Throughout the season, Inside the Hall will keep you posted on how 2010 signees Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey and 2011 commitments Austin Etherington and Matt Carlino, as well as other notable prospects being recruited by Indiana, are performing at their respective schools. (Note: This is not intended to be a complete list of players Indiana is recruiting. Only players with published stats are listed.)
You can send us stats or results for this report at tips@insidethehall.com. Here’s our latest update:
2010 SIGNEES
+ Victor Oladipo – DeMatha (MD): Six points in a 84-72 win over Paul VI Catholic on February 16. Eight points in a 71-61 win over McNamara on February 17. Five points in a 62-53 win over O’Connell on February 19.
+ Will Sheehey – Sagemont (FL): Nine points and five assists in 67-39 win over Christian on February 18.
2011 COMMITMENTS
+ Austin Etherington – Hamilton Heights (IN): The Huskies beat Northwestern, 60-56, on February 17, but no individual stats were reported. No individual stats were available for a 52-49 loss to Maconaquah on February 19. Through 16 games, Etherington was averaging 22.9 ppg.
+ Matt Carlino – Bloomington South (IN): 15 points in a 75-59 win over Perry Meridian on February 19 and four points in a 70-51 win over Evansville Harrison on February 20. Bloomington South’s win streak sits at 45, tied for second best all-time in Indiana.
Here’s the lengthy press release, which just popped into our inbox:
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.- Indiana University President Michael McRobbie and Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass today announced the single largest gift in the history of the department of athletics. The Cook Group has made a $15 million gift to the For the Glory of Old IU capital campaign, which will be most immediately utilized to support and enhance the new basketball development center for the benefit of the men and women basketball program student athletes. In recognition of this historic gift, Indiana University will permanently name the new basketball development center “Cook Hall”. That naming was approved by the Indiana University Board of Trustees at its Friday meeting in Kokomo.
The Cook gift to IU Athletics is only part of the support that the Cooks have provided to IU through the years. The family and the company have given generously to academic areas of the University including the School of Music, the School of Medicine, School of Education, and Wells Scholars Program and have endowed several academic chairs. It is noteworthy that even this gift to Athletics will primarily support a facility dedicated to the instruction and preparation of men and women student athletes.
Here’s an easy way to game plan against the Hoosiers: pound it inside all game long.
As the Spartans showed us Tuesday and the Gophers displayed this evening — it works. IU just doesn’t have the length, athleticism or the skill to guard the block, and guys like Ralph Sampson III took advantage. Minnesota’s guards also beat IU off the dribble on several occasions, leading to some easy points right around the rim. The Gophers scored 38 of their 81 points in the paint this evening to IU’s 16.
And when they weren’t hitting down low, they were raining threes. Minnesota hit 7-of-11 in the first half and hit 9-of-20 for the game for 45 percent. IU only shot 32 percent from the floor. Ouch.
The Hoosiers simply aren’t defending as of late. This now marks the eighth straight game their opponent has shot better from the field, to coincide with their eighth straight loss. And during this eight-game losing streak, IU has also only managed to shoot better than 40 percent twice — against Wisconsin and Purdue.
When you fail to get points in the paint and your shot gets blocked at an alarming rate — in total, the Hoosiers get 12.7 percent of their shots blocked, which ranks them 332 out of the 347 Division I teams in the country — it’s hard to shoot a high percentage or be efficient, especially when your jump shots aren’t falling. Add in all the turnovers and the scoring droughts — IU failed to hit a field goal for a stretch of 9:15 in the first half; they only made two shots the last 6:05 of the second half — and you can see why the Hoosiers’ offense has struggled so bad.
If nothing else, this team is still finding a way to get to the line: they shot 22 — though only made 14 — free throws on the night to the Gophers’ 14. Without that in recent games, it’d be more ugly than it is.
“Outgunned and outmanned,” is how Kendall Gill described this one for IU tonight. I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we’ll be able to describe such a loss for this team before season’s end.
What a name. We’re working on trying to confirm this, but seeing as it’s dinner time on Friday night, that’s proving rather difficult.
Some vitals: Rivals has Abraham, who coach Tom Crean reportedly offered last night, listed at 6-foot-9, 237 pounds, with offers from Georgetown, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA and UConn, among many others. Rivals’ player page suggests Georgetown is leading for Abraham right now, something we’re also working to confirm.
Again, we’ll get back with you as soon as we know more.
Update: Here’s a YouTube video (thanks to B-Town IU Alumn for pointing this out) with some Abraham clips. He’s wearing No. 12 in the black.
Well, actually, we’re still trying to get ourselves acquainted with the 6-7, 210-pound power forward from the Florida Air Academy. I assigned Zach the task of trying to get in touch with Yeguete’s coach, Aubin Goporo. (Well, not really, I just asked him to do it and he happily obliged.) However, those attempts have been unsuccessful.
So what have we learned about Yeguete? Not nearly enough, but here’s what we do know: He’s 18 and is in his second season at the Florida Air Academy after arriving from France. According to this story, penned last month by Mike Cherry of Florida Today, Yeguete spent several years living on the Ivory Coast.
Yeguete does have a scholarship offer from Indiana, but it’s unclear as to what other schools have offered. The story we referenced earlier by Cherry mentioned the following schools: Sam Houston State, St. John’s, Oklahoma, Marquette, Drake, Nevada, Purdue, Rhode Island and George Washington. (Rivals claims IU, Sam Houston State, Southern Illinois and St. John’s have offered while Scout claims Drake, Southern Illinois, St. John’s and Rhode Island have offered.)
Here are a few stat lines from recent games for Yeguete, who is unranked by Rivals.com and a three-star prospect on Scout.com:
+ Nine points in a 65-29 win over Satellite on February 6.
+ 21 points in a 63-62 win over Pine Crest (No. 1 Rivals.com player Brandon Knight’s team) on February 2.
+ 20 points in a 60-53 loss to the Rock School on January 29.
But beyond the points, Yeguete is best known for his rebounding prowess. As of mid-January, he was reportedly averaging upwards of 15 rebounds per game. Dave Telep, the national director of recruiting for Scout.com, had Yeguete with 50 rebounds in three games in last September’s Nike Team Florida Fall Workout.
That, my friends, is what we know about Will Yeguete. We will continue to attempt to make contact with his coach and get more information, but since he’s looking like a potential addition to the 2010 class, this update, albeit brief, felt warranted. Happy Friday.
Throughout the season, Inside the Hall will keep you posted on how 2010 signees Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey and 2011 commitments Austin Etherington and Matt Carlino, as well as other notable prospects being recruited by Indiana, are performing at their respective schools. (Note: This is not intended to be a complete list of players Indiana is recruiting. Only players with published stats are listed.)
Well, actually, we’re still trying to get ourselves acquainted with the 6-7, 210-pound power forward from the Florida Air Academy. I assigned Zach the task of trying to get in touch with Yeguete’s coach, Aubin Goporo. (Well, not really, I just asked him to do it and he happily obliged.) However, those attempts have been unsuccessful.