The four-man class, highlighted by Devin Ebanks, is considered to be one of the top 20 in the nation. That ranking could get a sizable boost if Jones decides to don the candy striped pants. Joining Ebanks in the 2008 recruiting class are guards Matt Roth (pictured) and Terrell Holloway and forward Tom Pritchard.

I’ve fielded some e-mails and I’ve been asked in the comments where Mr. Jones is going and your guess is as good as mine. All of the buzz seems to be centered around Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Indiana. However, Kevin’s brother, Gerard, still mentioned Seton Hall, Rutgers, St. John’s and Massachusetts as possibilities as recently as last week.

The fact is the lid has been kept fairly tight on where Jones will end up. He’s expected to announce his decision at a 2:00 presser at Mt. Vernon.

While I’m very encouraged with a second straight top 20 recruiting haul for Coach Sampson and staff, I’m also left daydreaming on what could have been if Bud Mackey and Tyler Zeller were a part of this class. We’d probably be talking a top three class nationally, but so it goes in the world of recruiting. There’s always next year, right?

So what are your thoughts on this recruiting class? Thrilled? Disappointed? Indifferent? And where is Kevin Jones going to end up? Since I don’t know, can you fill me in?

Related:

• Matt Roth will be a Hoosier
• Ohio forward Tom Pritchard joins 2008 class
• Terrell Holloway picks the Hoosiers
• Scouting report: Devin Ebanks
• Tyler Zeller heading to Tobacco Road
• Bud Mackey arrested on drug charges

Zeller tried to downplay the role of the recent sanctions imposed on Coach Kelvin Sampson as a reason for spurning the Hoosiers, but one of his quotes following the press conference caught my attention. Zeller was asked how the sanctions affected his decision and here’s what he said:

“A little bit, but not really. You gotta look at the long run and the more I looked into it, the long run was kind of confusing. I wanted to get it over with and I couldn’t figure out what exactly was going to happen. So a little bit, but like I said, I just felt more comfortable with North Carolina,” Zeller said.

Zeller is the second five-star recruit in North Carolina’s 2008 class, joining forward Ed Davis from Mechanicsville, Virginia. The Tar Heels also have a commitment from four-star guard Larry Drew from Woodland Hills, CA.

North Carolina has had success with Indiana big men in the past. Sean May, from Bloomington North, was the Most Outstanding Player in the 2005 Final Four when the Tar Heels won the National Championship. Eric Montross, a member of the 1990 class from Lawrence North, was a starter for their 1993 National Championship team.

Jonathan Holmes from Bloomington South and Rick Fox from Warsaw are two other players from Indiana that have donned the Carolina Blue.

With Zeller’s commitment to Roy Williams and staff, the only major 2008 recruit that IU is still involved with is Mount Vernon (NY) forward Kevin Jones. Jones has visited Indiana, Pittsburgh, Massachusetts, Ohio State and West Virginia. Rutgers, St. John’s and Seton Hall are also in the running. A decision from Jones is expected before November 14, which is the first day of the early signing period.

Personally, I always thought the Tar Heels were the front runner here, so this isn’t much of a surprise. And UNC has scooped up a few stellar Indiana natives in the past, most notably Sean May and Eric Montross. It would have been nice to have the No. 22 ranked recruit in the class of 2008, but so it goes in recruiting. You can’t get all the big boys all the time.

So barring some unforeseen twist tomorrow afternoon, it looks like we won’t be seeing Zeller in cream and crimson. But hey, at least we have Jordan Crawford, right?

(Editor’s Note: Chris Korman of the Herald Times has confirmed that Zeller will announce for North Carolina.)

The fact that Zeller will announce on Monday comes as a surprise as speculation over the past few days has run rampant that the decision could be delayed. Specifically I’m referring to an article on Wednesday by Evan Daniels of Scout.com that stated Zeller was considering taking more visits.

I’ve already given my view on each of the schools still in the running, so now we just sit back and wait for the announcement. If you haven’t had a chance yet to weigh in with your prediction, I’m interested in hearing your take.

