Former 2014 Indiana commit James Blackmon Jr. said he would take a final visit to Bloomington before making his second college decision. Wednesday evening, he made it clear he was following through with his promise. Blackmon announced via his Twitter account that he will visit IU this weekend, only a week after his official visit to Kentucky. "IU visit this weekend #IUBB," he said. The 6-foot-3 combo guard from Marion High School has also taken an official visit to Michigan (Sept. 27) and is considering Michigan State and Kansas, as well. The 247Composite rates him as the No. 31 prospect and No. 12 shooting guard in the 2014 class.
Indiana sophomore Yogi Ferrell has been named to the 45-player watch list for the 2014 Cousy Award, which is awarded annually to the top point guard in college basketball. Ferrell is joined by Michigan State's Keith Appling and Ohio State's Aaron Craft as the three Big Ten players on the list, which was announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame committee earlier today. As a freshman, Ferrell started all 36 games for the Big Ten champion Hoosiers and averaged 7.6 points, 4.1 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game.
In a recent conversation with Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean, Fred Glass reminisced to his first year as IU's athletic director. Crean was in the midst of his first season as IU's head coach in 2008-2009, and the team was on its way to its worst record in school history. Student season tickets sales were so poor, just more than half of its allotted space of 7,800 seats had been filled. "Shoot, we were doing everything we could. I can't remember the exact number that first year, I think we ended up with 4,200 or something like that," Glass said in a recent interview with Inside the Hall. "Which at any other university in the country would be the best year they've ever had, but for us, was extremely disappointing." For the next three seasons, students who bought season tickets would have access to every home game. But as Indiana's on-court success returned, demand grew as well. Last season, with a preseason No. 1 team, students were given access to only 10 games each. However, heading into this season with far-fewer on-court expectations, demand is up. Around 15,000 student season ticket sales have been sold, and students who bought season tickets were given eight games — only half of the amount they had received only two years ago.
Conference expansion and realignment have changed college athletics significantly. And whether you are a fan of what has taken place or oppose the breakdown in tradition brought about by these changes, the Big Ten has been ahead of the curve. With the conference reportedly paying out close to $26 million to each member institution in the last fiscal year, including $7.6 million from the Big Ten Network, it's not hard to see why schools like Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers opted to leave their respective leagues to join. The Big Ten is distributing the most money of any conference to its members and with the growth of BTN and network TV contracts, the numbers should only continue to grow.
Tom Crean was an in-studio guest on Friday's ESPNU Midnight Madness special and on the broadcast, was asked by Andy Katz for the latest on injuries to freshmen Luke Fischer, Troy Williams and Stanford Robinson. Here are Crean's comments on each player: · Fischer: "Luke Fischer got injured right before we started practice. Tore his labrum and he's back doing 5-on-0 work and hopefully we'll have him by the second exhibition game, probably at the earliest."
Fred Glass knows how the script goes. From growing up in the Indianapolis area, to now as Indiana's athletics director, Glass would watch the same scene play out over and over, year after year: Opponents would enter Assembly Hall optimistic, maybe even confident, and then after looking up at the wall of 17,400-plus fans clad in cream and crimson "going absolutely crazy," they cringe. They unravel. In a world of college basketball that has become increasingly known for its games being played in multi-purpose arenas, Indiana's Assembly Hall is becoming the anomaly. Since the 1971-1972 season, the building has been home to three national champions. The tradition, the history, even the angle of the building's seating in relation to the court, is exactly what makes Assembly Hall different from any other college basketball venue. And for Glass, being far from the norm is exactly what he wants. "When the lights come on, Gus Johnson doesn’t need to say you’re in Assembly Hall," Glass told Inside the Hall in an interview in his office at Memorial Stadium earlier this week. "You know you’re in Assembly Hall." But for a building that has been around for more than 40 years, it has flaws. The steps are at different lengths. Not all the seating is considered "premier." A segment of fans want the building torn down and replaced with a new, state-of-the-art arena. That's not happening, Glass said. But he is quick to admit Assembly Hall needs renovations, especially to make it more "fan-friendly." He is ready to lead that effort.
Indiana will again host a “Haunted Hall of Hoops,” which will take place on Sunday, Oct. 27, according to this release from IU media relations: The Indiana University men’s basketball team will hold its Haunted Hall of Hoops on Sunday, ...
The Indiana Hoosiers will begin the 2013-2014 season ranked in the USA Today coaches poll. The preseason poll, released late this morning, has Indiana slotted at No. 24. Four other Big Ten teams are ranked: Michigan State (2), Michigan (9), Ohio State (10) and Wisconsin (21).
