Bullitt East coach Troy Barr said the 6-foot-9 Willis already had an offer from Louisville and on Wednesday landed an offer from Indiana coach Tom Crean.
Crean and assistant coaches Steve McClain and Tim Buckley watched Willis for a couple of hours in open gym and in the weight room.
U of L coach Rick Pitino and assistant coach Kevin Keatts watched Willis in open gym on Friday.
Barr said Willis has been invited to Indiana’s Hoosier Hysteria (Oct. 15) and Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness (Oct. 14). He’s also heard several times from Stanford and Georgetown, while Florida State and Oklahoma State have made contact.
Multiple outlets, including our friend Zach Osterman over at Inside Indiana(premium), reported Tuesday that Indiana had a presence at the open gym of Julius Randle, a top five prospect nationally in the class of 2013.
Bennie Seltzer was indeed among the large contingent of college coaches checking out Randle in Plano, Texas yesterday.
Following early commitments from Collin Hartman and Devin Davis Jr., Indiana’s recruiting efforts in the 2013 class for a big man have taken on a national flavor with BeeJay Anya, Luke Fischer and now Randle. IU sits in a favorable position already with both Anya and Fischer.
The Prestonwood Christian Academy junior is ranked No. 3 overall by ESPN.com. A lengthy list of schools, including Baylor, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Texas, are recruiting him.
Both Randle and Jones are potential attendees for Duke’s “Countdown to Craziness” event next month in Durham, according to DevilsIllustrated.
Here’s an ESPN scouting report on Randle from July’s Peach Jam in Augusta, South Carolina:
A man among boys even against the nation’s elite. A rare combination of power and skill who scores both inside and out. What makes him so special is how he handles the ball to get to the rim and get old-fashion 3-point plays. He shoots it well from the perimeter and can not be stopped when he wants to score. He has excellent hands and is a great rebounder when he puts his mind to it.
And here’s video of Randle from May’s Spiece Run ‘N Slam Classic from CityLeagueHoopsTV:
It seems predictions are popping up all over the place these past few weeks. The early buzz has the Hoosiers finishing anywhere from fifth to ninth in the Big Ten. And so in the spirit of all of this forecasting, we’re turning it over to you.
Your task? Predict Indiana’s final regular season record.
13 non-conference games. 18 Big Ten games. A total of 31 contests.
Here’s how it’ll work: This thread will remain open until the end of the month. Your guesses will then be locked in on October 1 and following the Purdue game next March, we’ll revisit the comments and pull out all of the correct guesses. Everyone that gets the regular season record correct will then be entered into a drawing for the prize.
Feel free to show your work with your prediction, but please post it as the first part of your comment. It makes for easier record keeping. Also, one entry per person, please.
3. Will Tom Crean’s recruiting success translate into wins?
Indiana’s roster was so threadbare in the wake of Kelvin Sampson’s scandal-tainted tenure that success-starved Hoosiers fans have shown great patience during Tom Crean’s tenure despite three losing seasons. That patience will start to wear thin, however, if the deeper, more experienced Hoosiers don’t return to the NCAA tournament in Crean’s fourth season.
With impact recruit Cody Zeller joining returning star Christian Watford in the frontcourt and a versatile backcourt highlighted by athletic senior Verdell Jones, Indiana has the personnel to improve dramatically on last year’s finish. The Hoosiers won’t contend for a Big Ten title until their highly touted 2012 recruiting class arrives, but 20 wins and a top-six finish in league aren’t unreasonable goals.
The X-factor for Indiana will be the play of Maurice Creek, a 6-foot-5 junior whose first two seasons have been cut short by season-ending knee injuries. Updates on Creek’s progress have been scarce, but if he could regain some semblance of the form he showed as a freshman when he lit up Kentucky for 31 points, that could alter the course of Indiana’s season and increase the chances the Hoosiers play deep into March.
Multiple outlets, including our friend 
