:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/31837971/april.0.jpg)
Hoosier Nation finally got a commitment from a big man in the 2014 class this evening. And it came completely out of the blue. Jeremiah April (7'0" 240 pounds) out of Westwind Prep in Arizona has committed to the Indiana Hoosiers.
Please just ignore the fact that he violated one of Hooiser Nation's biggest pet peeves - calling it the "Unversity of Indiana." Given how desperate Indiana is for big men right now - we will go ahead and give Jeremiah a pass on that one.
In all seriousness, this is a big deal for the Hoosiers. The only viable big man on the roster was Hanner Mosquera Perea and he hasn't appeared tremendously viable through his first two seasons. April is a true big man and he has had some great games in the past year against junior college opponents (scored more than 25 points three times and had a game of 19 points and 11 rebounds). There is no doubt he will be a bit of a project, but there aren't many sure things left on the market at this point, so Coach Crean has to do what he has to do in order to find some size to go with the tremoundous backcourt which will be on the floor next year.
Want a look at the newest Hoosier? Here is the only video I could find on Youtube:
April shows some good offensive skills in this video, although the competition does appear to be a bit questionable. Let's be realistic though - the Hoosiers just need to put one or two guys on the team that can be a space filler in the paint. This is going to be a guard oriented team next year and if April can provide some semblance of a threat in the paint to draw the defense away from the shooters - it will be a success. He does appear to be much more talented than a guy like Peter Jurkin, so I don't think this is another Jurkin or Bawa situation. However, he is not going to come in and be a major threat right from the get go either (and I don't think he needs to be).
This leaves Indiana with two open scholarships and I would expect at least one of those to be used on another big man and we'll cover a couple more of those options on Sunday here at BTPowerhouse - so stay tuned.