Hoosier Hysteria is on the horizon and it’s time for Inside the Hall’s player-by-player breakdown of the 2009-2010 Indiana Hoosiers. Today: Christian Watford.

If Maurice Creek is the freshman most ready to contribute, Christian Watford is not far behind. A consensus top 50 recruit nationally, Watford chose the Hoosiers over Alabama, Kentucky, Memphis and Louisville. Both Tom Crean and Bennie Seltzer put a great deal of effort into his recruitment and were able to sell the Indiana as the place where Watford can best prepare his game for the next level. His commitment in early September of last year lifted Indiana’s class into the top ten nationally.

At 6-8 and 215, Watford is a versatile wing that can score from the perimeter and also finish on the block. His handle on the perimeter is solid enough to utilize a pull-up jump shot that he’s able to knock down consistently. Although he’ll need to bulk up to compete on the block in the Big Ten, his ability to finish in traffic with contact is already a strong suit of his game.

(more…)

Given the situation inherited, the argument can be made that the 2009 recruiting haul made by Tom Crean and his staff was as impressive as any class in the country.

Before ever coaching a game at Indiana, Crean held on to a verbal commitment by Derek Elston given to the previous coaching staff and received commitments from five other players. Three of those players, Maurice Creek, Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford, were ranked among the top 50 prospects nationally by Scout.com.

When it was all said and done, IU signed a consensus top ten class last November in the aftermath of major violations less than a year before.

So it should be no surprise that Crean would sing the praises of the young men that he believes will, collectively, be the cornerstone of the rebuilding process in Bloomington. And last night, Crean did just that in these comments released by IU Media Relations:

Jordan Hulls

“That kid never accepted that he wasn’t a college player, or that he might be a Division II player, and that he might be a low-major player, and that he might be a mid-major player. I don’t think he ever accepted that. Something’s telling me that kid always had his sights set pretty high.”

Derek Elston

“The other guy that hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention nationally is Derek Elston. That guy is one of those people, if he hadn’t been injured out on that AAU circuit, there would have been a lot more things written about him. He’s good, he’s tough. And he wants to be really good.”

(more…)

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.

(more…)

We’re a couple of days late to the punch on these, but since I was on vacation last week, I have a reasonable excuse, no? Last week, the four IU freshman who’ve been on campus all summer, Bobby Capobianco, Christian Watford, Derek Elston and Jordan Hulls, were available to the media for the first time as IU players.

And someone from IU was on hand with a camera to ask questions. Interviews with Capobianco and Watford are available in the embedded video players below. Both come off as intelligent guys that should represent the program well.

If you haven’t noticed, it’s a slow news time around these parts. The summer AAU evaluation periods wraps up at the end of this week, football is about to start and the countdown to Hoosier Hysteria is about to begin.

In the spirit of keeping the discussion fresh, it’s time for … wait for it … an open thread. Today’s topic: Which incoming freshman will make the biggest impact?

There are a lot of factors to consider here. Primarily, it’s going to be your call on how to define impact. If you’re going to define it by stats, you’re probably going with Christian Watford or Maurice Creek. If you’re going to define it by bringing a winning attitude to the program, you’re going with Jordan Hulls. If you’re going with toughness and grit, you’re going Derek Elston or Bobby Capobianco. Or if you’re going with the potential to morph into Hasheem Thabeet, you’re going Bawa Muniru.

Show your work, boys and girls. And remember, Jeremiah Rivers is not a freshman.

Scout.com has released its final rankings for the class of 2009 and four of Indiana’s six-man recruiting class made the cut.

Maurice Creek was the highest rated at No. 41, Christian Watford checked in at No. 47, Jordan Hulls is No. 50 and Derek Elston came in at No. 77.

Indiana fans in Freedom Hall got a glimpse of the future Saturday night as IU signees Christian Watford, Jordan Hulls and Maurice Creek teamed up to win the Wazoo Sports Derby Festival Basketball Classic, 151-145.

“It was a great experience,” Watford said afterwards. Creek, who met Watford in person for the first time on Thursday afternoon, echoed Watford’s sentiments. “It was fun. I got off to a slow start at first, but then we picked it up. I enjoyed it.” Creek said.

Watford led the IU trio on the Gold team with 26 points, including 8 of 10 from the free throw line. Creek added 21 points and Hulls, who is expected to be named Mr. Basketball on Sunday, had six points.

The night began with player introductions that lasted approximately 25 minutes. Creek was the first IU recruit announced and wore an Indiana flag over his shoulders as he was announced to the crowd of 13,111.

“I bought it at the mall this morning,” Creek said of the flag. “My mom said I should come out and do what Dwight Howard did with the cape.”

The Gold team led 70-59 at halftime and the intermission brought the completion of the 3-point shootout. Hulls won the competition with 14 points, beating Creek, Eric Murphy and Mike Marra.

“I think I had 14, but I’ll give it to J. Hulls,” Creek laughed. “It felt good (playing with Hulls). He’s like a Steve Nash type point guard.”

The next time this trio of Hoosiers will be on the court together in game action will be this fall in Assembly Hall. But in the meantime, they’re looking forward to putting in the work that will bring improvement in the 2009-2010.

“It’s going to take some work,” Watford said. “But with Coach Crean behind us, we’re going to win some games.”

• Box score

(Photo credit: The Hoosier Scoop)