Indiana’s six-man recruiting class has arrived on campus and ITH examines the possible impact of each in our “freshman focus” series. Davis » Fischer » Hartman » Robinson » Vonleh » Williams »
Jordan Hulls works out for Pacers, Bulls
by Justin Albers in Media | June 7th, 2013
Former Indiana guard Jordan Hulls isn’t anywhere near ready to say goodbye to his basketball career.
Hulls, who earned his Masters Degree in May and exhausted his NCAA eligibility this past season, is in the process of working out for various NBA teams ahead of this month’s draft. Hulls worked out for the Indiana Pacers on Monday and the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
He said he and his agent have three or four more planned for the coming weeks, though he’s not sure when and where those will take place.
“I’m just doing as many workouts as I can and see what happens with that,” Hulls told Inside the Hall on Thursday. “The plan is to try to get on a summer league team. If I’m fortunate enough to have that happen, that would be great. Make a roster, awesome, I get to stay here. But if not, I’ll go overseas and play and make some money that way. Playing basketball is not too bad of a gig in my mind.”
In his interview with Inside the Hall, Hulls also talked about the way last season ended for he and the Hoosiers. Hulls injured his right shoulder in a third round win against Temple, and he struggled in his last collegiate game against Syracuse in the Sweet Sixteen.
Hulls was held scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting in a 61-50 loss to the Orange, and he was frustrated and disappointed afterward about the way he went out.
On March 30, Inside the Hall reported that Hulls played through a level 1 AC shoulder separation against Syracuse. Speaking about the injury for the first time since the season ended, Hulls admitted he wasn’t nearly himself after the injury.
Crean: “We’ve got to have collective leadership”
by Alex Bozich in Media | June 6th, 2013
STARLIGHT, Ind. — When Indiana takes the floor next fall, the Hoosiers will be without two likely lottery picks in Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo and two four-year, 1,000-point scorers in Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford. Will Sheehey will be the only four-year player in the program and seven new players, including six freshman, will be counted on to play significant roles.
From a depth perspective, Indiana could be stronger top to bottom than it was last season, but losing four starters also leaves a potential void in leadership.
But just as the Hoosiers had different players lead throughout the 2012-2013 season, Tom Crean said Wednesday night at the IU Tailgate Tour stop at Huber Winery that next season’s team might not have a definitive leader.
“I don’t know if this is a team that you say, ‘this is the one leader,’ Crean said. ”We’ve got to have collective leadership. I don’t think this is a thing where it’s going to be one or two guys that we bestow the leadership mantle to in the summer.”
The Indiana players currently on campus have already started summer workouts and all seven newcomers are expected in town by the end of next week.
While much of the offseason dialogue will be centered around what Indiana lost to early entries to the NBA and graduation, the opportunity to mold a new group of players into a team is exciting for Crean.
“It’s really going to be important that so many of them can step in and play,” he said. “I think we have a chance to have a deeper team. I think our athleticism is going to be really strong. The glass half empty is that we lost a lot of people. The glass half full is we’ve got such a young team and they’re going to have that much more of a chance for growth.”
Crean says Mosquera-Perea, Hollowell must develop ‘desires to compete’
by Justin Albers in Media | June 5th, 2013
Last summer, Indiana’s recruiting class, called “The Movement” by some, was getting ready to take on the Indiana campus. That class was expected to add to an already strong roster and give the Hoosiers incredible depth.
But there wasn’t much talk of “The Movement” after the summer was over, and it wasn’t just because Will Sheehey and other veteran guys told the freshmen not to call themselves that anymore.
It was because the class, and the depth it was supposed to provide, never fully materialized during the course of the season. Yogi Ferrell was solid and Indiana’s starter at point guard from day one, but Tom Crean didn’t get the kind of production or development from the other three players that he expected.
Peter Jurkin wasn’t a highly-ranked recruit and wasn’t expected to provide much. But he was injured for most of last season and continues to be less than 100 percent.
“Peter, it’s slow, but he is shooting more,” Crean said at Tuesday night’s Tailgate Tour event in Indianapolis. “The rehab is the most important thing for him. We’re going down that line where we’ve got great support for him medically, and we need to keep him on a pace where he doesn’t get frustrated because he’s really trying.”
For the 2012 class’ other two members — Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Jeremy Hollowell — last season’s struggles were more surprising. Crean talked about both guys as being potential starters for the team in the preseason, but neither guy played more than 9.7 minutes per game.
Both Mosquera-Perea and Hollowell will have to play a bigger role this season if the Hoosiers are to maintain their level of play from the last two years. For them, though, its less about their abilities and more about their competitive fire, Crean said.
“Both of them have pretty good bodies, both of them have good length and good athleticism,” Crean said. “Now it’s time to really take that demeanor and show their competitiveness on the defensive side, show their competitiveness in things like conditioning. There’s a reason why guys like Cody [Zeller], Yogi and Noah [Vonleh] make McDonald’s All Americans. Those guys have some uncommon desires to compete. Certainly, Victor has that. Will Sheehey, Jordan Hulls.