Previously:

• Zeller talks IU visit, staying coy about recruitment
• Purdue student newspaper pleads to Zeller, I chuckle
• Confidence behind Zeller’s rise to five-star status
• Tyler Zeller visits Bloomington
• IU is a darkhorse for Tyler Zeller

(Also of note, the first AP poll was released today and IU checks in at No. 9. In fact, the top 10 in both polls are identical.)

That said, I’ve never been one to sit and worry about a particular recruit coming to Indiana. I figure if the kid doesn’t want to come to IU, it’s his loss. There will always be someone else who will want to don the Cream and Crimson. That doesn’t seem to be the case with our friends in West Lafayette. Check out the following excerpts from their student newspaper, the Exponent:

Tyler Zeller, please come to Purdue. This is a cry that many people have shared over the recent months. I share that cry with them. There is a Facebook group pleading to help coach Matt Painter recruit Tyler Zeller. There’s a 25 percent chance he could come to Purdue as his top choices are Purdue, Indiana, North Carolina and Notre Dame.

Having Zeller would be beneficial for Purdue in more ways than one. First, dynasty. Zeller is the type of player you could build a program around. Purdue is already making a turn to become a threat in the conference and would only strengthen if Zeller came to West Lafayette.

Also, what could be better than making Kelvin Sampson and Indiana look like the losers when Zeller puts on the Old Gold and Black rather than the disgusting Crimson and Crap, err, Cream.

The last comment isn’t worth addressing further because it’s the obligatory shot at Indiana by the Purdue fan. Very creative, I must say. Probably took what, three seconds to come up with?

Second, the “please come to my school” comments are generally reserved for message board junkies. Not in this case. The student newspaper is begging a 17 year-old kid.

Third, I’m wondering how the word “dynasty” made its way into an article talking about Purdue basketball. If anyone wants to fill me in, I’m all ears.

In closing, I think we can all agree that Tyler Zeller is a great player. Would I love to have him at Indiana? Absolutely. Would I ever beg him to come to Indiana? Absolutely not.

What we do know, thanks to comments made by Zeller over the weekend in West Lafayette to the Journal and Courier, is that he’ll make his decision sometime between November 5th and November 14th.

Here’s a little bit of what Zeller had to say about the decision making process and how the recent sanctions announced at IU could effect him:

On where he stands in the decision making process:

“I really have no clue right now. All the players are factors. You have to look at who you come in to play with, where you fit in and how you fit in. Can you play with them? You have to look at everything.”

On the sanctions recently announced by Indiana:

“You have to look at the long run. You’ve got to look at what is going to happen down the road. We will just see what happens with all of that. It didn’t really bother me, because after I talked to (coach Sampson) and he explained everything, it didn’t sound as bad as I thought it was at first.”

I have a hard time buying into Zeller’s statement that he has no clue where he’ll be going. He’s been to all four schools and he’s been able to see how he fits in at each school. By this point, I hope he’s got some clue as to where he’ll end up.

I’ve always felt that Notre Dame was a distant fourth in the race and I still feel that way. North Carolina is the storied, national program that might be just as passionate as Indiana about basketball. Zeller seems to have a good relationship with Roy Williams and he wouldn’t be the first Indiana kid to head to Chapel Hill (Do the names Sean May, Eric Montross and Rick Fox ring a bell?). Purdue has things headed in the right direction with Matt Painter at the helm and is making a living plucking top talent from the state. And we all know the appeal of playing at IU.

The unfortunate thing about the sanctions for Kelvin Sampson is that if Zeller doesn’t choose Indiana, there will be immediate questions about the effect of the sanctions on recruiting. Ultimately, I believe they’ll have little to do with Zeller’s decision.

So, where do you think Tyler Zeller will end up and why? Will he join brother Luke in South Bend? Will he head to Tobacco Road? Will Purdue, his last stop for an official visit, get the nod? Or will he end up in the cream and crimson? I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.

Zeller visited IU this past weekend and by my count talked to three media outlets after the visit. And unlike most recruiting stories where a kid will give some clues to where he’s leaning, Zeller is giving no indication on which school is leading the race.

