The suspense has been killing you, hasn't it?
Well, rest easy. Eric Gordon is going to be a Hoosier. He's signed a letter of intent to IU ... not that there was any doubt he would after his verbal commitment to new coach Kelvin Sampson. But in case you're one of those "Not until I see it in writing types" - I suppose Bruce Weber is a member of the camp - you can breathe deeply now. Enjoy certainty's bliss.
Naturally, Gordon was the main topic of conversation today as Sampson spoke with the media about his three signings in the 2007 class. So far, Gordon, Eli Holman, a 6'9 center from Richmond, California and Brandon McGee, a 6'7 forward from Chicago, have delivered their letters to IU. Sampson was still waiting on JaMarcus Ellis' letter, and thus couldn't talk about him. (Ellis is likely to sign in the next day or so.)
Sampson was able to talk about the players he has, though. Here were some of the highlights:
*He was hesitant to talk about that actual process of recruiting Gordon, but specified that Gordon's family initiated contact and "things went from there." *He compared Gordon to Wizards star Gilbert Arenas out of high school, saying both were power, impact guards. *He also compared Gordon's potential impact to that of former Syracuse standout and current Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony: "Eric will impact us in his own way. He's a dynamite offensive player." *He said the "sky is the limit" for Holman, who he expects to grow at least another inch by the time he suits up as a Hoosier. *He intimated that the most improvement for new players in college systems came after their freshman year and into their sophomore year, when they're familiar with the program and have a growing sense of their own abilities and limitations - and have more time on campus to work. *He hinted that his fifth and final recruiting spot would be filled soon, but definitely by the late April signing period.
Also, finally, he addressed his philosophy regarding recruitment of committed players. Essentially, he said his philosophy was: Don't do it.
A lot's been said about it. You'd like to set the record straight on a lot of that stuff. I'm not going to get into setting the record straight on that stuff. I just know that what we did - think about a kid that's committed to another school - coaches don't recruit kids that are committed to other schools. We don't do that. If that was the case, you could do that a lot. But this situation was certainly unique. And I hope it doesn't happen again.
See tomorrow's (Thursday's) print edition of the IDS for more recruiting coverage.
