I finally got in touch with Maurice Sutton, the 6-foot-10, 210-pound Largo High School (Md.) senior who was recently offered a scholarship by IU coach Tom Crean. It was too late to get anything into Wednesday's paper, but this is what I found out:
Sutton was heavily recruited by Crean at Marquette, so when he received a call from Crean, he "kind of figured" the coach would extend an offer to him. That was his hope, as the two had a good relationship while Crean was still coaching at Marquette.
Sutton visited Boston College two weeks ago, while he was at Kentucky last week. This weekend, he said he will be visiting Seton Hall.
All three of those schools have recruited Sutton hard, but only Boston College, Seton Hall, and Villanova have extended scholarship offers to him. Sutton said he liked Boston College and had a good visit, but he was not ready to make a decision after just that one visit.
"I really felt good at Boston College, but I want to take more visits," the big man said.
His visit to Kentucky, his third time there, "went good." He said he was shown around and UK coach Bill Gillespie spoke with him and his parents. Despite the mutual interest, he has not received an offer from Gillespie.
"They just don't have a scholarship (available) for me at this time," Sutton said. "They just told me to be patient."
Seton Hall, meanwhile, has also shown lots of interest in him, the three-star recruit said, but he is exploring all of his options.
"Mostly I'm looking at what's best for me," Sutton said.
Sutton intends on making an unofficial visit to Bloomington, but Crean has not set anything up, he said. Although the recruiting Web sites have him listed as a center, Sutton said that Crean has been recruiting him more as a power forward.
Should Sutton commit to IU, he said he will be ready to take on whatever role Crean might ask of him. With a relative thin, and certainly young, front-court next year, that might mean that Crean could ask him to step in and make an immediate impact.
"If they want me to come and make a big impact, I'll be there to make that impact," Sutton said.
Sutton mentioned a lot of positives about his game including his abilitity to block shots, his soft touch and ability to finish around the basket and his quickness.
"I'm the up and down the court kind of player," he said.
With only 210 pounds to complement his height, Sutton recognizes that "strength" might be his biggest weaknesses. He surely realizes his need to get stronger, but he didn't seem too concerned.
"I be one hell of an athlete right now," Sutton said.
Sutton said he won't be ready to make a decision right until takes all of his visits. That way, he can "see where (he) wants to be"
