From basketball beat reporter Greg Rosenstein who had his blog posting abilities revoked by the sports editors. Just kidding, his profile is temporarily out of commission and it's my fault for not fixing it. Anyways, a recruiting note from Greg:
Earlier today Rivals.com released its newest rankings for the class of 2012. For IU fans, this group of players is especially important just based on the shear amount of talent in the state.
In Indiana, nine players are in the top 100 and two more in the top 150.
For a team like the Hoosiers, clearly in the rebuilding stage, gaining the right commitments in this class is crucial. So far IU coach Tom Crean has landed two very good prospects - guard Ron Patterson (78) and 7-footer Peter Jurkin (137) - but they can still do more.
Right now IU has two more scholarships available for this class. But based on the Big Ten's over-sign rule, they can technically give out three as long as someone on the roster transfers or leaves for whatever reason by the time the recruit makes it to Bloomington.
With that being said, here are the players high on IU's list in the class of 2012 and their newest ranking.
No. 10 - Hanner Parea - Forward - 5 stars
No. 17 - Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell - Guard - 5 stars
No. 24 - Gary Harris - Guard - 4 stars
No. 25 - D'Vauntes Smith Rivera - Guard - 4 stars
No. 39 - Jeremy Hollowell - Forward - 4 stars
No. 56 - A.J. Hammons - Center - 4 stars
No. 99 - DeJuan Marrero - Forward - 4 stars
Picking up commitments from any two (or three) of the players on this list would have a major impact on the program. If Crean can do this while also adding big man Cody Zeller and/or guard B.J. Young - both top-20 players in the class of 2011 - its very likely you will see IU competing for a Big Ten title in the near future.