Take notice, courtesy of Jeff Rabjohns of the Indy Star:

“I’m definitely taking everything in,” Zeller said. “I haven’t written everything down, but I’m trying to figure out, this school has this, but this other school has that. This school is better than that one in this, but this other school is better in that. One day, you’re going to wake up and it’s going to be, ‘I’m going there.’ I’m just kind of waiting around for that to happen.”

In other words, he’s going to take all of his visits and he’s still wide open. I’ve seen a couple posts here on the Hall asking where Zeller is leaning and I’ve been asked a few times for my opinion on where he’ll end up. To be totally honest, I’ve got no idea where this is all heading. You can legitimately make a case for all four schools in the race. Until a decision comes, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Devin Ebanks checks in as the No. 15 player in the class and Bud Mackey is the No. 41 player.

Washington (IN) big man Tyler Zeller, who visited IU this past weekend, is slotted in at No. 18. Kevin Jones, who will reportedly visit IU on October 12 for Hoosier Hysteria, comes in at No. 37.

Rise will release full biographies for the top 50 players in a publication called Hardwood that will be released in late October.

Also of note, here are the top five players on the list: Samardo Samuels (Louisville), Greg Monroe (undecided), Tyreke Evans (undecided), Jrue Holiday (UCLA) and Brandon Jennings (Arizona).

{HT: C-J Recruiting Blog}

Earlier this year, most recruiting services viewed Zeller as a three-star or a four-star prospect. Many would have argued for East Chicago Central’s Angel Garcia or Warren Central’s Walter Offutt as the top 2008 prospect from the state of Indiana.

However, after an off-season of improvement and strong AAU play in the spring, Zeller shot up the charts and became a high priority for several schools. Scout.com put him in their top 20 and Rivals.com put him in their top 25. His play has also made him a firm favorite for the title of Mr. Basketball.

So what was behind Zeller’s rise as a prospect? His confidence finally caught up to his potential.

“The biggest factor was, and Tyler and I’ve had conversations about this, he simply wasn’t ready,” Scout.com National Recruiting Director Dave Telep said. “When there’s a player like Tyler Zeller with a family history of size and being a high major player, you make sure you pay that guy a little extra attention. It wasn’t Tyler’s time until this year and once he seemed comfortable and confident, things just exploded for him.”

“It has happened like that for other guys in the past,” Telep added. “Andrew Bynum (now of the Los Angeles Lakers) was the same way. You always kind of knew that he was going to be a prospect. When his confidence level started equaling his potential, he really started getting good in a hurry. I think the same thing happened with Tyler.”

First off, I don’t think Pritchard’s commitment is a sign that IU isn’t going to land Zeller or Jones. I’m not saying that they’ll land either guy because I think it’s still totally up in the air. But I think some of the comments trying to link the Pritchard commitment to the sentiment that we’re not getting Zeller or Jones are off base. Rest assured, both guys are at the top of IU’s wishlist.

As far as the scholarship numbers go, the Hoosiers appear to be fine in that department. D.J. White, A.J. Ratliff, Mike White and Lance Stemler are all seniors. You’ll also have Kyle Taber’s scholarship freed up after the season. (Taber has Ben Allen’s scholarship for the upcoming season.) And one has to think there’s a good chance that Eric Gordon’s grant could also become available based on his NBA potential. That would be at least six available scholarships, assuming Gordon goes pro, and as of today there are four committed players for 2008.

- Hats off to Jeff Rabjohns for his coverage of the Tyler Zeller recruitment. Rabjohns has a story today with an update on Zeller’s trip to Chapel Hill this past weekend. {Indianapolis Star}

- The Indiana Daily Student has quotes from Kelvin Sampson’s press conference earlier today. {basketblog}

- Madisonville (KY) guard Jon Hood recently visited IU on an unofficial visit. Hood shot up the rankings this past summer and is the No. 39 player in the 2008 class according to Rivals. Hood will attend Kentucky’s Midnight Madness next month. {C-J Recruiting Blog}

- And finally, Jody Demling goes a bit more in-depth about the Pritchard commitment. {Louisville Courier-Journal}