Just got off the phone with Tyler Zeller. He said the sanctions won't affect his decision. here is a short write-up:
Tyler Zeller, arguably the state's top high school basketball prospect, said IU men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson's recently announced recruiting violations will not affect his decision on where to attend college.
Reached by phone Monday night, Zeller said IU is still on his top four list of schools, despite new sanctions imposed on Sampson and his staff for impermissible phone calls.
"You still have to look at the long run," Zeller said.
Zeller said he was informed of the recruiting violations Sunday morning when he was finishing up his official visit to Notre Dame. Zeller did not take a call from Sampson but was later informed by his father of Sampson's recruiting violations.
He said the news surprised him.
Zeller said he had not yet talked to Sampson, but planned on calling him later Monday night.
"From everything I've heard, it wasn't Sampson who did it," Zeller said, adding it was important to him to hear from Sampson exactly what happened.
Zeller, a five-star basketball recruit from Washington (
) High School, is a 6-foot-11 center. He is ranked No. 22 in the class of 2008 by recruiting Web site Rivals.com and is on a short list of favorites to be named Indiana Mr. Basketball, the award given to the state's top high school basketball player. Current IU basketball players Eric Gordon and A.J. Ratliff are former Indiana Mr. Basketball award winners. Ind. Zeller has narrowed his list of schools to four - IU,
, Purdue and Notre Dame, where his brother Luke, another former Indiana Mr. Basketball winner, plays for the Fighting Irish. North Carolina
Zeller said he will visit Purdue this weekend and will take a couple weeks after that to make his final decision.
Recruits can officially sign their national letters of intent on Nov. 14.
