As recently as July, Poole spoke highly of the Indiana program and assistant coach Bennie Seltzer: “It’s a big basketball school, not really a football school,” he said. “Everything’s based on basketball at Indiana. I’ve got a nice feel for Coach Seltz. He’s a real good guy.”

Poole is down to South Carolina, Clemson and Kentucky. He’s rated the No. 27 prospect in his class by Rivals.com and No. 58 by Scout.com.

A couple of other recruiting notes from the weekend:

+ Kyrie Irving tweeted the following about his in-home visit from the Hoosier staff on Sunday evening: “Indiana visit went really well…sc.” Dave Telep of Scout.com should have an update later today from Irving.

+ Moses Morgan took his official visit to Bloomington and we’ll try to catch up with Morgan later today for an update.

+ 2011 commitment Austin Etherington was in attendance for IU football’s 23-19 win over Western Michigan at Memorial Stadium.

+ Kyrie Irving, 6-2 guard, St. Patrick’s (NJ): Adam Zagoria reported late Thursday night that Irving (pictured) will give Duke a visit on September 25 and that a visit to Bloomington will take place, but a date has not been set.

+ Moses Morgan, 6-5 wing, Palo Verde (NV): The son of Winston Morgan, a former IU player, will visit on September 12 according to The Courier-Journal’s Jody Demling. Morgan will also take an official visit to Arizona State and other visits could follow.

+ Stacey Poole, 6-5 wing, Andrew Jackson (FL): Indiana made Poole’s recent cut to four schools according to Evan Daniels of Scout.com. Poole will visit Indiana and Kentucky both on the same weekend — with a trip to Bloomington on September 4.

+ Victor Oladipo, 6-4 guard, DeMatha (MD): Oladipo could cross paths with Poole as the Maryland native told Mike Pegram of Peegs.com of his plans to visit on September 4-6.

+ Brandon Mobley, 6-9 forward, Windsor Forest (GA): Mobley told the Indiana Daily Student that he’s down to the Hoosiers, South Carolina and Cincinnati and will visit in November.

+ Keep an eye on: Jelan Kendrick, a 6-6 guard from Westlake (GA) and the cousin of former IU fan favorite A.J. Moye, will reportedly take part in this weekend’s Elite Camp. Kendrick is the No. 8 player in the 2010 class on Rivals.com. 6-4 Norcross (GA) guard Jeremy Lamb is another guy to keep on the radar.

Around the Hall is recommended reading from the Inside the Hall crew

+ Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz talks to Dick Vitale, a long-time advocate of a Bob Knight return to IU, about whether he thinks the former coach will show up in Bloomington. Former H-T sports editor Bob Hammel also gives his take. {Indianapolis Star}

+ Duke has extended an offer to Marshall Plumlee and the 6-11 junior also holds offers from IU, Florida, Purdue, LSU, Minnesota, N.C. State, Notre Dame and Virginia. {Asheville Citizen-Times}

+ Stacey Poole Sr. says that his son, Stacey Jr., now has Kentucky as the No. 1 school on his list. {Louisville Courier-Journal}

+ 2010 forward Brandon Mobley, an AAU teammate of 2010 commitment David Williams, will visit Bloomington in November and has the Hoosiers in his final three schools. {Indiana Daily Student}

+ The incoming freshmen will wear the following uniform numbers: Jordan Hulls (1), Christian Watford (2), Maurice Creek (3), Bawa Muniru (15), Bobby Capobianco (23), Derek Elston (32). {IU Hoosiers}

+ 2009-2010 preseason prospectus is available in PDF format. {IU Hoosiers}

+ Courier-Journal recruiting writer Jody Demling held a live chat yesterday and a replay is available. {Louisville Courier-Journal}

+ Florida International threatens to withdraw from the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament if the Panthers have to open the event against North Carolina rather than Ohio State. Either way, they’re still losing by 20+. {ESPN.com}

For Poole, who’s playing this summer with the Jacksonville Lee Bulls, the accolade was based more on being watched closely by national scouts than his performance.

“I’ve just been seen more,” Poole told Inside the Hall from the Breakdown Hoopfest in Miami, FL. “I’m not surprised at what I’m doing. Not at all. Something I’m doing, they like. They like how I have that energy. I bring it on the court.”

Poole, the son of former McDonald’s All-American and Florida star Stacey Poole Sr., says he is still wide open in the recruiting process. His list includes Indiana, Clemson, Florida, Xavier, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Miami (FL). Connecticut and Louisville have recently expressed interest and are evaluating the 6-6 guard this summer.

“Right now, I’m just playing out my AAU season. I’m open,” he said of the recruiting process.

Poole said he plans to visit Bloomington in August. But even though he’s yet to take a visit, Poole has a good feel for the Indiana program and is building a solid relationship with assistant coach Bennie Seltzer, who played in the CBA at the same time as Poole Sr.

“It’s a big basketball school, not really a football school,” he said. “Everything’s based on basketball at Indiana. I’ve got a nice feel for Coach Seltz. He’s a real good guy.”

