Recruiting notebook: Indiana watches T.J. Leaf, visits Ryan Anderson
Indiana’s recruiting efforts on the west coast over the weekend started in Arizona, but they didn’t end there.
After landing a commitment from 2014 center Jeremiah April of Westwind Prep on Friday night, Tom Crean made his way to El Cajon, California to watch one of the program’s top class of 2016 targets, T.J. Leaf.
Rated the No. 19 player nationally in the 247Composite, Leaf has already been on three unofficial visits to Bloomington and his father, Brad, was a standout at the University of Evansville.
Leaf averaged 27 points and 12 rebounds as a sophomore at Foothills Christian and has scholarship offers from Arizona, Gonzaga, Indiana, UCLA and several others.
Following his unofficial visit to Bloomington in September, Leaf spoke to Inside the Hall about that experience and how he could see himself fitting in at IU.
“It seems like I would fit really well in their system,” he said. “I like coach Crean and I like all of the coaches and what they’re doing there. I was just really impressed.”
Leaf’s other visits to Bloomington came in November for IU’s season opener against Chicago State and in January for IU’s Big Ten home opener against Michigan State.
On Saturday, Crean continued his west coast trip and made an in-home visit to Boston College transfer Ryan Anderson, who is from Lakewood, California.
The 6-foot-9, 216 pound forward, who averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game as a junior, has one year of eligibility remaining, but is expected to sit out the 2014-2015 season and play his final year in 2015-2016.
Anderson recently had shoulder surgery and is expected to be out four to six months. He has official visits scheduled to Iowa State (May 2), Indiana (May 5) and Arizona (May 8).
Anderson told Inside the Hall’s Jordan Littman on Saturday evening via text that his meeting with Crean was very productive.
“Coach Crean came to my house and we had a great talk today,” Anderson said. “He talked about his plans to help me become a better player and how he thinks I will help the program win games.”
Indiana being mentioned as a suitor for USC transfer
USC transfer Byron Wesley, who averaged 17.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists for the Trojans last season, has been mentioned as a potential addition to IU’s 2014 recruiting class according to multiple media reports.
Both the LA Daily News and Yahoo Sports have listed Indiana among the schools who are courting Wesley, who is graduating and will be eligible next season.
According to the LA Daily News, the 6-foot-5 Wesley is leaving USC because “he did not know if he would fit in with transfer Katin Reinhardt and star recruit Jordan McLaughlin joining the team next season.”
A report on Monday morning by Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports mentioned Indiana as a possible destination for Wesley along with Baylor, Cincinnati, Gonzaga, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh and Providence.
Indiana has two scholarships available for the 2014 class.
(Photo credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports)
Filed to: Byron Wesley, Ryan Anderson, T.J. Leaf