I am glad we got this kid. He is smart and a good all around kid, the type that IU basketball was built on.

I also feel he is very underrated in his class. When he got on the scene about 15 months ago, he was ranked #57. Then he settled around #80. Then he got hurt and fell out of the rankings altogether and now has resurfaced at #98.

I have said it once and will continue to say it. There are very few 6’6″ small forwards out there who has his complete game. Just because a kid is a great athlete and a thunder dunk superstar doesn’t make them a better basketball player than AE. And, with the way he shoots the ball, he will fit in nicely here at IU.

Remember, the Sporting News ranked AE as the #2 shooter in the nation in the Class of 2011 right behind Rivers.

I’d venture to say with his relentless recruiting of his friends, he’s been a huge asset to the program before he’s ever worn the uniform. You can also take that a step further, as his little brother is rumored to be pretty talented, too.

Many of us, including myself, get very worked up about the rankings of individual players, of recruiting classes, etc., and we sometimes forget that these young men are human beings, going through all of the growing up experiences that we had at their ages. I am totally sold on Austin Etherington, as a person and as a very talented basketball player. If he were eligible this year, I think that he would get lots of minutes and that he would produce good results. I am happy with the Class of 2011 right now! If Cody Zeller decides that he wants to be an Indiana University basketball player, then our class for 2011 becomes even better! But I am happy right now! The same is true for Victor and Will. Everything that I have read, heard and seen about these two guys makes me really happy that they will be playing for MY team! IU has definitely improved it’s 13 man scholarship roster with these three guys in the Class of 2010 and 2011. They join Jones, Pritchard, Guy and Roth (Class of 2008), Creek, Watford, Elston, Hulls, and Capo (Class of 2009), to give IU 12 outstanding basketball players and great kids for the next two years. Let’s play some basketball, win some games and have some fun! Coach Crean is doing everything possible to get more great basketball players/great kids to come to Indiana (this weekend in Bloomington is totally unlike anything I have ever seen before!). At some point the recruits have to “know” that it is Indiana where their dreams will be realized. But the period of uncertainty about “can IU get any good players to come to IU” is now over.

completely agree with you – its one thing to have a highly rated player or highly rated class, but without the other tangibles like hard-work, enthusiasm, unselfishness, intelligence, modesty, and much more then the high ranks don’t excite me. Crean is putting it all together.

I agree with all of you. AE is a quantity of Quality. I’m gonna throw a name out here been thinking this for a while,nobody else has said it that I know of (maybe because I’m older than most on ITH) See what you think AE = Randy Whittman. (sp) OK I said it. Your opinions are also valid.

Time will tell but I know this much. In the summer he spots up and shoots and plays a very strong perimeter game and looks to feed the post, drive and get kick outs for jumpshots and 3 ptrs. In high school ball, the rock is in his hands at all critical times. He has to create his shot, take it to the rim, battle down the lane and be the leader on every play and guard the other team’s best player. All of this equals an all around game.

What is crazy is in high school he will make a couple 3′s a game. In AAU he goes out and plays in these big games amongst the best talent in the country infront of big time coaches and nails 5 or 6 3′s in the flow of the game. It is like he has ice in his veins. The kid has a silky smooth touch and I would bet anything that whether a freshman or senior at IU, when they see a zone, AE will be busting some 3′s.

He may be the best pure shooter we have had since Alford.