In case you were wondering, although most of you could probably don’t care anymore, two more former Hoosiers have picked a new home.

DeAndre Thomas is headed to Robert Morris and will be eligible immediately because its a NAIA school. Al Bruehl, the coach at Robert Morris, told Rivals.com that Thomas is already down to 285 pounds. Not that I’m calling Mr. Bruehl a liar, but you seriously have to question the validity of this statement. It took a whole summer of walking around Bloomington last year to get Thomas below 300.

Brandon McGee’s destination has yet to be confirmed, but if you believe this report, he’s headed to Auburn. (PostmanR interjection: I work with the dude that runs that site. He told me how it all went down today as far as his sources are concerned. So unless he’s lying to me, Inside the Hall approves of this message. He broke the story; if it comes out being false, we’ll see what he has to say. Until then: McGee to Auburn.) McGee was also considering Oregon State. He’ll be remembered by IU fans for foolishly attempting a windmill dunk — and missing it — at the end of last season’s 78-64 win at Michigan.

So to recap for those of you keeping track at home: Jordan Crawford is heading to Xavier, Armon Bassett to UAB, Jamarcus Ellis to Northern Kentucky (reportedly), Brandon McGee to Auburn and DeAndre Thomas to Robert Morris.

The exodus continues. Though exodus probably isn’t the best word, because that would imply that everybody leaving is doing so because they want to. Anyway, Brandon McGee is officially peaced. A release from IU media relations:

Indiana Men’s Basketball Coach Tom Crean announced today that freshman Brandon McGee (Chicago/Crane HS) has been dismissed from the program for academic and team guideline negligence.

“Our coaching and support staff tried to make this work out, but we felt that there were some basic standard operating procedures that were not being met,” said Crean.  ”I feel badly for his family and Coach (Anthony) Longstreet (Crane Head Coach) who were helping us to try and make this work, but in the end it just was not possible to continue in the current direction.”

He played in just 17 games and averaged 1.5 points and 1.0 rebounds.

My favorite part about these releases are the coded quotes. I could spend at least 1,000 words trying to spell out exactly what Crean is trying to say above, but what’s the point? McGee wasn’t going to class, or didn’t care, or whatever, and now he’s gone. We never really had a chance to see if he had any talent last year, so c’est la vie, monfrere, as they say in Latin.

Hopefully McGee lands well, and IU can replace those 1.5 points. Should be incredibly difficult.

The Adidas May Classic took place this weekend in Bloomington and here are some notes from the event compiled from around the Web:

– Indiana Elite, led by Bobby Capobianco (IU), Jordan Hulls, Stephan Van Treese, Colt Ryan, D.J. Byrd (Purdue) and Mason Plumlee (Duke), won the 17-and-under title with a 80-63 win over the Michigan Mustangs. The Hoosier Scoop has a detailed recap as does Hoosier Nation.

– Demetrius Walker, a 6-4 guard, 200 lb. guard from San Juan Capistrano (CA) told reporters that Indiana is his favorite and was planning to visit with Tom Crean this weekend. However, Walker’s team changed their travel arrangements, so his meeting with Crean will have to be rescheduled, according to Chris Korman of the H-T/Hoosier Scoop. Walker is rated a 3-star recruit by Rivals and is in the 2009 class.

– Maurice Sutton told a group of reporters that he was really enjoying himself in Bloomington and based on his comments, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t end up a Hoosier. His unofficial visit will take place Monday before he flies home to Maryland. He is scheduled to visit Villanova next weekend before making a decision. That could change if Sutton decides to commit before he leaves town. Terry Hutchens had a nice piece on Sutton in Sunday morning’s Indianapolis Star and Jody Demling heard rumors that Sutton is close to a commitment to IU.

– Apparently IU is involved with Leonard Washington and quite frankly, this comes as surprise given Washington’s questionable academic reputation. He’s already reclassified from 2007 to 2008 and was reportedly involved in a couple of fights last summer at the Adidas Super 64 in Las Vegas. Jody Demling has some quotes from Washington here.

