What about Naadir Tharpe? This could be a solid point guard for the Hoosiers if Coach Crean and company got invloved quickly.

Not knocking Goff, but he would be more of a role-player member of our team than, say, Zeller or Perea… which would further delay IU’s resurgence. One of the reasons I was all about getting BJY is because he would bring immediate high-level talent into our program. He wouldn’t have started on day one, but his contributions would’ve been more than the average frosh (and I’m guessing more than the likes of JDavis), thus hurrying our return to NCAA tourney regularity. Missing out on CZ will further hinder that return.

I’m in love with the 2012 class, but if we have to wait until 2012 to get serious talent, then this “rebuilding” phase will be longer than expected.

Ship has sailed. I believe he’s already starting taking visits to the five schools on his list.

Kelin Farrell has a nice ring to it, seeing as Yogi’s name is Kevin Farrell. Just a suggestion

Absolutely, Yogi is a must get. DSR is a close second. We need a PG in 2012. Remember, we (most likely) won’t be getting a PG in 2011, so that really emphasizes the need for one in 2012. When the 2012 class roll in, the only true PG on our current roster would be Hulls… (and some question whether or not he is a true big ten PG anyway).If we could get a high ranked PG in 2012, he would certainly see a ton of early playing time on our squad (I’m looking at you, Yogi).

Alex- what about Alex Murphy? Demling yesterday listed him as an IU and UK 2012 target , ranked 11. Any chance?

What about Jordan Hulls!! I remember word coming out that he was becomming leader in every way this off season. I think if he works on his handle and strength (like everybody else on the team) he will be a great point. I will take my chances with a tough, smart Indiana kid who will play 4 years over a talented kid with questions and an eye on the NBA every year.

I could see Hulls Passing the tourch to Yogi in their senior/frosh yrs. Really like yogi’s game, hope he becomes a hoosier.

We do not want or need A Thomas. He plays the same position as AE, VO, and Sheehey. And, A Thomas goes to an armpit of a high school at Cincinnati Aiken. There is a reason he is not at an elite athletic and academic high school in the Queen City. Anyone ever heard of St X, LaSalle, Elder, Moeller, Colerain, Princeton, etc? Not many quality students roll out of Aiken.

Everything happens fpr a reason, now we wait a year for Yogi. He is a much better risk.

Is that a replay of the game from late July? If so, then the announcers misspoke and they meant Jurkin — and not Perea — would be committing to IU any day now.

thanks alex for the disqus link thingie. i was wondering if you could possibly write something on fan etiquette? like a lot of fans i’m facebook friends w/ a lot of the recruits and players, since they have thousands of friends anyway, they can’t possibly know everyone. plus, they probably get some pride in upping their # of friends, like a popularity contest. however, i’ve seen some fans (probably who don’t even know the players personally) write on walls belonging to the likes of AE, and yogi etc. telling them things about recruiting and basically treating the players like commidities rather than people. it kinda irks me because this kind of behavior can put negative light on IU fans to the player and public.

Azur: you are 100% right here. I’m friends with a lot of recruits also (just because I think it’s cool I guess) and I see it everyday. It makes me mad because these kids aren’t going to go to a school just because somebody wrote on their wall. It’s pointless and idiotic. Let the coaches handle the recruiting because they are the ones getting paid and it’s their job.

agree completely. i know as a fan it bugs me…i can only imagine if i was a recruit it would really annoy the hell outta me and make me not want to go to a school.

I’ve been saying this all along but it really seems that he isn’t the right fit at IU academically. Arkansas sounds like a perfect fit for him. The school is off the radar as of late for basketball and maybe he can slide by with a few less than challenging courses for a semester before he prematurely puts his name in for that next year’s draft.

This kid has no interest in an education at all. I know a lot of talented players don’t but he could at least fake it for a little while but he seems unwilling to do so and Arkansas said hey lets get this guy while we can before he actually passes a test and becomes eligible or even worse they said get someone up there to take his test for him.

