Tim Priller Commits to Indiana

If Hoosier Nation thought last week's commitment from Jeremiah April was a surprise, I cannot imagine what they think of last night's commitment of 6'9" Tim Priller out of Texas.

April at least was drawing some high major interest from the likes of Arizona State, Washington State, and Marquette. Priller was not only drawing no interest from high major programs, but was also drawing no interest from low major programs. His only other offer came from "Incarnate Word," which after a quick Google search, I have determined is a small catholic school in San Antonio.

So what do we know about Priller? Not a whole lot. There are no videos of his game on Youtube and he is essentially an unknown at this point. Like April, this recruitment was due to Coach McClain's connections in the Southwest. He had worked together with Priller's coach at TCU and was asked to take a look at Priller within the past few weeks. Coach Buckley and Coach Crean then came down and took a look and also liked what they saw. An offer was made at that point and Priller immediately accepted (and why wouldn't you when you're only other offer was from Incarnate Word.)

Priller did play in Class 5A which is the highest basketball class in Texas and he had good statistics averaging 17.8 points, 4.7 boards, and 2 blocks per game. He also shot 51% from three point land and 78% from the free throw line. So in a way, he seems to be very much like fellow 2014 commit Max Hoetzel. In all likelihood, Priller is never going to be a great inside presence, but he could develop into a decent stretch four which is becoming the most important position in college basketball these days.

Indiana is now left with just one open scholarship for the 2014-2015 season and I can't imagine that would be used on a freshman given that Indiana has now taken three major reaches already in this class in Hoetzel, April, and Priller. I would expect that scholarship to go to a fifth year transfer and I wouldn't be surprised if it is a guard or small forward that eats up that last scholarship. There is no doubt that the Hoosier coaching staff is in a tough spot right now which is forcing them to offer these scholarships to players that you would never have thought about before. Seriously - Indiana and Incarnate Word? Never again will you see those two schools in the same recruiting battle. Is it a desperate situation in Bloomington right now? Yes, probably so - but given Crean's proven development ability, if he can find a way to get through this year without losing his job, he might be able to work some magic on guys like Priller within a couple of seasons. We will just have to wait and see...