July free period for recruits begins

Indianapolis was the place to be for both coaches and recruits as the July free period kicked off with the annual adidas Invitational.

The tournament, which took place in gyms located all around Indianapolis and its suburbs, drew in several big-name coaches, such as Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, UNC’s Roy Williams, Kansas’ Bill Self, Butler’s Brad Stevens and IU’s Tom Crean.

The coaches watched several of the top-ranked players for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes, as well as several who have offers or interest from the Hoosiers.

However, the players did not sense any additional pressure during the games, even with numerous championship-winning coaches sitting on the sideline.

“I really don’t even look at them when they’re on the sidelines,” Nic Moore said. “I don’t pay any attention to them.”

Moore, a 2011 point guard, has received offers from several schools, including Minnesota, and also has received interest from Ball State and IU.

Moore was able to avoid an easy mistake many players make with so many scouts present — trying to do too much. It can be very intimidating for some players, but Moore and his fellow Spiece Indy Heat teammate Austin Burgett just try to focus on their game.

Avon High School star Burgett, a 2012 prospect, scored 15 points as Spiece cruised to an easy victory against Team Swish on Wednesday afternoon. Burgett, who has offers from Butler, Cincinnati, Iowa, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio and Xavier, got off to a hot start in the first half.

“Early, I was shooting pretty well and getting to the basket and rebounding,” Burgett said.

Spiece was able to own a sizable advantage on the inside due to the strong rebounding from center A.J. Hammons over the smaller Team Swish. Moore added eight points and was able to connect on two 3-pointers as the Heat pulled away in the second half.

The Spiece team is full of IU prospects for the 2012 recruiting class, as Hammons and DeJuan Marrero both have scholarship offers from the Hoosiers.

Hammons scored 10 points and blocked six shots in Spiece Indy Heat’s victory, and teammate Marrero of Bowman Academy in Gary added eight points.

Hammons, a 6-foot-11 center, announced recently that he will transfer from Carmel High School to basketball powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Virginia for the 2010-11 academic year.

He said the transfer will allow him to grow as a player for the next two years and perhaps make a name for himself at a program that has seen the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Stephen Jackson and Brandon Jennings.

“I’m trying to get better offensively, get bigger a little bit, and try to break some records, I guess,” he said.

Hammons said he had also been participating in workouts at the beginning of summer and plans to resume them soon.

“I kind of stopped (the workouts) now, but I’ve got to start back,” he said.

Though he is on the radar of a number of schools in addition to IU, including Purdue, Ohio State and Xavier, Hammons said he would not stress about his college choice until his senior year of high school.

“I’ve been in contact with a couple of colleges, but I’m not really thinking about college until next year,” he said.

He did mention, however, that he was interested in playing for the Hoosiers.

“Indiana’s a good school,” he said. “My brother liked Indiana, and he’s a person that’s going to help me pick my college. So it’s a good school.”

Marrero also said no decision would come for him until next year, though he was less inclined to rank one school over another.

“I’ve got all the colleges the same,” he said.

Marrero, a native of Puerto Rico, spent part of June playing with the 18U Puerto Rican national team and said he placed high emphasis on his perimeter game while there.

“They had me run the two, so I’ve just been working on my ball-handling and my shooting,” he said.