Hoosiers Ramping up 2015 Recruiting Efforts

It has been a wild couple of weeks on the Indiana front when it comes to 2015 recruiting. Two weeks ago, 4* PF Juwan Morgan committed to the Hoosiers and became the first oversign given there are no seniors on the current roster. At that point, I think a lot of Indiana fans believed Coach Crean may try to sign one more player - and that still may be the case. However, the recruiting front seems to be really ramping up for several highly touted 2015 players which only continues to raise questions of what Coach knows about the current roster that the rest of us are oblivious too.

There are several players that could jump to the NBA after this season - but that is never guaranteed, and given the newly passed Student Athlete Bill of Rights - all scholarships are also now granted for four years and cannot be taken away which deviates from most NCAA schools which only give out one year scholarships. The only possibility that leaves is a player transferring on his own accord which is certainly possible and has happened numerous times in the past few seasons, however, there is no guarantee of that happening which raises the question of how many players Coach Crean is really going to oversign by? Here is an update on some of the major targets Indiana is currently chasing in the 2015 class:

4* SG Shake Milton (6'4" 185 pounds) - If I were to bet on who is mostly likely to become the second member of the 2015 class at Indiana, it would be Milton. He was AAU teammates with current commit Juwan Morgan and has spoken very highly of Indiana since that commitment. Milton is currently scheduled for an official visit starting September 26^th which will include the football game against Maryland on the 27^th. I would expect a decision soon after this visit and it could be a big pickup for Indiana as Milton could end up replacing Kevin Yogi Ferrell if he were to decide to move on after this season. Both Milton and Morgan are viewed as very high basketball IQ players and those are the type that typically fit very well into Coach Crean's program.

3* SF O.G. Anunoby (6'7" 215 pounds) - Anunoby came on an unofficial visit last month and seemed extremely excited about the opportunity to play at Indiana. I was actually surprised a commitment didn't come immediately and have to wonder if Coach Crean may have put a halt on that to see where some of his other targets ended up. With the commitment of Morgan, one has to wonder whether the Hoosiers are interested in taking a similar player in this class given the scholarship situation. Anunoby is currently scheduled to officially visit on October 10^th, but he has been trying to get that date moved up with no luck which again has me wondering if that is being driven more by Indiana's coaching staff than Anunoby. The video highlights of Anunoby remind me of a young Victor Oladipo, but I have a hard time believing he will end up at Indiana unless the Hoosiers miss on the rest of these 2015 targets.

4* C Thomas Bryant (6'10" 217 pounds) - There has been talk of Bryant and Indiana on and off again for a few months now, but it was announced today that he would be officially visiting the Hoosier program on October 3^rd which will include a home football game against North Texas. Bryant represents the big man down low that the Hoosiers sorely need right now and this is a guy you have to take if he is interested regardless of the scholarship situation. You can credit new assistant coach Chuck Martin and his east coast connections with this recruitment given that Bryant is from Rochester, New York. I had expected Indiana to move on to the 2016 class when it came to big men, but that is clearly not the case as you will continue to see below.

5* C Stephen Zimmerman (6'11" 214 pounds) - Most believed the Hoosiers were out of this recruitment despite being named in Zimmerman's Top 7 schools which all got an in-home visit. The good news, which I mentioned at the time, was that Indiana got the last in-home visit which occurred on Thursday night. This allowed Coach Crean to leave the last impression on Zimmerman and his family - and it appears he was able to accomplish just that. Currently, Indiana is not scheduled to receive any of Zimmerman's five official visits which are going to Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA, and Arizona - but there has been some chatter today that he may remove one of those schools and replace with the Hoosiers given how well the in-home visit went. Coach Crean undoubtedly stressed the similarities with former Hoosier Cody Zeller and talked up his development ability in getting Zeller to the #4 overall pick in the NBA Draft. Those are all facts that cannot be argued and the coaching staff now just has to hope it will be enough to get Zimmerman on campus.

Indiana will have official visits taking place each of the next three weekends with Milton, Anunoby, and Bryant - so there will be plenty of news to follow here at BTPowerhouse on the Hoosier front. While Bryant and Zimmerman may remain long shots at this point, I do believe the Hoosiers are gaining momentum there which could cause quite the log jam as far as scholarships are concerned.