Sampson snags 1st recruit at IU

At least one White knows what he's doing next year.\nJunior college standout Mike White signed with IU Wednesday to become coach Kelvin Sampson's first recruit.\nThe 6-foot-6, 245-pound forward comes to Bloomington from Lee College in Baytown, Texas, where last season he averaged 7.4 rebounds, two blocks and 19.4 points per game with a 59 percent shooting average.\nWhite will add size to a front court that lost All-American honorable mention Marco Killingsworth, Sean Kline and Robert Vaden, who will reportedly follow former IU coach Mike Davis to the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Sampson is also faced with the potential departure of sophomore D.J. White, who has yet to make a decision on his status for next year.\nSampson said he thinks his first recruit, Mike White, will make an immediate impact. \n"Our immediate need is sure up areas of concern, and one of our biggest concerns is the front line," Sampson said in a statement. "Mike is a little undersized as a power forward, but he is a strong, physical, hard-nosed and aggressive player who is going to fit in real well at Indiana."\nWhite finished last season ranked as the ninth-best junior college player in the nation, according to www.jucojunction.com. He was selected as a Region XIV co-MVP and a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) third team All-American. As a 61-game starter at Lee, White averaged 17.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game as a freshman to earn second-team all-conference honors.\nLee College coach Roy Champagne said he thinks White still has potential yet to be unearthed. \n"Mike is someone who really understands the game and is very humble," Champagne said in a release. "Mike will truly do whatever is asked of him to help his team win games. He is the type of guy who makes plays when those plays need to be made. I don't think Mike is finished expanding and exploring his total game. The best is yet to come."\nThe signing isn't unusual, as Sampson is a reputed junior college recruiter. But White's recruitment comes after Sampson made comments at his press conference about not needing to recruit junior college players at IU. With the late signing period beginning though, only 15 of top 150 high school recruits on www.rivals.com remain unsigned.\n"I want the best student-athletes for Indiana," Sampson said during his March 29 press conference. "Fortunately, we have some of the best high school coaches in America right here in our state, Indiana. The first thing I am going to try to do is to get the best players in Indiana to come to Indiana University"