Draft watch: Is Oladipo headed to Orlando at No. 2?
by Alex Bozich in Media | June 5th, 2013
With individual and group workouts well underway and just over three weeks until the 2013 NBA Draft, it’s time for an updated look at where Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo are currently projected to be selected later this month.
In our latest update, we’ll look at updated projections for both players and also share some updated expert analysis:
Victor Oladipo
ESPN: (2 to Orlando) Draft Express: (5 to Phoenix) NBADraft.net: (5 to Phoenix) SheridanHoops.com: (4 to Charlotte)
· Analysis: Oladipo was one of the stories of the combine as he confirmed what those of us who have watched him for the last three years know: He’s a freak athlete. Combine that with his rapid improvement and enormous upside and it’s not surprising that Oladipo, who worked out for the Magic last week, appears to be in the mix at No. 2 overall. Phoenix is also mentioned often for Oladipo and he’ll work out for the Suns today. According to Tom Crean, the former IU guard will also work out for Cleveland and Charlotte. At this point, Oladipo seems like a lock to be picked in the top five, which is quite the meteoric rise for a guy who wasn’t ranked in the top 100 coming out of high school.
· Expert opinion: “If you’re talking about the guy who is going to come in and be the most effective player from day one, it’s Oladipo. He’s got that ‘It’ Factor,” that it takes to be successful in the league. A lot of guys in this draft don’t have that. There’s no doubt he plays with an edge. Watching him play defense this season, I wouldn’t have any hesitation putting him into an NBA game and letting him guard Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade or Kobe Bryant from day one. I think he’s that good defensively.” - Will Perdue, former Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trailblazers center and ESPN radio analyst.
Notes from Tom Crean’s speech at Tailgate Tour in Jasper
by Alex Bozich in Media | June 4th, 2013
Tom Crean made his first of three scheduled stops on the 2013 IU Tailgate Tour last Thursday night at the Riverwalk in Jasper. Crean will also appear at tonight’s Tailgate Tour in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium and Wednesday’s stop at Huber Winery in Starlight.
We’ve compiled some notes and quotes from Crean’s speech in Jasper below:
· On student tickets for next season: “This year, we’re probably going to have our student tickets somewhere around the 15,000 range. Last year, it was in the 12,000 range when we can really only get about 7,500 of them in there. There’s such a demand for people to come to the games and be a part of it that we’ve got to try to get everybody in.”
· On getting started with the seven new players coming into the program: “That mystery started to unravel today when we started our new player workouts. We had our first workout today with Noah Vonleh, Devin Davis and Collin Hartman. Tomorrow we’ll have it with Luke Fischer and end of next week we’ll have it with Troy Williams, Evan Gordon and Stanford Robinson.”
· On Vonleh: “When you look at his body. He’s 6’9.75″ with a 7’5″ wingspan. He weighed in at 230 pounds and did a max vertical jump of 38 inches. He is going to be a special, special player. Right now he’s got special talent. And as those skills and fundamentals go with him, he’s going to have a chance to be one of those guys that people are going to be writing a lot of stories about, doing a lot of specials on TV about and you’re going to know where you were when you got to see him play the first time.”
· On Williams: “I feel like Troy Williams is going to be a cross athletically between what Victor (Oladipo) and Will (Sheehey) were. He is a ridiculous athlete and a winner and a guy that gave up his senior year in high school at home to go to Oak Hill (Academy) so he could play against the best competition. Right now he’s been working out in Houston with John Lucas and I think he’s the only high school kid. It’s all college players and guys preparing for the draft. Anything to give himself an edge.”
Ferrell, Sheehey named to 2013 USA Basketball World University Games training camp roster
by Alex Bozich in Media | June 3rd, 2013
Indiana sophomore guard Yogi Ferrell and senior forward Will Sheehey are two of the 29 players whom have been selected for the 2013 World University Games Team training camp roster, USA Basketball announced today.
The camp will take place June 24-30 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The 2013 World University Games are scheduled to be played July 7-16 in Kazan, Russia. Finalists for the team are expected to be announced on June 27 or 28, and the 12-member roster will be announced prior to the team’s departure for Russia on July 1. The complete schedule can be found here.
“The committee has assembled one of the strongest World University Games training camp rosters USA Basketball has ever had,” said Jim Boeheim, head coach at Syracuse University and chair of the USA Men’s Junior National Team Committee. “It includes some of the top players in college basketball, several of whom have international experience. Selecting the players for the final roster is going to be a real challenge.”
Davidson College’s Bob McKillop will coach the team and will be assisted by John Beilein of the University of Michigan and Frank Martin of the University of South Carolina.
Other Big Ten players invited to Colorado Springs include Michigan State’s Adreian Payne, Minnesota’s Andre Hollins, Purdue’s A.J. Hammons and Iowa’s Aaron White and Roy Devyn Marble. The complete training camp roster is available here.
