Recruiting situation changes with Crean’s emergence

Before accepting the IU head coaching position, Tom Crean knew of the many challenges he’d have to tackle in Bloomington.\n“We’re going to have to embrace them because there is no other way to look at it,” Crean said of the obstacles during his press conference yesterday.\nOne of the biggest hurdles the former Marquette coach will face during his first few days in office is recruiting. For next season, Matt Roth and Tom Pritchard are still bound to the letters of intent they signed in November, but recruits Devin Ebanks and Terrell Holloway have been released from theirs and have yet to sign elsewhere.\n“We’re going to get into that process quickly,” Crean said. “I don’t want to comment on recruiting as much right now except that we’re going to do everything we can to study and to get to know the four young men that have committed or signed to this University and also to continue to recruit.”\nJere Quinn, Ebanks’ coach at St. Thomas More (Conn.), said he has not been in touch with either Ebanks or Crean since the coach was hired Wednesday.\nQuinn did say Ebanks will be playing in the April 19 Jordan Brand Classic game and will be visiting four schools – Memphis, Texas, Rutgers and West Virginia – prior to and following the ESPNU-televised game at Madison Square Garden.\nHolloway, meanwhile, has a new list of college choices, according to the recruiting service Rivals.com. Holloway told the Indiana Daily Student in January he was considering St. John’s and Virginia, but the point guard is now also considering Kentucky, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC and possibly Marquette.\nOn Tuesday, Holloway said he did not want to comment much on the hiring but did say he has already spoken with Crean and would like to speak more with him.\n“(In) the past 24 hours, I can say a lot of things have changed,” Holloway said.\nHolloway confirmed that Crean had recruited him while at Marquette and said he likes the way guards are utilized in his system.\n“Over there with Marquette with (guards such as) Jerel McNeal and Dominic James, the guards were able to play and get out there and run,” Holloway said.\nDespite the chaos surrounding IU basketball this year, Pritchard said he has been set on IU since the moment he committed and is “excited that IU has found a coach.”\n“I’m not really familiar with him, but I’m sure he’s a great coach, and I’ve heard a lot about him, and I can’t wait to meet him,” the center said.\nRoth echoed that sentiment, saying he’s “pretty excited” about the hiring.\n“He had a pretty good record at Marquette, and he had some good players there,” the shooting guard said. “I’m looking forward to it.”