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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Gordon is the real deal

Eric Gordon makes it look easy.\nHe hits threes with frequency from far beyond the arc. He blocks shots like a big man. He drives to the basket without fear, full of explosion and dominance.\nThere is nothing reckless about his game. He is smooth. He is solid. And making it look easy, well, isn’t very easy.\nKobe Bryant makes it look easy. Kevin Durant makes it look easy. \nThese are guys at the height of their basketball stations – Bryant in the NBA, Durant in the college ranks.\nGordon is almost a miniature version of Ohio State’s phenomenal freshman, Greg Oden. There is little emotion in their faces, little strain in their game. It’s just simple dominance.\nThey just go about their business on the hardwood, and do it well.\nThere almost seems to be something more impressive about a guy who can stuff it in your face and not rejoice. That takes resolve. It takes a different kind of mental fortitude. \nNow, this wasn’t all on display Wednesday night in Louisville, Ky., during the McDonald’s All-American game. Gordon missed shots, layups even. He dribbled the ball away a few times. There were others more impressive, more dominant. Kansas State recruit Michael Beasley comes to mind.\nBut with just under 13 minutes left in the second half, Gordon shook the East squad’s Austin Freeman at the top of the key, took it strong to the hole and made a layup from the right side. That is perhaps Gordon’s best strength, breaking down a defense and taking it the basket for a quick deuce.\nWatching him this year during his high school season, he’s like a stallion in a herd of mares – outrunning, outclassing and out-muscling lesser foes. \nThere will be times next year when Gordon – donned in cream and crimson – will play like Wednesday night’s All-American game. It’s to be expected. You can’t be at the height of your game every single night.\nHe is coming in next year with a tremendous amount of hype. Before even throwing on the candy stripes, Gordon is already being hailed an IU saint, set to save the program and return it to glory. \nCan he possibly live up to everything Hoosier Nation expects of him? \nNights like Wednesday remind us that at the end of the day he’s human, that he’s not without flaws.\nBut there will be times next season when he makes you stand up and shout – times when you’ll be amazed by his brilliance. It may be a block, a dunk or a long-range bomb. In that moment in time, he will revert back to his superhuman state, one everyone in the IU camp is expecting him to be.\nAnd when he does?\nIt will look oh so easy.

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