This kid has had 11 years to get his schooling straight and hasn’t done it yet. What makes anyone believe he’ll do it now.

Maybe it is a failure, time will tell. A. Thomas would not put this program on another level. CZ would, Yogi could because he has the ball in his hands every possession.

One thing to think about with the non-verbal of BJ Young to IU is that despite missing out on a highly athletic and marginal academic prospect, this program is getting better. We saw several players wanting to transfer to IU. We have a JUCO player coming in this year. Maybe CTC brings in a JUCO PG next year to bridge the gap between Hulls and the next guy, hoepfully Yogi. There was a good chance that BJ would have either bolted for the $ because his family has none, or he became ineligible academically within 2 years at IU.

Did BJ even have a scholly offer? I don’t think so. CTC probably knows something we don’t and we will probably be thanking him later for not recruiting this guy.

no worries. with all the videos out there, it can get confusing. thanks to PhD for the clarification.

I don’t know how many people have been to Fayetteville but I have. It is okay but no Bloomington. I kept hearing the Dueling Banjos song in my head the whole 6 days i was there. Anyone who would pick them over IU must either not have any other options or CTC told him he was not offerring any more. Regardless we are better off. We don’t need any problem head cases. Go CTC and bring home the Zeller!

I personally think it is really important IU finds a quality player to go along with Zeller and AE and uses the oversign. Consider this: Assuming we get Zeller and we do NOT use the oversign, when Hulls’ class graduates, the team would have just 2 seniors and 2 juniors for the following season. Granted, the 2 Juniors would be very talented and I think Vic and Will will turn out to be good players as well, but look at most succesful tourney teams, you need upper classman who have been through every situation. What do you guys think?

My comments echo Taskmaster75′s.

However, I would add an additional practical difference. There is another way to get to 13 spots by Autumn of 2011 and that is not to extend all three scholarships. LoI’s bind the player, not the school. Is it likely that Crean would go this route versus deciding not to renew the scholarship of a current player or the great likelihood that someone will transfer on his own volition? No, it is not. But, if he did decide to go that route, and every underclassmen on the current team remains into next fall, it seems clear that Austin’s and Cody’s scholarships are the ones that would be kept. All holy heck would break out in this state, were Crean to withdraw Austin’s or Cody’s offers.

In addition, as I mentioned, it also seems clear that BJ’s scholarship offer had some conditions attached. Some of the likely conditions, such as improving his academic profile, suggest that his scholarship offer could never be 100% solid until well after the signing date this November (even if BJ signed in November…keeping in mind that the LoI binds only the player).

The sum of these factors created a different quality of scholarship offer for BJ than for Cody. And that’s what I mean by Cody being offered the “open” scholarship, while BJ was offered the “oversign” scholarship. BJ’s offer was just not as certain as the one given to Cody.

This signaled to BJ that he was a lower priority than Cody. It also made his scholarship offer less secure than a normal scholarship offer. Against mid-majors, IU could still be BJ’s top school with this arrangement. Against high-majors, it was likely that IU would lose out.

Ultimately, my point is that I do not think BJ’s decision should reflect negatively on Coach Crean. If my impression of events is correct, than the approach that Crean took toward BJ’s offer was the right one for IU. All of us want Cody first and foremost. None of us want IU to take unnecessary grade or character risks. Even though BJ was a tantalizingly talented player, it was necessary to treat his recruitment different than one might a typical top 20 player.

So, despite the vulnerable position in which Crean’s approach placed IU vis-a-vis other high majors, I, for one, am glad that Coach Crean approached BJ’s recruitment the way that he did. And I don’t criticize him because events played out in a relatively predictable fashion.

My comments echo Taskmaster75′s.

However, I would add an additional practical difference. There is another way to get to 13 spots by Autumn of 2011 and that is not to extend all three scholarships. LoI’s bind the player, not the school. Is it likely that Crean would go this route versus deciding not to renew the scholarship of a current player or the great likelihood that someone will transfer on his own volition? No, it is not. But, if he did decide to go that route, and every underclassmen on the current team remains into next fall, it seems clear that Austin’s and Cody’s scholarships are the ones that would be kept. All holy heck would break out in this state, were Crean to withdraw Austin’s or Cody’s offers.

