Austin Etherington, Indiana’s second commitment in its 2011 recruiting class, spoke without hesitation when asked about his first Hoosier Hysteria experience.

“It was awesome,” the Hamilton Heights junior guard said. “It’s one of the first times I’ve been to Assembly Hall when it’s been that packed and it showed what the fans are like and how much Indiana basketball is loved. It was pretty crazy.”

Coming off a 6-25 season, Indiana drew a crowd of more than 13,000 for Friday night’s opening practice. Etherington, ranked the No. 68 recruit in 2011 by Scout.com, said the big turnout speaks to the tradition of the program.

“It just goes back to the tradition that Indiana has from back in the day,” he said. “People who have loved Indiana basketball are always going to love it no matter if they’re winning or not. It just shows that the fans have your back and that they’ll always be there for you.”

The Hysteria visit was the second trip to Bloomington in recent weeks for the 6-6 guard, who averaged 16 points and seven rebounds in 15 games as a sophomore. He missed the first eight games rehabbing from knee surgery.

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We’ve had a couple of requests for a list of expected visitors for Hoosier Hysteria. It’s important to caveat this list as being fluid. A few recruits could end up not attending and there are probably a few that will show up that are not listed below:

2010 class

• Victor Oladipo, DeMatha (MD), IU verbal
• Ge-Lawn Guyn, Scott County (KY)

2011 class

• Austin Etherington, Hamilton Heights (IN), IU verbal
• Matt Carlino, Bloomington South (IN), IU verbal
• Spencer Turner, Bloomington South (IN)
  

2012 class

• Hanner Perea, Birmingham Central Park Christian (AL)
• Jared Drew, Lawrence Central (IN)
• Jeremy Hollowell, Lawrence Central (IN)
• Kellen Dunham, Pendleton Heights (IN)
• Kellon Thomas, Southport (IN)
• Peter Jurkin, Charlotte United Faith Christian (NC)
• Ron Patterson, Broad Ripple (IN)

2013 class

• Darryl Baker, Jeffersonville (IN)
• Darryl Hicks, Shelby County (KY)

The following are notes submitted to Inside the Hall from someone that attended IU’s Elite Camp this past Saturday in Bloomington. It’s important to note that this information is not from anyone affiliated with the university. These notes have been slightly tweaked by yours truly.

+ By far the player most impressive on Saturday was Jordan Hulls. He is amazing at the pick-and-roll.  A former IU player that had never seen him play called him a stud. It will be really difficult to keep him off the court, so you could see a lot of Jeremiah Rivers and Hulls together because of their ball handling skills.

+ Maurice Creek is lights out.  He should average 12+ ppg as a freshman.  He can score from any place on the floor and is a solid rebounder.

+ Derek Elston is a beast.  He seems bigger than Tom Pritchard and has much more range.  He is also more athletic than I anticipated.  He could play 25-30 minutes a game.

+ Christian Watford (pictured) is very good.  He plays better in transition and is more of a three but will have to play the four on this team.

+ Seems like it’s going to be tough for Matt Roth, Bobby Capobianco and Bawa Muniru to get minutes.  Rivers, Creek, Hulls, Devan Dumes and Verdell Jones will eat up the minutes at guard.  Pritchard, Elston and Watford should play the four and five with the others playing when foul trouble arises.

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Here’s what we’ve been able to piece together from Saturday’s Elite Camp that took place at Assembly Hall:

+ Both of IU’s 2011 commitments, Austin Etherington (pictured) and Matt Carlino, played well. Carlino’s shot reportedly looked much better than it did over the summer.

+ 2011 Muncie Central guard Jeremiah Davis attended the camp and the buzz continues to be that IU is in great shape with him. Davis is an AAU teammate of Etherington on Indiana Elite Team Indiana.

+ Current NBA players Eric Gordon, Steve Novak and Jared Jeffries all attended the camp. Both Novak and Jeffries spoke to the campers and Novak was spotted in IU shorts.

+ 2012 campers: Lawrence Central’s Jeremy Hollowell, Southport’s Kellon Thomas, Bloomington South’s T.J. Bell and Menomonee Falls (WI)’s J.P. Tokoto. Ron Patterson did not attend and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera is spending the weekend taking unofficial visits.

