Living up to its reputation as a basketball hotbed, the state of Indiana is loaded with talented prospects and IU head coach Tom Crean is beginning to take advantage.
The Hoosiers grabbed commitments during the summer from juniors Ron Patterson of Broad Ripple (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Peter Jurkin of United Faith Christian Academy (Charlotte, N.C.). Jurkin, a 7-footer and native of Sudan, has ties to the state and plays summer ball with the Bloomington-based Indiana Elite club.
Crean earned another in-state pledge Thursday night, but Hoosier fans will have a long wait to see him in Cream and Crimson.
Bishop Luers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) freshman guard James Blackmon became the first known 2014 basketball prospect to make a verbal commitment by casting his lot with the program during a visit to Bloomington to watch the Hoosier football team beat Townson 51-17.
"When you grow up around Indiana basketball, there's always going to be a pull toward the program," said Blackmon's father, also named James Blackmon. "He's always had the goal to play in the Big 10. He went to an elite camp there and had a really good summer. Coach Crean and IU were around to watch him quite a bit.
"We went to watch the football game and it felt like a good situation. Coach Crean has the program heading in the right direction."
The 6-foot-2 guard has stirred up a healthy buzz on the middle school camp circuit with his play and early indications point to him being one of the top prospects nationally in his class.
"He is a tremendous ball handler, has great creativity with the basketball and is an outstanding shooter," said Blackmon Sr., also an accomplished head coach at Bishop Luers. "I expect him to come in and contribute. He could be an impact-type player because the bottom line is he knows how to put the ball in the basket."
Blackmon Sr. led Bishop Luers to back-to-back state titles in 2008 and 2009 with Ohio State freshman Deshaun Thomas on the roster. He played at Kentucky from 1983 to 1987 and was a fifth-round draft pick by the New Jersey Nets.
Thomas also made an early commitment while at Bishop Luers, picking Ohio State as a sophomore and eventually signing with the Buckeyes last November.
"It's probably just a coincidence that it worked out that way," Blackmon Sr. said. "But Deshaun was a phenomenal player here that went through the process and my son was right there every step of the way."
Commitments from freshman are unusual, but not unprecedented. Former Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) star Taylor King committed to UCLA in 2003 before he played a high school game. Junior guard Wesley Staten of Sioux City, Iowa, did the same two years ago when he pledged to Iowa State barely out of middle school.
The NCAA is giving the recruitment of younger prospects increased scrutiny, considering a ban on offers to recruits before July 1 during the summer between their junior and senior year.
Blackmon Sr. is at ease with the decision.
"As a parent, you want your son to go to college. He has the opportunity to do that now and it's one of the top schools in the state and country," Blackmon Sr. said. "He is young but mature. It's not something he has to worry about now."
