Stormin' the state

The IU men’s basketball team is a week away from leaving for the sunny, beautiful, Bahamas to play four games in their first foreign tour in a decade. \nBut it won’t be the first tour IU’s six incoming recruits have taken this off-season. The Hoosiers’ recruits spent a week in August visiting a place with noticeably less beaches: their new home state, Indiana. \nThe IU barnstorming tour, an annual tradition, ran from Aug. 2-9, and introduced the six new IU basketball players to Hoosier fans across the state. The team stopped in New Albany, Batesville, North Daviess, Noblesville and Muncie. \nThe tour featured a myriad of players connected to the Hoosiers, including the six new faces added to IU’s program: Eric Gordon, Jordan Crawford, Eli Holman, Brandon McGee, Jamarcus Ellis and DeAndre Thomas. Ellis and Thomas are junior college transfers from Chipola (Fla.) College while the other four are freshmen. \nThe IU recruit team played against a grab bag of top local players at each tour stop, ranging from area high school players to semi-professional competitors. The games were played in well-known high school gyms that were usually packed with loyal Cream and Crimson fans. \n“The fans showed great support and we really appreciate it,” Thomas said after the Noblesville game. “The season hasn’t even started and we’ve seen so much love from them.” \nAside from Gordon, who is the state’s reigning Mr. Basketball, Thomas may have been the biggest spectacle of the barnstorming tour, standing at 6 feet 8 inches and weighing roughly 320 pounds. \nHis high school and junior college teammate Ellis, a 6-foot-5-inch guard/forward known for his passing and rebounding as much as his scoring, played well throughout the tour. His standout performance was in Batesville, where he scored 27 points. \nAlthough the juco transfers are expected to contribute the most, the Hoosier’s freshman class is expected to be one of its best in recent memory, headlined by Gordon. His most masterful performance was during the game in North Daviess, where he lit up the opposing team for 41 points. Brandon McGee, a 6-foot-7-inch forward from Crane Tech in Chicago, didn’t fill up the stat sheet on the barnstorming tour, but impressed many onlookers. Thanks to his dedication on the defensive side, McGee may work his way into IU coach Kelvin Sampson’s rotation this season. McGee said his greatest asset to the Hoosiers is his versatility.\n“Being able to step out and hit the open shot, but at the same time going down and banging with the big men,” McGee said. “I’m big on rebounding and doing the little things to make our team better.” \nOne of the things that will make the Hoosiers better this season is the familiarity they are building with one another. \n“We’re really getting used to everybody and having fun,” Crawford said. “We’ve been getting chemistry since the freshmen stepped on campus.” \nCrawford, who spent last season at Hargrave Military Academy (Va.), showed why many think he can be the point guard of the future for the Hoosiers. The 6-foot-4-inch freshman scored more than 30 points in the Batesville and Noblesville games respectively, and also demonstrated ball-handling that would rival any player on IU’s roster. \nThe Hoosiers’ most-skilled shot blocker might be newcomer Eli Holman from Richmond, Calif. Holman had no problem scoring over vertically challenged competition during the barnstorming tour, converting mostly on dunks and put-backs. \nBut Holman’s defense is what attracted the Hoosiers’ recruitment. The center has a 7-foot-7-inch wingspan and averaged 10 blocks per game his senior year in high school. \nWith Ben Allen transferring, Holman is now also the tallest player on the Hoosiers – along with senior forward D.J. White– at 6 feet 9 inches tall. In addition to his height, Holman has been working hard this summer to become wider and gain weight. When he arrived in Bloomington he weighed 215 pounds, but after the Noblesville game Holman reported that he was up to 240. \nIn addition to Holman and the rest of IU’s incoming class, several other Hoosier prospects played with the IU recruit team on the tour. In New Albany, class of 2008 commitment Bud Mackey played with the class of 2007 and more than held his own. Mackey is going into his senior season at Scott County (Ky.) Senior High School.\nAlso joining the IU recruit team was Bloomington High School North sophomore \nRay McCallum Jr. McCallum is the son of IU assistant coach Ray McCallum and played as if he were already on the team. \nIn Noblesville, McCallum ran the point for the Hoosiers most of the night and finished with 19 points. \nMcCallum will have a former Hoosier helping him at practice this season at North. This summer, former IU guard Errek Suhr was named an assistant varsity coach at Bloomington North and has already begun working with McCallum. McCallum said he hadn’t made a college decision at this point in his high school career, but was “looking more at IU” recently. \nAfter the conclusion of the barnstorming tour, the Hoosier recruits traveled home to see their families before returning to campus. \n“We don’t get too much of a break because we have to get 10 practices in before we go (to the Bahamas),” Gordon said.