Scholarship or walk-on, IU freshmen expect to win

They were the stars of their high school teams, leading them to conference titles and state championships. One of them even grew up as the son of one of the NBA's most notable players in history.\nNow it's time to play with the big boys, and freshmen forward Pat Ewing Jr., forward Jessan Gray-Ashley and guard Errek Suhr say they are ready to accept the challenge. \nFreshman guard Roderick Wilmont, who redshirted last season, will also join the group of freshmen looking for playing time.\nGray-Ashley, Wilmont and Ewing are all on scholarship, but Suhr, a Bloomington North High School graduate, walks onto the team as a true Hoosier looking to live out a dream.\n"I've been watching my whole life," Suhr said. "Everyone in the nation knows of (Assembly Hall) and I get to come in here and practice and shoot all by myself anytime I want to. It's a dream come true."\nSuhr said he has many memories of being an IU fan. His father Buck was an assistant coach for the IU football team from 1984-1995.\nA 2003 Indiana All-Star and Reebok North-South All-Star, Suhr is the all-time winningest player in his high school's history. He also shot 80 percent from the free throw line and averaged five assists per game in his high school career.\nSuhr, only 5 foot 8 inches tall on a team full of 6-footers, said his goal this season is not playing time.\n"My goal is to get better and help the team," Suhr said. "If I do get good enough to play, then that's good, but if I don't, well then I can say that I at least went out and tried my best."\nSuhr did get to play nine minutes in IU's exhibition contest with the Southeastern All-Stars. He finished the night with two rebounds and one assist.\nSenior guard A.J. Moye said Suhr is the kind of kid that gives everything he has. \n"His effort is unreal and we're going to need that," Moye said.\nGray-Ashley enters the IU roster from Davenport, Iowa, where he averaged 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks per game. \nMookie, as Gray-Ashley is called by his teammates and coaches, put on 19 pounds over the summer, and his teammates say he has already improved.\n"Jessan has gotten real good since I first saw him," Wilmont said. "He's learning the game and he's a real good shooter. You can't leave him open."\nLeaving Gray-Ashley open was a mistake for the Southeastern All-Stars as he scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds in 14 minutes of play.\n"He has a chance to be a good player," Davis said. "He has a great feel for the game."\nWrapping up the list of new freshmen on the IU roster is Ewing, son of former NBA-great Patrick Ewing.\nEwing averaged 19 points, 12 rebounds and nearly three blocks for his high school, National Christian Academy, in Marietta, Ga.\nMore than anything, it's noticeable that Ewing brings an energy and intensity to the team that other players don't always have.\n"I'm an energetic kind of guy," Ewing said. "I'm very explosive and bringing that extra energy to the team is what I'm doing. That can be my role while I'm here."\nDavis says IU has never had a player like Ewing and his athleticism and energy rubs off onto the other players.\nSophomore Sean Kline said he thinks the freshmen have improved ten-fold since the beginning of practice.\n"They're really buying into the system and doing things that we need them to do," Kline said. "You'll see them getting even better as the year progresses."\n-- Contact staff writer Natalie A. Trout at natrout@indiana.edu.