Kyrie Irving trims list to 10, will visit IU

by Alex Bozich in Recruiting | April 28th, 2009

St. Patrick’s (NJ) guard Kyrie Irving still has a sizeable list of schools to sort through — ten to be exact — but the good news for the IU coaching staff is that the Hoosiers appear to be in excellent shape.

Irving, who sat out the first part of this past high school season due to transfer rules, is viewed as one of the top priorities in the 2010 class and told Adam Zagoria of the Zagsblog that IU will definitely get a visit this summer:

Irving listed the following schools in a text message Tuesday morning: Georgia Tech, Duke, Indiana, Seton Hall, Texas A&M, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Florida, Marquette and Kentucky.

Noticeably absent were Rutgers, Villanova and UConn.

Irving will also take a couple of visits this summer.

“I’m taking one to Texas A&M and one to Indiana,” Irving said. “I don’t know the dates.”

One school to keep an eye on with Irving is Kentucky. Rod Strickland, who was recently named the Director of Basketball Operations in Lexington, is a close family friend.

Previously on ITH:

Q & A with Kyrie Irving (January 26, 2009)

(Photo credit: NJ.com)

Tags: Kyrie Irving

BobbyDigital

Stupid Kentucky. I think I hate them more than ever. Nice to hear about KI though. He'll be a good player for someone.

MikeyD

no worries bobby. cal will catch up with himself soon enuf. we have a guy who is running a clean machine. crean will win 2 or 3 in the years/decades to come...cal might sleaze one before he moves on. where is the blab?!

Kelin Blab

Kyrie .....dude.....why would you cut your list down to 10? I am cool IU is on it, but you know you are NOT going to Seton Hall or A&M, thats if you don't plan on being heard from again?

George

I would love Irving to come here...visit Bloomington, see the beautiful campus, see the plans of the new facility, see Assembly Hall and the 5 banners hanging in the rafters, meet the great coaching staff, see the cute girls, see the additional talented recruits we have coming in....really, what's not to love about IU? Make the right decision Kyrie!!

Kelin Blab

I just read Winston son Moses, could be committing to IU soon. That could be another 2010 scholly gone....#68 in 2010 class, 6'5 wing lots o up side I have read.........Dad an IU guy, I am cool with it.

MillaRed

I guess that works as long as the third scholly is a top 50, if not better. I think the reality is we're not quite hitting the big-time yet are we?

If we slither through 2011 without a Teague, Ferguson, Irving on the roster I think the writing is on the wall. We have more work to do than we thought....

BGleas

I agree. My problem with David Williams wasn't that we added a talented role player, its that usually you want to add the star first, then fill in with the role players that fit.

We seem to be adding the role players, but we need some of the players you listed to commit if we're going to take the next step.

With that said, it's early in the process and I'm sure we'll more scholarships available than we do now.

GFDave

BGleas I agree with your perspective and I too think it very likely that Crean adds 4 kids to the 2010 class. I would like to see one of the four be a bigger player, someone at least 6' 9" that can block shots and shoot it from at least 12 feet. That said, I'm very happy with the recruits Crean is bringing in, they seem like good kids that can play.

hooseyes

Another mid-size guy, hopefully Crean's got a big up his sleeve for that last scholly... although lets not forget he can oversign by one and work out the details later... Maybe he's banking on some tremendous growth and production from pritch/elston/bawa/capo?

Milla- I think (most) top 50 recruits really want to go to a school that will win and get them the exposure to be regarded highly for the nba draft... as much as I believe Crean will have us in winning ways again, he hasn't proven that he coaches a relevant, winning team yet. it may take a couple >.500 seasons before IU is an option for those that aren't as concerned about the tradition or the banners... Getting recruits like Teague/Irving/Ferguson would help as well...

MillaRed

Yes I think many of us (Milla included) have been putting the cart before the horse. There's been so much discussion over these top flight kids. It gets in your head a little.

The #68 kid in the 2010 class Kelin mentions is a great get. But I can't seem to get Teague and company out of my head.

The four bigs we have now may be enough to get him through his guard driven offense for the next 2-3 years.

tg1438

To me cutting a list to 10 means he hasn't put too much work into it yet. I too am glad to see IU on the list though. It will just be nice when Crean is able to do what Davis wasn't able to do, by getting these great players to have IU as a finalist and then choose to come IU (Luol Deng and Josh Smith would have looked great in the Cream and Crimson).

student

As far as I remember, Josh Smith committed to Indiana, but chose the NBA instead.

CraiginOR

IU basketball coach is a friend of (God, help us) the Kentucky coach, Rod Strickland is working for Kentucky.....these are obvious signs of the apocalypse. Bob once said he Knew that Joe B Hall and Kentucky cheated. I guess I am too old to get over our big chance to knock off John Wooden coached UCLA. We did play UCLA the following year an a neutral court (St Louis ) and won but Coach Wooden had retired. IU should have ended the UCLA dynasty but the injury to May and Kentucky left bad basketball karma floating around so long ....I am just too damn old to give Kentucky a break