Overview: Zeller is a 6-11, 230 pound forward from Washington, Ind. In Zeller's senior season at Washington High School, he was named Mr. Basketball in Indiana en route to leading the Hatchets to the class 3A state title. Zeller was named a McDonald's All-American after averaging 24.6 points, 13 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. In addition to becoming IU's first McDonald's All-American since Eric Gordon in 2007, Zeller was a five-star recruit and ranked No. 15 nationally in the 2011 class by rivals.com.
Best case: Simply put, Zeller is the missing piece to the puzzle. Zeller has a similar impact to Ohio State's Jared Sullinger as a freshman. Zeller doesn't miss a beat playing against improved competition and becomes a double-double machine. Besides filling out the stat sheet for himself, Zeller makes his teammates better by allowing them to stick to their roles. He makes Christian Watford and Tom Pritchard better by taking the defensive burden of guarding the opposing big man. He makes penetrating guards Jordan Hulls and Verdell Jones better by giving them their first legitimate low-post scorer to dump the ball off to. Overall, Zeller leads IU out of the Big Ten basement and gets the Hoosiers competing for a spot in the dance.
Worst case: Instead of becoming the missing piece to the puzzle, Zeller becomes just another puzzling piece. He struggles to get acclimated to Big Ten post play both offensively and defensively. He isn't able to establish the low-post moves that made him an All-American because he isn't quick or strong enough to create space. Defensively, he picks up quick fouls often, preventing him from getting into the flow of games. After getting off to a rough start, Zeller starts to feel the weight of the expectations on his shoulders and he regresses. He fails to develop into a consistent scorer and becomes invisible on given nights like most freshman do.
Outlook: It would be surprising to see Zeller struggle to find an identity in IU's offense. However, IU fans expecting Zeller to put up 20 and 10 on a nightly basis and be the second coming of D.J. White as a freshman are mistaken. There's no question that Zeller will have an immediate impact on this team. He establishes offensive and defensive continuity that the Hoosiers haven't had in the Crean era. But he will have his freshman moments and he won't be an All-American right away. He figures to average somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 points and nine rebounds per game. But more importantly, his presence will turn into W's for IU and the Hoosiers will be fighting for a postseason birth come March.
