Austin Etherington wasn’t the only 2011 commitment at Assembly Hall for Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria. Matt Carlino, who moved to Bloomington over the summer and will play at South this season, attended his second straight opening IU practice. Inside the Hall caught up with Carlino on Monday evening for a Q & A:

On last year’s atmosphere at Hoosier Hysteria versus this year:

“I thought it was a lot more comfortable because Coach Crean has gotten to know the town really well and they’ve gotten to know him. This year people have more of an idea of where we’re at and where we’re going.”

On how the adjustment has been moving from Arizona to Bloomington:

“The adjustment’s been good. It’s just more time indoors which means equals more time in the gym. I’ve gotten along with all my teammates really well. They’re all really good guys. And all the coaches on the staff are really great. The school aspect is actually a little harder.”

On the benefit of playing in open gyms at IU:

“It’s really fun. It’s challenging, so that’s always fun. It shows me that basically I need to work on my strength because they’re way stronger. Other than that, it’s just fun playing with all of the IU guys and then watching them play during the season.”

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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)

“Hall Notes” is a gathering of news clips mixed with opinion that, on their own, probably wouldn’t have made it on Inside the Hall. But throw them all together and well, here we go …

+ Kyrie Irving (pictured) hosted the Duke coaching staff on Wednesday night for the first of his in-home visits. On Thursday, both Devils Illustrated (Rivals) and The Devils Den (Scout) decided that squeezing every pro-Blue Devil comment out of Irving was the perfect way to cause an uproar on the IU message boards. It worked. Remember, it’s far from uncommon for a recruit to gush about a visit immediately after it happens. The Indiana coaching staff will make their way to Elizabeth (NJ) on Sunday to meet with Irving and barring any scheduling changes, he’ll visit Bloomington on the weekend of October 3.

+ Moses Morgan will visit Indiana this weekend and Dustin Dopirak of The Herald-Times caught up with the 6-5 wing before he boarded his flight to Indianapolis. If Morgan’s comments are any indication, the commitment of Victor Oladipo earlier this week will not factor into his decision. DePaul, Minnesota, Arizona State and Clemson are also in the running for Morgan.

+ Tom Crean announced the hiring of Drew Adams and Mason Revelette in a press release on Wednesday night. Adams, 24, will be the coordinator of basketball systems and Revelette, 22, will be a graduate assistant. Most of the chatter concerning the announcement has centered around Adams, who has strong ties to the Indiana Elite AAU program. Adams served as a student assistant the past two seasons at Tennessee and is a graduate of Bloomington South where he played for three seasons.

+ Kyle Neddenriep of The Indianapolis Star reported on Thursday that the IHSAA is close to ruling on the eligibility of Bloomington South guard and IU commitment Matt Carlino. According to Carlino’s father Mark, a decision is expected in the “next week or so.”

+ Mike Pegram of Inside Indiana/Peegs.com tweeted late on Wednesday that Marquis Teague could potentially visit Indiana on Saturday. At this point, it’s hard to view Teague as anything but a heavy lean to Louisville.

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.

Inside the Hall captured thirteen clips of the first member of Indiana’s 2011 recruiting class, Matt Carlino, at the Kentucky Hoopfest at Hoops on Saturday. Carlino scored 16 points in Indiana Elite One Orange’s 77-54 win over Indiana Select. Carlino is wearing No. 12 in Green. Enjoy.

Indiana Elite One Orange is on a roll at the Kentucky Hoopfest.

After going 3-0 in pool play, the Elite team featuring Matt Carlino, Marshall Plumlee, Cody Zeller and Spencer Turner rolled into Sunday’s quarterfinals with a 77-54 win over Indiana Select.

Carlino scored 16 points and played an excellent floor game splitting time between the point and off-guard positions.

“It’s going well. Everyone is coming together really well as a team,” Carlino said. “A lot of it is coaching. It’s fun beating people too. It’s just really fun playing with good players. It’s a lot easier to look better and make better decisions even.”

Carlino, who played high school last season in the Phoenix area at Highland, moved to Bloomington in late May. He’ll enroll this fall at Bloomington South. He says one of the advantages of the move will be an increased level of competition.

“Everyone’s always playing,” he said. “There’s good competition everywhere in the summer. It’s really good year round. Bloomington’s just a great place to live in general.”

Having never been to a game at Assembly Hall, he’s also looking forward to taking in a game or two next season at his future school.

“I’ve never been to a game at Indiana, so this year, obviously, I’ll try to go to one or two,” Carlino said.

For now, after a long week of games in Cincinnati at the It Takes 5ive Classic and four games in three days at the Hoopfest, Carlino and his Indiana Elite teammates are planning to rest on Saturday and celebrate Turner’s birthday.

“Everyone’s so tired at this point. I’m running on adrenaline right now,” he said.