Big men on campus

Eric Gordon is coming to campus, and he’s bringing some friends with him. And they’re all exceptionally good basketball players. \nFreshmen Eli Holman, Jordan Crawford, Brandon McGee and Gordon, a former highly ranked national recruit and Indianapolis native, are joined on campus and on the court by junior college transfers Jamarcus Ellis and DeAndre Thomas as fall classes begin next week. \nHowever, many of the new Hoosiers say they are not fazed at all. \n“Oh, I’m ready,” McGee, a Chicago native, said. “I already took some summer classes, so I got kind of an outlook at what’s going to happen in the fall. I know all my classes. It’s going to be pretty hard, but we’re going to work hard at it.” \nSeveral recruits, including Gordon and Ellis, came to campus to take classes and find their way around in the summer when the atmosphere in Bloomington was \nmore relaxed.\n“When you have a campus full of students, to get around’s going to be a little difficult,” McGee said. “But in the fall, I’ll be all right.”\nThomas said he will be glad to return to campus because he enjoys staying fresh and working out as much as possible in preparation for the \ncoming season. \n“I feel good about school fixing to start,” Thomas said. “I need to be working, so I need to stay moving and stay working out at all times, regardless of where I’m at. It’s going to be a good atmosphere at Bloomington when \nschool starts.” \nGordon said the time the team spent together on campus in the summer has benefits both in the classroom and on the court. \n“We’re just adjusting to classes and seeing what it’s like playing together in open gym,” Gordon said. “I mean, we’re just bonding together as a team, and it’s a good thing we all have the same classes, so we’re just able to see what each other are like.”\nAll the recruits spent time playing together, touring the state during an annual summer barnstorming tour that recruiting classes take part in prior to coming to campus. \nCrawford said traveling around the state and playing in front of the IU fan base helped accustom him to what to expect in the fall. He said he knows the season will be even more exciting, however. \n“(IU fans) really support you, they really want to win,” Crawford said. “But we want to win just as bad, and (IU) coach (Kelvin) Sampson really preaches that. It still doesn’t compare to how it’s going to happen (in the fall).”\nMcGee said he believes the barnstorming tour will help the recruits adapt to playing in front of larger crowds. \n“In a way, it (helps), because, you know, 17,000 every home game – that’s crazy,” McGee said. “So getting used to it right now will probably help us in the long run.”\nGordon said he thinks the class is coming together and getting to know each other well prior to the beginning of \nthe season. \n“I think we’re really getting it together as a team, and you see a lot of the talent that is out here on our team, and I mean, they’re just fun to play with,” Gordon said. \nSeveral recruits said that, to them, the best part of coming to campus is simply that the new semester means the season isn’t far away. \n“(I’m) just looking forward to the practices pretty soon, it’s not going be too far from now,” Gordon said. “Midnight Madness will not be that far from now either, so I’m just looking forward to that and looking forward to having a \ngood season.”