Official visits allow 2 basketball prospects to explore options

He was supposed to be the one answering questions. Instead, top-20 basketball recruit Bracey Wright asked a reporter about the snowfall, extracurricular activities and nightlife of Bloomington.\nWright had reason to be so curious after seeing the IU campus only briefly during a spring tournament. The 6-4, 186-pound shooting guard from The Colony, Texas, is making his first in-depth visit to IU after arriving in Bloomington late Saturday. \nBloomington North High School standout Sean May is also officially visiting IU Saturday through today, Wright said.\n"Is there a lot to do there?" Wright said Friday in a phone interview from The Colony. "(Southern Methodist University) is 25 minutes away from here. They have a lot of clubs, restaurants and movie theaters. Is Indiana like that?"\nWright averaged 21.6 points and 6.1 rebounds last season for his high school team and ranks among the top three shooting guards in the nation. He was voted most valuable player in the summer's Peach Jam Amateur Athletic Union tournament in Atlanta, which his Texas team won.\nWright saw some apartments and parts of the campus when he played in the Nike Memorial Day Classic at Assembly Hall in May. He expressed concern that the residential area seems distant from the IU campus after noticing May's high school sits far from the school.\nWright said A.J. Moye, George Leach and Jeffrey Newton would lead him around town. He plans to attend classes today with Jared Jeffries, whom Wright chatted with at the Nike All-America Camp in Indianapolis this summer. Seeing the team's new, longer uniforms also marks Wright's agenda during the visit.\nThe Hoosiers head Wright's list of prospective schools, ahead of UCLA, Tennessee and Texas. Wright said if he likes the Bloomington campus enough -- and gains the approval of his mother, who wanted to see the campus before he committed -- he might verbally commit to IU during his visit or soon after he returns home. \nHe hasn't scheduled visits with UCLA and Tennessee yet, and the two schools have slid down his list following NCAA investigation into a recruiting violation at UCLA and Tennessee's lack of interest in him before coach Buzz Peterson's arrival.\nWright said he wasn't interested in playing under former coach Bob Knight's rigid discipline, but coach Mike Davis' success after Knight's firing impressed him.\n"What I liked about Coach Davis was that he had every chance to fail, but with all that pressure he still got the team to a winning season and Jeffries to (Big Ten) freshman of the year," Wright said. "That really says a lot about his coaching ability."\nBesides Davis' triumph last season and the coach's willingness to talk to Wright by phone about 30 minutes a week, Wright said he is enthusiastic about the possibility of playing in a state where basketball rules after thriving in a state where football is king.\nClark Francis, an IU alumnus and publisher and editor of the Louisville-based recruiting publication Hoop Scoop, ranks Wright 16th in the nation's class of 2002 recruits. \nListed as high as 5th previously, May now ranks 35th after playing poorly during the summer.\nFrancis said May, the son of former Hoosier Scott May, needs to improve his quickness, foot speed and fitness. Being overweight caused May to fall to 17th among power forwards in summer camps. May is interested in IU, Louisville, Notre Dame and North Carolina. May could not be reached for comment.\n"He had a horrendous, terrible Nike camp," Francis said about Wright. "He was a great player everywhere else he went. He never got into a flow. Maybe he just had a bad week. There were games he scored only two points."\nWright's high school coach, Tommy Thomas, said Wright boasts quickness, tremendous shooting range and lack of arrogance -- especially after making one of his numerous dunks.\n"He's only 17. He probably hasn't developed all his strength," Thomas said. "He can be a better defender. His greatest task is to be challenged everyday. He's fairly self motivated and works hard."\nMarshall Strickland, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Sykesville, Md., verbally committed to IU in July. Chris Hunter, a 6-foot-11 center from Gary, Ind., said he has been offered a scholarship to play for IU.\nFrancis ranks IU's 2002 recruiting class fourth behind Florida, Duke, Memphis, and ahead of Louisville, Iowa, Syracuse, North Carolina, Iowa State, Xavier and Michigan State.