– Although Jeremiah Rivers hasn’t officially announced that he will transfer to IU, the Washington Times report likely is legitimate and Indiana looks to be in good position with the former Georgetown guard.

– Bobby Capobianco was very impressive during the AMC according to one observer I spoke with and his play this spring should help him skyrocket up the national recruiting rankings. Being committed to Indiana won’t hurt, either. Capobianco will be a fan favorite in Assembly Hall with his intensity on both ends of the floor.

– Jordan Crawford and Brandon McGee helped with score keeping for some of the games at Assembly Hall. Barring unforeseen circumstances, both figure to return next season.

– Chris Korman had a brief scouting report on Christian Watford and Jody Demling of the C-J listed Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis and Alabama as the schools most involved for his services. No word on if Watford, a Birmingham (AL) native, has any future visits lined up to Bloomington. He’ll visit Louisville and Kentucky before heading back to Birmingham, according to Demling. Watford is the No. 47 player in the 2009 class on Rivals.com.

– Tom Crean was on the ‘Front Row Ticket’ on 93.9 FM on Thursday afternoon and here is a quick recap of what he had to say:

• Crean has spoken with several former Indiana players including Dane Fife, Quinn Buckner, Ted Kitchell and Scott May. He plans to talk to Kent Benson in the near future.
• Crean is normally not the type to attend a lot of meetings, but most of his first week in Bloomington has been spent in various meetings. He reiterated that there is a lot of work to do academically and although the team had a 3.0+ GPA the first semester, things have slipped dramatically this semester. Crean isn’t exactly sure why the grades have fallen so quickly.
• Still no definitive word on Armon Bassett or Jamarcus Ellis. One interesting observation is that he mentioned Bassett by name but did not mention Ellis. Not sure if I’m reading into that too much, but we’ll see how it plays out in the coming weeks. Crean did say he knows Armon pretty well having recruiting him while at Marquette.
• Crean won’t be able to attend Little 500 due to prior commitments in Milwaukee involving his kids.
• As far as his staff goes, Crean is looking for guys that knows the type of players he wants to bring into the program since he cannot go off campus until August due to recruiting restrictions. However, IU will be looking to add to the 2008 class this spring. He didn’t give a timetable for the announcement of his staff, but early next week is my guess for an announcement on that front.

(more…)

According to a report by Terry Hutchens of the Indianapolis Star, Jamarcus Ellis, DeAndre Thomas and Eli Holman are all planning to return to Bloomington next season. However, Brandon McGee, Jordan Crawford and Armon Bassett have yet to decide, according to Hutch:

Indiana’s players were all over the board when asked about their future at IU. All of them said they want to wait until a new coach is named and they could meet with that coach.

Two in particular — junior college transfers Jamarcus Ellis and DeAndre Thomas — indicated they plan to be back next season. Freshman center Eli Holman also thought he would be back. But Armon Bassett, Jordan Crawford and Brandon McGee all said they needed time to sort everything out before deciding.

Ellis said he didn’t feel comfortable talking about what anyone else on his team would do.

“I can only speak for myself, and I’m just looking forward to getting to know the new coach, whoever that may be, and getting in the gym and working hard, because I have a lot of things I can do better in my game,” Ellis said.

Crawford said he plans to see what comes about with a new coach.

That was about the best quote Jamarcus could have given. If he has that attitude going into next season and buys into the new coach, expect him to return to the stat-stuffing player we all loved early on. As far as the other players go, if Indiana makes the right hire, I think everyone will be back. In my view, Bassett is the most important piece to keep in Bloomington. He is on track to develop into an All-Big Ten player and he’s a big piece of the puzzle if IU hopes to field a team capable of making the NCAA Tournament next season (assuming the NCAA doesn’t drop the hammer in June).

Eric Gordon led six players in double figures with 24 points as No. 9 Indiana rolled past UNC-Pembroke 111-62 Saturday night in Assembly Hall.

