As the recruiting game continues to place an emphasis on identifying talent at an early age, the Indiana staff is hitting the ground running with the class of 2013.
A trio of AAU teammates — Hamilton Southeastern’s Zak Irvin, Heritage Christian’s Basil Smotherman and Warren Central’s Devin Davis (pictured) — have been offered scholarships by Indiana.
“No one can say that Coach Crean isn’t putting the emphasis on Indiana kids now,” Matt Green, who coaches the group on the Eric Gordon All-Stars, told Inside the Hall. “He’s going after the top kids in that class.”
According to Green, Davis was offered on an unofficial visit to Bloomington last month while Irvin and Smotherman picked up offers at this past weekend’s Elite Camp.
The 6-6 Davis and 6-4 Smotherman both started varsity on their high school teams this past season, but Irvin, a 6-4 guard, has yet to log a minute above the junior varsity level. Still, the IU staff saw the potential to give Irvin the early offer, which was his first.
“With Irvin, it’s a little different because he didn’t play any varsity. He’s played good in the spring,” Green said. “Coach Crean puts his eyes on him at Elite Camp and likes what he sees. Some could say he pulled the trigger early with him never having varsity time and some could say he winds up being a legit, very-high profile kid and hey, he rolled the dice and got it right.”