With the start of college basketball season on the horizon, we’ll be taking a long look at the conference at large as well as Indiana’s roster over the next month. Today, we look at graduate senior Evan Gordon. The decision of Remy Abell to transfer last spring opened a spot on Indiana's roster and rather than letting it sit empty or award the scholarship to a walk-on, the Hoosiers quickly moved into the mix and landed Evan Gordon, a graduate transfer from Arizona State. The younger brother of former Indiana star Eric Gordon and older brother of class of 2016 target Eron Gordon, Evan arrives at the third school of his collegiate career. He explained both of his decisions to transfer (Liberty to Arizona State and Arizona State to Indiana) to reporters at media day last month. "The reason I left Liberty was to look for a bigger program and I found that in Arizona State," Gordon said. "I was hoping it was here (when he transferred from Liberty). And to leave there, it was just being away from home five or six years. This is my sixth year away from home, but now that I'm back here, it adds a different element to it." A double digit scorer in each of his three seasons of experience, Gordon brings a solid combination of shooting, ball handling and defense to the Hoosiers. He's been in the mid 30's percentage wise from behind the 3-point line throughout his career, but the strong suit of his offensive game might be in the midrange.
Update: Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports that Robinson is expected to miss 7 to 10 days. Crean also said that Luke Fischer (shoulder) is still a couple week away while Stan Robinson (knee) likely to be out 7-10 days. — ...
Add Stanford Robinson and Noah Vonleh to the list of injured Indiana Hoosiers. In the waning seconds of Friday night's scrimmage at Hoosier Hysteria, Robinson went down, clutched his knee and limped off the court after a collision in the paint. Indiana coach Tom Crean said after the scrimmage that early word is Robinson has a bruised knee. "I say that hopefully. I say that as what was said in there," Crean said. "It looked like everything was intact and I hope that's what it continues to be. Dr. (Steve) Ahfeld was on it right away. "He was in a lot of pain, but I mean, those hurt like that. Hopefully everything will be good there. We don't need any more guys missing time that are gonna play." After competing in the 3-point contest earlier in the evening, Vonleh sat during the scrimmage. Crean said that Vonleh hurt his ankle during a practice on Wednesday and held him out of the scrimmage as a precaution.
Check out 35 photos by Jamie Owens from Friday’s Hoosier Hysteria at Assembly Hall in the embedded photo gallery after the jump. Purchase prints from J. Scott Sports.
Sophomores Yogi Ferrell and Hanner Mosquera-Perea were among the standouts in Friday's Hoosier Hysteria dunk and 3-point shooting contests. Ferrell made 30 of 50 shots over the course of two rounds to capture the 3-point contest and Mosquera-Perea finished as the runner-up in the dunk contest to Devin Davis due to scoring in the finals, but had the better performance of the two overall.
With Hoosier Hysteria set to tip off the 2013-2014 season on Friday night, Indiana released final details on the season-opening event via a press release on Thursday. Here is the full release: The 2013-14 college basketball season begins when Indiana ...
Wednesday night, Indiana coach Tom Crean gave his annual "State of the Hoosier Nation" address to an assembled crowd of about 500 people at the IU Auditorium. During the speech, he spoke in depth about this season's roster, and selected thoughts about each player are gathered below: Will Sheehey "Will Sheehey has had an up-and-down offseason because he has had a couple different injuries. He's still coming back, but he had his first full practice yesterday. He's still trying to come back from a groin injury and put himself in position. Today was a Will Sheehey level practice. The leadership was strong. He was very active. Will Sheehey is one of the most gifted, smartest players that I've ever been around in my entire life. Will Sheehey is the kind of person that he understands what it takes. He understands how to win. He understands what's going on on the floor. He's a tremendous teacher for somebody that's his age of helping his teammates." Evan Gordon "He's got to come in here and he's got to see his game go to another level. He's got to see his game rise on both sides of the court — offensively and defensively — and see that leadership rise. He's got to get out of whatever comfort zone has been acceptable for him — because he works hard, now — and step above and beyond that. He's got to bring a pitbull, junkyard dog mentality daily. He's got to take people with him. And that's one of the biggest things that will show: is he going to have that kind of year? Here's a guy that's a great young man. He works hard, comes from a great family, spends a lot of time at the game. But he can do more."
Wednesday night, Indiana coach Tom Crean spoke for more than an hour to an assembled crowd at the IU Auditorium for his annual “State of the Hoosier Nation” address. Below is audio from Crean’s entire speech, including his thoughts on ...