Gleefully overrating our recruits!! (next season - part 3 of many)

Here's a good summary article about IU's recruits from the Indianapolis Star -> Recruits make IU a Big Ten contender

We all know about all-everything Eric Gordon, so I'm going to ignore him (for perhaps the first and last time). As I mentioned in a previous post, our returning players + Gordon look like quite a good starting lineup. But we've got some compelling recruits on the way that aren't named "Eric."

9. Jamarcus Ellis - Ellis is an intriguing prospect. He's a JUCO player who has put some really amazing numbers against good competition - 15.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game. One question is, can he play point guard? In the end, I think the answer will be that no one will play point guard next season, but we'll have 3 "combo" guards on the court at the same time quite a lot (Ellis, Gordon, and Bassett). There's a lot to be said for having 3 guys on the court who can all pass, shoot, drive, and finish. Ask Illinois 2005 about that. (This is not to say that Ratliff won't see gobs of minutes... I'm sure he will... he just doesn't fit my "combo guard" theme here). Ellis will play a lot.

10. Eli Holman - I've already discussed Eli in a previous post. Suffice to say, he has all the earmarks of a sleeper recruit.

11. Brandon McGee - I think one of the reasons Allen struggled last season is that when he and White were on the floor, neither could guard the PF position. For some reason, we still think of "PFs" at the college level as big bruising types, but for more often they are lithe 6-7 to 6-9 guys who aren't post-up players, and this is what I like about McGee. He sounds like a great fit, especially long-term when partnering with guys like Holman in the post.

12. Jordan Crawford - Spent the last season trying to transition to point guard at prep school, and his assist numbers (8.5 assists per game) suggest that this was time well spent. Given the current talent in the backcourt at Indiana, I suspect that unless Crawford is a huge surprise he'll just get spot minutes as a freshman. But Ratliff will be gone after this season, Gordon might be gone, and both Gordon and Ellis will certainly be gone after two seasons, so the playing time is there to be had for Crawford as his career continues.

And it looks like these won't be our only recruits, but I'll wait until all that falls into place before commenting.