Regardless of his destination, Poole highlighted a few factors that will be on the top of his mind when he makes a decision.

“Style of play, building a relationship with the coaches,” Poole said. “You want to enjoy where you’re going to be at.”

With college coaches out in full force watching him during the current July evaluation period, the Andrew Jackson HS star is letting his play do the talking and tries to ignore who is watching.

“I just concentrate on my game. I know they’re going to be there so I just have to play my game and make them more interested.”

(Photo credit: Scout.com)

Since most of us are trained to read recruiting writings from the likes of Jody Demling of The Louisville Courier-Journal or Dave Telep of Scout.com, it’s not often that we get the opinion of a scribe who normally doesn’t follow recruiting as a religion.

Davis hit the recruiting trail hard last week and today published his scouting reports of several of the nation’s top players, including three IU recruiting targets:

Kyrie Irving, 6-2, 175, Elizabeth, N.J.: Irving is the point guard at St. Patrick’s High, which includes 6-8 junior Michael Gilchrist, whom I wrote about last week. You think that’s a tough inside-outside combo? Irving isn’t as strong as Selby, but he is such a deft ball-handler with a mean crossover that he repeatedly gets by his defender in the half court. Irving is more of a true point guard than a scorer, and his outgoing personality enables him to be a strong leader. His recruitment seems to be wide open, but his coach at St. Patrick’s, Kevin Boyle, told me that Indiana, spearheaded by its assistant Roshown McLeod, a New Jersey native who played for Bob Hurley at St. Anthony, has been working especially hard to get him.

Marquis Teague, 6-2, 170, Indianapolis: Teague gets a lot of attention because he is the younger brother of Jeff, the Wake Forest star who was just drafted in the first round by the Atlanta Hawks. But even without that pedigree, the rising junior would gain plenty of notice. He is considerably further along at this stage than his brother, who wasn’t considered a high-major recruit until the start of his senior year. Marquis is much more of a pure point guard than Jeff. He is blazingly quick, especially in the open floor, and though his game has a little too much French pastry, as Al McGuire used to say, he is great at getting the ball to the open man. He also has a tendency to run his mouth, but I’d rather have a guy be a little too chippy than lacking in confidence.

Stacey Poole, 6-5, 190, Jacksonville, Fla.: Here’s another wiry high-flyer. His father played for Florida two decades ago, and it was no coincidence Billy Donovan was at every one of Poole’s games in Philly. It’s hard to say how skilled Poole is in a half-court setting, because the games at the Reebok were such sloppy, up-and-down affairs. South Carolina and Clemson are hot on Poole’s trail as well, but in the end it’s hard to envision him turning down his home-state school, especially when it’s also his dad’s alma mater.

Nothing particularly ground breaking in this piece, but here are a couple of observations: 1) Irving’s high school coach has taken notice of IU’s urgency in recruiting his point guard; 2) I’m not the only one to notice that Teague’s jawing could be troublesome and 3) Stacey Poole isn’t a prospect that is talked about much with IU, but the lack of a Hoosier mention doesn’t mean they aren’t in the mix. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, Poole told TigerIllustrated.com: “I could see myself going to Clemson. And I could also see myself going to Indiana.”

Here’s a look at the names IU is recruiting for 2010:

– Kyrie Irving – Irving tops the wishlist for Indiana and several other schools because he is a versatile point guard who has the ability to make others around him better. He prominently mentions IU when speaking about his recruitment and has developed a strong relationship with Tom Crean and Roshown McLeod. Scout.com recently moved him into the top 10 of the 2010 class. IU fans will likely have a chance to see Irving in a couple of weeks as his New Jersey Roadrunners team is expected at the Adidas May Classic. Consider him the top priority in Indiana’s recruiting efforts.

– Moses Morgan – Michigan was reportedly the school to beat for Morgan until IU made a recent push for the Las Vegas guard and now the Hoosiers could be in the driver’s seat. The son of Anderson-Madison Heights product and former IU player Winston Morgan is among the top 75 players in 2010 according to Rivals.com. Jerry Meyer recently called Morgan “a physical wing prospect with a game ready for the rigors of college basketball.” Morgan plans to visit Bloomington in June.

– Dominique Ferguson – The Lawrence North forward recently trimmed his list of schools to seven: IU, Kentucky, Arizona, Texas, UCLA, Wake Forest and Florida. If you read anything into some of his recent quotes, Ferguson sounds like he wants to be the focal point at the school he chooses. Put me in the camp that would be shocked if he becomes a Hoosier.

– DeShaun Thomas – Thomas still maintains he’s committed to Ohio State and yet, the whispers continue to circulate that Indiana is in the mix. Until there’s firm evidence Thomas is ready to look around, consider him a non-factor.

– Will Barton and Brandon Knight – You can lump both of these players in the same category because as of now you shouldn’t consider them as anything more than a pipedream. But it’s never a bad thing to have the ear of elite players, right?

Other names to keep an eye on: Jacksonville, FL guard Stacey Poole, Scott County, KY guard Ge-Lawn Guyn and Harvey, IL guard Reggie Smith.