Today was a big day for Indiana basketball recruiting, with lots of mixed news and feelings about the results.
First let’s start with the good news. IU athletics made 7’0” 250 lb juco transfer Tijan Jobe’s signing official today in a press release (
according to his former coach, he signed the letter of intent yesterday). The full press release can be found below.
Sutton announced his commitment to Villanova today
Also, 6’0” 170 lb Jordan Hulls, the junior point guard from Bloomington South HS, announced his commitment to Indiana this afternoon at a press conference. Hulls is the fourth commitment for Indiana in 2009.
“I’ve accepted Crean’s opportunity and I’m really excited about it,” said Hulls at the press conference. “My heart just went to IU.”
Hulls passed up an offer from Matt Painter and Purdue to come to IU.
As for the not-so-good news, 6’11” 210 lb forward
Maurice Sutton of Largo HS (MD) announced today that he is headed to play for Jay Wright and Villanova. He’s announced his commitment officially at a press conference at Largo.
Sutton would have played a central role in a rebuilding IU program but he was more interested in getting involved with an already established program that was returning all of its starters from last season, a far cry from the rebuilding challenge that Crean and the Hoosiers face.
At the Adidas May Classic just a couple weeks ago
Sutton seemed very excited to be at IU, but he quickly grew enamored with Wright and ‘Nova after taking a visit to the campus. He cited style of play as one of the main factors in his decision.
While Sutton could have been a good building block for Crean in the future, the good news is that the coaching staff now has the extra scholarship to work with either this year or next year. Although the use of it depends a lot on the availability and interest of talented players, this may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the Hoosiers.
The signing of Jobe was already a good first step in starting to shore up the nearly non-existent front-court, but Crean still has some work to do building depth and talent in the post.
Here’s the official press release for Jobe’s signing,
courtesy of IU Athletics:
Bloomington, Indiana–Indiana University men’s basketball coach Tom Crean has announced that Tijan Jobe (Tee-zhan Joab), a 7-0, 255-lb. center from Olney (Ill.) Central College has signed a national letter of intent to attend IU and play basketball for the Hoosiers beginning next fall.
“We are excited to be able to sign a player with the defensive ability and rebounding presence that Tijan has,” said Crean. “We feel he has a lot of room for growth in the sense of improving on both the defensive and offensive end and we love the fact that he plays extremely hard. His height and wingspan (7-5 1/2) is something that our team was in great need of.”
Originally from Banjul, Gambia, Jobe averaged 4.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and a block for Coach Mike Burris at Olney. He attended Butler County (Kan.) Community College as a freshman and attended Laurinburg (N.C.) Prep School.
He came to the United States four years ago through the African Hoop Opportunities Providing an Education Foundation (A-HOPE), a Bloomington based organization. The foundation is designed to provide talented basketball players from a host of African countries the opportunity to come to the United States to use their skills as a means to get a U.S. education.
He chose Indiana over UAB, Auburn and Nebraska.
He is the sixth player to accept a scholarship to play for the Hoosiers joining forward Tom Pritchard (Lakewood, Ohio/St. Edwards), guard Verdell Jones III (Champaign, Ill./Central) guard Matt Roth (Washington, Illinois), guard Devan Dumes (Vincennes/Indianapolis/Decatur Central) and guard Nick Williams (Mobile, Alabama/LeFlore).
The Maurice Sutton debate
More IU Basketball Recruiting
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