The notion it’s a foregone conclusion that Marquis Teague will play for Rick Pitino at Louisville is all but gone. Several weeks ago, I had numerous people tell me it was a lock for Teague to be a Cardinal. But as his high school season ended and the Pike sophomore didn’t make an announcement, the window of opportunity for other schools to get back in the mix opened. And Indiana is one of the schools that has done just that.

Kyle Neddenriep of The Indianapolis Star talked to Teague about the six schools still in contention: IU, Louisville, Cincinnati, Purdue, Ohio State and Wake Forest. Here are Teague’s comments about the Indiana program:

“(Tom Crean) is a great coach. When I went to the games, he was almost recruiting me during the game. He would say, ‘You want to be part of this environment, don’t you?’ He’s great. I love him. I went to three or four games and went down another time to visit around the campus.”

If you don’t check out the entire piece by Neddenriep, there’s one thing that stands out: Teague only used the word “love” when talking about Coach Crean. And his comments about Louisville don’t suggest that he’s dead set on the Cardinals like some have suggested. If you’re unfamiliar with Teague’s game, you can watch this video I shot back in January when Pike played Jordan Hulls and Bloomington South.

(Thanks for ITH reader Kelin for the tip.)

Photo credit: Indianapolis Star

According to a story published in this morning’s Bloomington Herald Times, Indianapolis Pike sophomore Marquis Teague has been suspended for an undisclosed number of games for picking up too many technical fouls. Teague missed last night’s game at Bloomington North:

Foul trouble took the starch out of their defense in the fourth quarter, but Pike, minus star guard Marquis Teague, was still able to iron out a 67-63 Conference Indiana victory at the Cougar Den. Pike (9-5, 5-1) wasn’t handicapped much by having Teague suspended for racking up too many technicals.

I didn’t really address this when I posted video of Teague earlier this week, but his fifth foul last Friday against Bloomington South was a technical for jawing at an official. And that came after he jawed at Jordan Hulls and Darwin Davis Jr. the entire game. I know this is a moot point because Teague is likely headed south to Louisville, but I can’t imagine a scenario in which Tom Crean would tolerate this type of behavior.

Indianapolis Pike sophomore-to-be Marquis Teague drew a huge crowd of coaches Thursday afternoon at the Kentucky Hoop Fest, including Indiana assistant Tim Buckley, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Ohio State’s Thad Matta, Purdue’s Matt Painter, Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin and Louisville assistant Walter McCarty.

The 6-1 Teague is playing for Spiece Indy Heat and several scouting reports I’ve received indicate that he can flat out score.

Teague has already been offered by the Hoosiers as well as Cincinnati, Wake Forest (where brother Jeff plays), Purdue, Xavier and Ohio State and is said to be one of IU’s top targets for the 2011 class. He averaged 12 points and four assists as a freshman at Pike last season.