Nasty elbow doesn’t derail Hulls’ quest for perfection

  • 02/27/2009 3:24 pm in

I’ve gotta be honest: Jordan Hulls is the recruit I’m most excited about for next season.

It’s not that I necessarily think he’s the best player of the six incoming recruits, but I can’t think of one thing I don’t like about this guy. He’s smart, hard-nosed and knows how to win. Translation: He’s exactly what Indiana has been lacking in recent years and desperately needs.

Despite the fact that he was just a few miles down the road at Bloomington South, the old IU staff showed no interest. Apparently, he wasn’t in the three-way calling rotation for Sampson and Rob Senderoff.

Enter Tom Crean.

Just as Hulls was beginning to garner some attention from schools like Duke, Purdue and Stanford, Crean put the hard sell on and Hulls bought in. And since that time, he’s done nothing but show that he’s more than deserving of a scholarship to play at Indiana.

Last night at Decatur Central, Hulls took an elbow to the nose in the second quarter that resulted in blood and medical attention. He didn’t return until late in the third quarter and still managed to put up 21 points as Bloomington South completed a perfect regular season. This, my friends, is the kind of performance people will talk about and remember for a long time.

Dominic, an ITH reader who was in attendance last night, sent me the following note:

I was at the game last night and he got busted up Hansbrough style. I saw him mouth to the coach that “it’s broke.” I then heard his dad say that it was indeed busted. He was in the locker room for most of the 3rd quarter but came back in the fourth to finish off Decatur Central. This kid can’t get here fast enough.

For clarification sake, Hulls does not have a broken nose. Although according to what I’ve read, the elbow was violent enough that it’s hard to believe his nose isn’t broken. Broken or not, it would have been easy to mail it in and sit out the rest of the game, but Hulls would have none of that. He told The Bloomington Herald Times afterwards that “20-and-0 is something that can only be tied, not broken.”

Dominic is right. He can’t get here soon enough.

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