In addition, as I mentioned, it also seems clear that BJ’s scholarship offer had some conditions attached. Some of the likely conditions, such as improving his academic profile, suggest that his scholarship offer could never be 100% solid until well after the signing date this November (even if BJ signed in November…keeping in mind that the LoI binds only the player).

The sum of these factors created a different quality of scholarship offer for BJ than for Cody. And that’s what I mean by Cody being offered the “open” scholarship, while BJ was offered the “oversign” scholarship. BJ’s offer was just not as certain as the one given to Cody.

This signaled to BJ that he was a lower priority than Cody. It also made his scholarship offer less secure than a normal scholarship offer. Against mid-majors, IU could still be BJ’s top school with this arrangement. Against high-majors, it was likely that IU would lose out.

Ultimately, my point is that I do not think BJ’s decision should reflect negatively on Coach Crean. If my impression of events is correct, than the approach that Crean took toward BJ’s offer was the right one for IU. All of us want Cody first and foremost. None of us want IU to take unnecessary grade or character risks. Even though BJ was a tantalizingly talented player, it was necessary to treat his recruitment different than one might a typical top 20 player.

So, despite the vulnerable position in which Crean’s approach placed IU vis-a-vis other high majors, I, for one, am glad that Coach Crean approached BJ’s recruitment the way that he did. And I don’t criticize him because events played out in a relatively predictable fashion.

I know Tijan and Bawa weren’t the greatest, but I like CTC’s connection with foreign big men. (I’m pretty sure it goes back to his Marquette days, as well.) I think there’s a lot of untapped talent, particularly with a lot of the African countries, that could become a pipeline for IU like it did for Georgetown in the 80s.

I know Tijan and Bawa weren’t the greatest, but I like CTC’s connection with foreign big men. (I’m pretty sure it goes back to his Marquette days, as well.) I think there’s a lot of untapped talent, particularly with a lot of the African countries, that could become a pipeline for IU like it did for Georgetown in the 80s.

BJ going to arkansas in no big surprise – but the timing is. Thought he would wait until he had completed all the interviews. Wonder what special incentives he got? Agree that CTC is setting the bar high and losing BJ is not critical. Critical for me is Yogi and HP in 2002. Those two will work well with what we have and then we are in Hoosier Heaven again. Oh, of course I’m rooting for CZ as well with Chandler in 11 and Harris et al in ’12 also – but Yogi and HP are special….

This is about academics plain and simple. With his academic problems he is more of a Kelvin Sampson/Calipari type of recruit that just scrapes by with the minimum. The fact that Crean was even willing to work to see if he could get his grades up just tells me that his basketball skills are pretty attractive but the fact the IU was still kind of waiting for him to get his grades up at least lets me know that Crean is sticking with his system.

Look at the teams in the Finals last year. Good students with high basketball IQ. The teams that survive and thrive are going to be built with those types of players going forward unless they somehow develop a system that makes bballers stay in school longer like football players.

I agree that the scholarship offer to Cody was different from the scholarship offer to BJ. The IU coaches have done everything the NCAA will allow to tell Cody that he is our #1 recruit, he is the key to the class of 2011, he is destined for greatness at IU, etc. While BJ was told that he needed to get his grades and SAT scores up to become eligible before he could sign at IU. But having said all of that, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MYTH OF SOME DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCHOLARSHIP #2 (the open myth) AND #3 (the over-sign myth), THEY ARE IDENTICAL! It is not some arcane “technicality”, it is simply fact. They are identical in every way when signed.

From just reading things about B.J. I am betting that IU didn’t want to offer him until at the least they knew what was going to happen with the Zeller situation. Couple that with the fact that Crean wanted him to get his grades in order. I’m guessing he just didn’t want to wait until the spring to sign.