+ 2013 campers: Jeffersonville’s Darryl Baker and North Oldham (KY)’s Darryl Hicks. I had a chance to see both players over the summer and they both have a chance to be special. Jody Demling of The Louisville-Courier-Journal is reporting that Indianapolis Cathedral’s Collin Hartman and Brent and Bryson Scott of Ft. Wayne Northup attended.

+ 2011 guard/forward Aaron Thomas from Cincinnati Aiken (OH) is in Bloomington this weekend, but we’re not sure if he played in the camp. The IU staff followed Thomas closely in July at the Kentucky Hoopfest.

+ Indianapolis Pike’s Marquis Teague did not make it to the camp and all signs continue to point toward Louisville for Teague.

+ 2011 Gary Lew Wallace standout Branden Dawson opted to attend Marquette’s ’specialty’ camp according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Significant here is that Dawson is considered a Purdue lean and the Boilermakers also held a camp of their own on Saturday. The Journal Sentinel report also claims that Michael Cobbins, Vander Blue, Reggie Smith, Jeremy Lamb and DeJuan Marrero attended the Marquette camp.

When Austin Etherington met with a small group of reporters following Indiana Elite Team Indiana’s opening game of the July evaluation period in Cincinnati, the 2011 wing had no timetable for making a decision on his college destination.

Indiana, Xavier and Butler were hot in pursuit and interest in the Hamilton Heights standout was quickly gaining momentum. Fast forward one month and Etherington is the second member of Indiana’s 2011 recruiting class.

Inside the Hall caught up with Etherington on Monday evening following his commitment for a Q & A:

On the decision to commit early to Indiana:

“I knew that I wanted to stay close because of my family. The only schools that I was really waiting on were out of state schools. I knew that I needed to go ahead and get it over with and I knew that I wanted to go to IU so I didn’t want to wait any longer.”

On the moment he realized he wanted to go to Indiana:

“When I went there for the visit, I loved the campus and the whole coaching staff. I just didn’t know how to react because the whole process was new. When I was in Las Vegas, I started telling myself I wanted to go to IU because I knew that’s what I wanted to do. When I got back I talked to my dad and my family and they felt like it was the right choice for me.”

On delivering the news of the commitment to Tom Crean:

“I called him today and just told him. He was real excited because he’s always been wanting to coach me. So now that he gets the chance to he was real happy and ready to coach me.”

On what he’ll need to work on the next two years and where he sees himself playing at the next level:

“I’m just going to work hard and get better at every aspect of my game. I’m going to prove myself that I’m capable of playing there and just become the best player I can be. I’ll probably play the two or the three. Hopefully, it’s the two but I need to work on my ball handling and be able to guard the two and work on that.”

Tom Crean tweeted that he was ready for a commitment late on Friday night. He didn’t have to wait long.

6-6 wing Austin Etherington has joined Matt Carlino as the second member of Indiana’s 2011 recruiting class, according to our friend Chris Korman.

Etherington is the No. 57 player nationally in his class on Scout.com. New Mexico, Notre Dame, Xavier, Butler and Oklahoma State were among the other schools that had offered the Hamilton Heights junior-to-be.

We’ll have more on Etherington’s decision later today.

Related:

• Audio: Austin Etherington at adidas It Takes 5ive Classic

The Kentucky Hoopfest kicked off Thursday in Louisville and Inside the Hall attended the evening session at Hoops and Basketball Academy.

+ Among the coaches in attendance: Tom Crean and Tim Buckley; Michigan State’s Tom Izzo; Butler’s Brad Stevens; Xavier’s Chris Mack and assistants from Ohio State, Tennessee, Iowa, Wisconsin and Purdue.

+ At Hoops, the Spiece Indy Stars crushed Indiana Swish Orange. This Spiece group was coming off a tournament win at the Hoosier Shootout and Broad Ripple’s Ron Patterson, Lawrence Central’s Jeremy Hollowell (pictured), Southport’s Kellon Thomas and Avon’s Austin Burgett were all impressive. You’d be hard pressed to find a stronger group of 15-year olds.

Hollowell confirmed that Indiana is ready to make an offer, but it won’t be official until his mother gets a chance to be there for the occasion. Iowa and Cincinnati have offered. Hollowell is 6-5 (and still growing) and said he enjoyed his time last month at the Indiana Elite Camp.

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