter Jurkin, a
seven-footer that attends high school in Charlotte but is a member of
that same Indiana Elite AAU team as Perea, are both top-100 commits in
the class of 2012. And if we are looking forward, Crean has already
earned two commitments from top Indianans in the class of 2014.
And to top it off, the general consensus seems to be that Zeller will wind up in Bloomington.
Combine
that future with the present of Mo Creek, Christian Watford, and
Verdell Jones, and things are looking bright for the Hoosiers.
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.
