Author: Jason Sanders

Each week we’ll took a quick look at some of the top performers and perhaps not so effective players according to football grading service PFF. Below are some of the more noteworthy aspects of Indiana’s week one game against Illinois. It should be noted — PFF says it grades the play, not its result.  So grades may not line up with stats, necessarily. In PFF’s example to illustrate this point, the quarterback that throws the ball to defenders will be downgraded whether the defender catches the ball to notch the interception on the stat sheet or not. OFFENSE Overall Indiana…

Indiana has taken a couple recruitments on the chin recently going head-to-head with Maryland as that Big Ten peer seems to be re-energized with local recruits under new head coach Kevin Willard. The Terrapins are in the mix for Baltimore, Md. product Derik Queen as well, but the Hoosiers hope they have their own ace-in-the-hole when it comes to the 6-foot-8 big man. While he’s from Maryland, Queen plays high school basketball at Montverde Academy.  That’s a place where IU has had its own recent run of recruiting success, landing point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino and forward Malik Reneau in the…

National recruiting outlet Rivals continues to roll out new and updated basketball rankings this week. For the first time the resource has published rankings for the class of 2025 — those players just starting their sophomore year of high school. The state of Indiana has produced two players in the Rivals top-33, with Fishers, Ind. (Fishers H.S.) guard Jalen Haralson coming in at No. 26, and Santa Claus, Ind. (Heritage Hills, H.S.) forward Trent Sisley at No. 33. The pair were teammates throughout the spring and summer playing for the 2024 Indy Heat Nike EYBL squad.  The IU staff had…

Part of the Blackmon family journey with the game of basketball has been overcoming and avoiding injuries, and now one of them will lead those efforts at a Division One college basketball program. The Valparaiso University Department of Athletics announced the hiring of Vijay Blackmon as the strength & conditioning coach for the men’s basketball program.  He was a walk-on basketball player at IU from 2017 to 2019. Blackmon will lead all aspects of strength & conditioning for Valpo. “I am highly motivated and excited to have the opportunity to be a part of Valparaiso Men’s Basketball,” Blackmon said in…

It is always interesting to see which offers turn into recruitments with real traction. While there is a long way to go, one that seems to fall into that category is class of 2025 forward Bryson Tiller out of Atlanta, Ga. The 6-foot-8 Tiller did multiple interviews over the last week with national reporters from recruiting outlets 247Sports and Rivals following his high-level performance at the Under Armour Elite 24 event in Chicago. The good news for Indiana is Tiller is consistently mentioning the Hoosiers early in his process.  Like most prospects from Georgia IU gets involved with, assistant coach…

Indiana fans were uncomfortable when their beloved program hired someone operating under a cloud of NCAA sanctions. As it turned out, IU had multiple options like that, and the path they chose turned out to be much worse. At Memphis at the time, current Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari wanted the IU basketball job in 2006 when Mike Davis resigned. Former Indiana forward Brian Evans played for Calipari in the NBA, and he got a phone call when the position opened up. “I know — I KNOW — John Calipari (then at Memphis) wanted the job really bad. I…

Two of Indiana’s three point guards from the 2021-22 season moved on to new programs following Mike Woodson’s first year in Bloomington. Rob Phinisee and Khristian Lander formed the second and third levels of IU’s primary ball handling depth chart, and with Xavier Johnson back and true freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino in the mix, things were going to be too crowded to avoid turnover at the position. Now Phinisee is at Cincinnati and Lander at Western Kentucky as both players look to rejuvenate their careers at the nearby programs. Phinisee had an iconic moment during his fourth and final year at…

Class of 2023 wing Andrej Stojakovic’s recruitment has exploded in 2022, but the incoming senior is ready to start focusing on a smaller pool of suitors. In a video from the weekend posted on CBS Sports, Stojakovic said he is in the process of narrowing things down, and multiple aspects of the interview make it seem as though Indiana’s odds may be long. “I will be narrowing my list in the next couple of weeks, and then looking to make a decision well before the first (November) signing period,” Stojakovic said. So far Stojakovic has taken visits to Stanford and…

The Indiana staff managed to get class of 2023 5-star forward Xavier Booker down to Bloomington for an unofficial visit on Wednesday. It looks like they made a strong impression. In a Saturday report by On3, Booker had very positive things to say about IU after playing at an event in Kentucky in front of head coach Mike Woodson any many others. “I feel like I’d fit in perfectly there,” Booker told On3.  “I have a good relationship with all the coaches, the academics are really good. I like their coaching style, playing style. I can definitely see a fit…

IU basketball recruiting target Derik Queen is considering a reclassification to 2023 according to a report by the 247Sports Maryland site. The 6-foot-9 five-star big man is currently the No. 6 player in the class of 2024 according to the 247Sports Composite.  He is listed as a center by that outlet and a power forward by others.  Queen is a skilled big man who can play inside and out. The Montverde Academy power forward was a teammate last season of IU freshmen Jalen Hood-Schifino and Malik Reneau. The Baltimore, Md. product took a visit to Maryland recently, and in the…