First of all, we really appreciate all the comments you have posted in the previous entries. It's nice to see the our readership continue to rise and we hope to keep giving you the best coverage possible.
We've had a few questions surrounding high school player Kory Barnett. Barnett is a 6ft 5in guard from Rochester High School. Rochester is a small town in northern Indiana north of Peru on US-31. Barnett plays for the Indiana Elite U-17 team. Indiana Elite was one of the best summer teams in the nation this year, featuring future Division I players Lewis Jackson (Purdue), Walter Offutt (Ohio State), Matt Roth (IU), Deandre Liggins (Kentucky), Emmanuel Negedu (Arizona), Beas Hamga (UNLV), and Tyler Zeller (Undecided). Kory is rumored to be joining the Hoosiers as a walk-on for the 2008 season. He visited Bloomington last weekend with Roth and Zeller. As for a scouting report, there is not too much on Barnett on the internet. If he can play on Indiana Elite, he must be a good player. However, I would be surprised if he became a major on-court contributor to the Hoosiers.
Another interesting recruiting tidbit: Justin Young from recruiting service www.rivals.com reports that IU is one of several teams interested in South Korean prospect Jin Soo Kim. I did a little research and found out that Kim attends the South Kent School in South Kent, CT. Kim is one of the players featured in a PDF of the basketball team. Here is Kim's bio from the PDF:
"One of the most well-known young athletes in his native land. He was the youngest player to ever play on the Korean Junior National Team (he was in middle school) and was the leading scorer on that team. Excellent perimeter shooter and passer. He was ranked as the third best player at the Nike All-Asia Basketball Camp last summer. High Major Talent."
Kim could be a good addition to the 2009 recruiting class for Coach Sampson and the Hoosiers. However, remember that the description of Kim is very similar to the ones given to former Hoosiers Lucas Steijn, Cem Dinc and Ben Allen. Taking international players is always risky as shown in recent history for IU.
I'm off to Michigan for the weekend. In honor of being in Ann Arbor, check back for a season preview of the Wolverines and new head coach John Beilein.
