Indiana Cracks Five-Star 2019 Power Forward Trendon Watford’s Top Eight

There is no doubting that the Indiana Hoosiers would love the Watford family to make Indiana basketball a family tradition.

Christian Watford was obviously an impact player on Indiana from 2009 to 2013. With that being said, his younger brother Trendon Watford has the opportunity to do even more with the Hoosiers if he decides to come play for Archie Miller and the Hoosiers.

Watford is a five-star power forward in the class of 2019 that Rivals ranked as the 14th best player in the country. Similarly, 247sports lists Watford as the 16th best player in the nation and fourth best power forward.

Recently, the 6’9, 229-pound power forward announced his top eight schools, while he is getting ready to make official visits. His brother’s alma mater made the list. In addition, Memphis, Alabama, TCU, Kansas, Vanderbilt, LSU, and Florida are in Watford’s final eight.

Given that Indiana provides family history for Watford, there is a good chance that the Hoosiers are in the top four out of the eight, rather than the bottom four. However, out of all the schools, Memphis and Alabama seem to be getting in IU’s way the most.

Since Watford attends Mountain Brook High School in Birmingham, the Crimson Tide provide the opportunity for Watford to stay in state, unlike the other seven schools on his list. The Watford family also may have even more ties to Memphis basketball than it does to Indiana.

Before college, Christian Watford played for an AAU team in Memphis that was sponsored by Memphis assistant Mike Miller.

Trendon Watford recently began playing for the same team, which is now run by Miller’s cousin Ernie Kuyper. More importantly, Christian Watford has been a temporary assistant for the team this month.

247sports has given Memphis a 73 percent chance of signing Watford to a letter of intent.

So, the Memphis ties run deep. But that’s not to say that Indiana has no shot at landing Trendon. After all, the power forward hasn’t even made his official visits yet.

The question then arises: what would Watford truly do for Indiana? A whole lot.

As a junior last season, Watford won Mr. Basketball in Alabama, an extremely rare feat for a junior. In doing so, he led Mountain Brook to a 7A championship while averaging 23.3 points per game, 12.3 rebounds per game, 3.0 assists per game, 2.2 blocks per game and 1.7 steals per game.

Watford has averaged at least 23 points and 9.9 rebounds in each of his three highschool seasons. He has also been described as a player that if he shot every time he had the ball, you wouldn’t be mad. Although, by looking at his numbers, one can see he clearly doesn’t do so. Watford is an all-around player.

And with how large Watford is, the assist and steal numbers are extremely impressive. They kind of remind me of Anthony Davis, if anyone.

Indiana has missed the tournament for the past two seasons and finished 16-15 last season. However, regardless if they land Watford or not, the Hoosiers are on the upswing.

Juwan Morgan wouldn’t be at Indiana to overlap with Watford. However, De’Ron Davis, and Devonte Green each have two years of eligibility remaining. Justin Smith, a promising freshman last season, would also be there with Watford.

The Hoosiers also welcome in a pretty stacked recruiting class in 2018. Indiana is bringing in two top 100 recruits in Romeo Langford and Jerome Hunter. Langford, a shooting guard, is listed on Rivals as the sixth best incoming freshman in the country. Hunter, a small forward, cracks the top 60.

Watford would bring a lot of talent to what will already be a young, talented team. And that isn’t to say that Indiana is done recruiting for 2019 either. There are a plethora of significant names on their radar as well.

If Watford indeed chooses to attend Indiana, it’s difficult to imagine the Hoosiers not making the tournament in at least one of his first two seasons. Assuming Watford doesn’t go pro after one year.