Class of 2009 recruits ready to join Hoosiers

New IU men’s basketball coach Tom Crean had an interesting first couple months on the job, to say the least.

Aside from trying to field a competitive team for the 2008-09 season, Crean also had to work on assembling his coaching staff and trying to convince high school underclassmen like commit Derek Elston to honor his commitment to IU.

Elston, sidelined all summer because of knee surgery, is often forgotten because he committed to play for Kelvin Sampson. After getting to know Crean more, however, he still has faith in the program and is still looking forward to being a part of it.

“Now that things have progressed and I’ve gotten to see (Crean) more and more, it’s becoming that real good relationship that I had with Coach Sampson,” Elston said. “He’s saying the same stuff: He’s always going to be there for me, and he’s going to try to make me the best player I can be. I’m real happy that I’m going to be coached by him now.”

Elston said he has three weeks of surgery rehab left, and although he hasn’t been able to play, he did make it to the Indiana Elite Camp this past weekend and met IU commit Bobby Capobianco for the first time and “hung out” with IU commit and Bloomington South guard Jordan Hulls.

“Seeing them and hearing what Coach had to say about me and all the guys put together, it was really fun,” Elston said. “It was real nice to be there with everybody there.”

Lucky for Crean, he didn’t have to do a whole lot of convincing of former Marquette target Capobianco, as he landed the big man in just more than two weeks since taking over the basketball program. Crean then picked up verbal commitments from four-star recruit Maurice Creek in early May and Hulls just a couple weeks later.

This summer, Hulls – the No. 106 overall recruit in his class, according to Rivals.com and No. 80, according to Scout.com – found time between AAU events to attend some open gyms and met and played with most of the guys on this year’s IU squad.

“It was good getting to run up and down with them and getting used to playing with them for when I get there next year,” he said. “Our chemistry will be good and Coach Crean will have us doing what we need to do.  I think we’ll be really good in the next couple years.”

The current four-man class may be asked to carry much of the load in 2009-10, but Creek, ranked No. 59 by Rivals.com and No. 45 by Scout.com, is well aware of that.
“We have one goal,” he said, alluding to winning a national championship. “Just because we’re a freshman group don’t mean freshman groups can’t pull things out. ... We’ve got a good, talented group in that class.”

But Crean is not finished building the 2009 recruiting class. He has one scholarship available and has long been after Alabama’s Christian Watford (No. 34 on Rivals.com and No.72 on Scout.com) and Texas native Roger Franklin (No. 90 on Rivals.com and No. 43 on Scout.com), both of whom have IU among their top five schools.

“I’m still banking that either Roger or Christian will commit, and that would be good,” Capobianco said.

Watford made a return visit to IU with his entire family this past weekend, although he is not expected to make a decision until the fall. He’s also planning visits to Alabama, Kentucky, Memphis and Louisville.

Capobianco has known Watford for about a year and joked with him about how good he looks in IU colors, while Hulls also had a little contact with the Shades Valley High School star.

“He’s fun to play with because he’s so good and he’s a mismatch for everybody,” Hulls said. “He made it easy for me as a point guard. ... I put my two cents in and told him what a great opportunity IU is for him.”

While Watford and Franklin have been on IU’s radar all summer, an even bigger name is planning a visit to IU. Dominic Cheek, the No. 16 recruit in the class of 2009 according to Rivals.com and No. 15 according to Scout.com, told multiple sources that he will visit IU.

The New Jersey prep star was first targeted by Crean at Marquette, and has a good relationship with new IU assistant coach Roshown McLeod.