Five-star point guard Darius Garland has “awesome” official visit to IU

  • 10/22/2017 8:30 pm in

Indiana made quite the impression on five-star point guard Darius Garland over the weekend in Bloomington.

Garland, who is originally from Gary, Indiana, but has lived in Nashville since seventh grade, was in town for his official visit.

“The trip was awesome. It was a really good trip,” Garland’s father, Winston, told Inside the Hall on Sunday. “We got a good vibe for the coaching staff and coach (Archie) Miller, what they’re trying to do offensively and defensively. From watching practice and from coach Miller’s teams at Dayton, you can tell why they’re near the top of all of the defensive categories. They’re really intense, the practice was intense on both ends.

“We had a good chance to sit down and talk with Archie and the staff. They’ve been in a couple of times, but just to get back in front of them and talk to them was great.”

The Brentwood Academy point guard, who is ranked the No. 10 player nationally by the 247Composite, was showered with cheers from Indiana fans in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall throughout Hoosier Hysteria.

The reception for Darius was special for Winston Garland, who played at Gary Roosevelt and for five different NBA teams, but grew up an Indiana fan.

“That was incredible. We walked out to such a nice friendly ovation,” Winston Garland said. “I got goosebumps. I can walk into Assembly Hall and get goosebumps, but that was amazing. My wife had tears in her eyes. The reception that he got was just amazing and made me feel really proud. I’ve always been a Hoosier fan and to witness that, it was great.”

Garland is considering four schools: Indiana, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and UCLA.

He has one visit remaining and that will be to UCLA next week. After that, the family will enter decision-making mode.

“We’ll sit down and talk about the pros and cons of each school that we’ve visited,” Winston Garland said. “He wants to make a decision by mid-November.”

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