The group of recruits attending Hoosier Hysteria this weekend in Bloomington is arguably the most talented to ever attend the event. It’s probably not a stretch to say that IU has the most talent of any school in the nation taking in the kickoff to the 2007-2008 hoops season.

Devin Ebanks, Derek Elston and Matt Roth, three players already committed to the Hoosiers, are slated to take in the festivities. Ebanks will be on his official visit while Elston and Roth will be on unofficial visits. Roth took his official visit alongside Tyler Zeller a couple of weeks ago. Zeller will be at Notre Dame this weekend and will finish his visits with a trip to Purdue next weekend.

Kevin Jones, from Mount Vernon (NY), will be on hand for his unofficial visit with his brother, Gerard. Jones is one of the final 2008 targets still on the board and is also considering Ohio State, West Virginia, UMass and Pittsburgh.

The 2009 class will also be well represented at Hoosier Hysteria. As I talked about a few weeks ago, Nolan Dennis, Lance Stephenson (pictured) and Dexter Strickland will all attend.

Lawrence North’s Stephan Van Treese, who recently visited Louisville and is being recruited by several other high major programs, will make the drive down from Indianapolis.

If you include Elston, five of the top 100 players in the 2009 class will be at Assembly Hall.

Other notable guests include Ray McCallum Jr., Jordan Prosser and Jacob Jenkins. Prosser, a 2009 forward from Goodfield (IL), has an IU offer and played with Indiana Elite and will attend per Midstatehoops. Jenkins, also a member of the 2009 class, is from Manual high school in Louisville and does not have an offer from IU. He was in the Rivals top 100 for 2009 but dropped out of the rankings after the summer.

Also, I’ve received a few e-mails asking about TV coverage of Hoosier Hysteria. The Big Ten Network is planning to have live reports from around the Big Ten beginning at 9:30 PM on Friday. Indiana will be one of the schools featured along with Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan State and Wisconsin.

With the unfortunate news regarding Bud Mackey surfacing last Friday evening, the attention of the IU staff shifts to the class of 2009 to lock up another guard.

Let’s face it, most of the 2008 talent has been spoken for and it’s most likely far too late to get in on the available talent still left on the board.

We’ve already told you that Dexter Strickland (pictured) and Lance Stephenson will attend Hoosier Hysteria next Friday night at Assembly Hall. Various reports now indicate that Nolan Dennis, another highly touted 2009 guard, will also attend the festivities.

Just to give you an idea of how well Strickland, Stephenson and Dennis are thought of, consider these rankings by Scout and Rivals:

- Strickland: Scout (No. 1 PG); Rivals No. 16
- Stephenson: Scout (NO. 1 SF); Rivals No. 4
- Dennis: Scout (No. 6 SG); Rivals No. 21

Landing any one of these guys could help ease the pain of the Mackey news. Landing two of them would greatly diminish the pain. All three and you’ll be saying, “Bud who?”

Also, for those of you who won’t be attending Hoosier Hysteria, the Big Ten Network is planning to have reports from the event throughout the Big Ten Tonight basketball tip-off special.

St. Patrick’s High in New Jersey, under the leadership of coach Kevin Boyle, has produced quite a bit of talent over the years. Current NBA stars Al Harrington and Samuel Dalembert both immediately come to mind. This past season the school sent Corey Fisher, a consensus top 25 player, to Villanova.

However, the best talent yet to come from the school may be in the form of 2009 standout and IU target, Dexter Strickland. And even better for Hoosier fans, he’ll get a chance to check out Bloomington when he attends Midnight Madness on October 12th.

Strickland has the eye of just about every high major program and currently holds offers from Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Rutgers, Villanova, Arizona, Florida and IU.

So what is it about Strickland’s game that makes him so highly sought after? We went to the expert, Dave Telep of Scout.com, to get the lowdown on Strickland.

“He’s one of the best guards in the class of 2009. He is extremely smooth and has improved year to year. This is one of the elite players in his class,” Telep said. “He’s at a high school that’s going to showcase his talents all year long and he’s going to be front and center on the national scene.”

Telep also noted that several schools were on hand to watch Strickland work out yesterday as it was the first day of the fall open evaluation period. One of the coaches reportedly on hand was Indiana assistant Rob Senderoff.

Strickland’s recruitment will certainly be one to watch over the next year as the Hoosiers try to lock up yet another five-star recruit.

IU’s top verbal commitment for the class of 2008, Devin Ebanks, has been selected to play in the second annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic. The event will be held August 24 at Rucker Park in New York.

Here’s what the announcement from Rise Magazine had to say about Mr. Ebanks:

Devin Ebanks, St. Thomas More (Oakdale, Conn.): The ultra-talented Ebanks, who’s headed to Indiana, can do it all.

Among the other guys to check out in the event:

- Samardo Samuels: A talented big man from New Jersey headed to Louisville.
- Dexter Strickland: A junior-to-be super guard from St. Patrick’s in New Jersey that IU, along with every other major program, is said to be courting.
- BJ Mullens: Another big man headed to Big 10 rival Ohio State.
- Brandon Jennings: The top point guard from the class of 2008 who will play for Lute Olsen.

This will be nice exposure for Ebanks, as well as a chance for IU fans in the NYC area to check out his game. As far as I know, he’s only played in one AAU event this summer.

His selection only cements the belief that he’s one of the top 10 players nationally in his class and will make an immediate impact upon his arrival in Bloomington.