Gordon’s 24 points all came in the first half before shifting over to play point guard in the second half. Gordon shot 8 of 13 from the field, including 6 of 8 from three-point range, in 29 minutes.

Indiana lost guard Armon Bassett to an ankle injury late in the first half. Bassett left the court grimacing, but returned to the bench in the second half. Bassett finished with 15 points.

Pembroke closed the Indiana lead to seven at 31-24 with six minutes left in the first half before the Hoosiers went on a 21-11 run to lead 52-35 at the break.

Kelvin Sampson was not pleased with his team’s defensive effort in the first half.

“We’ve gotta get better on defense. Sometimes young kids think defense is getting a steal,” Sampson said. “We’re working hard the first five or ten seconds. We’ve gotta be disciplined enough to play the whole shot clock.”

The Hoosiers came out firing from three-point range in the second half, led by freshman Brandon McGee who scored all of his 18 points in the second half. McGee was 4 of 6 from behind the arc and Indiana hit 18 of 30 three-pointers for 60 percent. The Hoosiers also shot 60 percent from the field and forced 19 turnovers.

Other Hoosiers in double figures included Jamarcus Ellis (15), Jordan Crawford (11) and D.J. White (10).

Indiana will open the regular season on Monday evening against Chattanooga at 7 PM Eastern time. That game will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

For those of you who weren’t able to make it out to one of the first two stops of the Barnstorming Tour at New Albany or Batesville, there’s a very nice YouTube video that has surfaced of the game at Batesville courtesy of the Hoosier Authority. You can get a good look at all of the incoming players (sans Eric Gordon) so I encourage you to check it out. Thanks to ITH reader Kelin for pointing this out.

We’re jammed pack with content for you over the next few days and a great time was had by all at the first stop of the Barnstorming Tour at New Albany High School. Among those we were able to interview tonight: Lance Stemler, Armon Bassett, Bud Mackey, Jordan Crawford and Jamarcus Ellis. So look for content regarding each of them over the next few days, starting tomorrow.

I was able to honor some of your requests for questions and I’ll be sure to include the answers where applicable.

As far as my closing thoughts for the evening, I’ve got quite a few to share with you. First off, Eli Holman has qualified and will suit up for the Hoosiers next season. That’s great news because the Richmond (CA) product will be a factor once the Big Ten season rolls around. His offensive game isn’t spectacular, but he can finish and he’ll help a great deal defensively because of how long he is.

DeAndre Thomas has dropped about 30 pounds since his arrival in Bloomington. He’s doing quite a bit of cardio work to shed the pounds.

Eric Gordon was spectacular once again. He showed why he is the top incoming freshman in the land. He’s also looking a bit stronger in the upper body since we last saw him in the Jordan Brand All-American game. For those of you who haven’t seen him in person, it’s a real treat and IU is fortunate to have a player of his caliber.

Jordan Crawford played well and since it was the first time I saw him, it’s the first time I can pass real judgment on the Hargrave Academy product. He’s got excellent court vision and gets up and down the floor very well. I expect he’ll contribute immediately.

Jamarcus Ellis was my favorite interview of the night. The Juco Player of the Year can score, rebound and pass. He’s definitely the slasher that IU needs. Most importantly, he’s a good kid who came to IU for the right reasons.

Brandon McGee is a blue collar player that does a lot of different things well. He likes to go inside and mix it up and he can also handle the ball a bit on the perimeter if need be.

Bud Mackey seemed thrilled to be at the game and he enjoyed the love from the IU fans. The lefty from Scott County should be a top contender for Mr. Basketball in the state of Kentucky.

And last, but certainly not least, Ray McCallum Jr. impressed me with his exceptional quickness. He’ll only be a sophomore at Bloomington North, but he’s already a high major target.

I hope you enjoyed the live blog coverage and make sure to check back over the next few days. There will certainly be plenty to talk about.