COLUMBUS, Ind. — Rising senior guard Eron Gordon has five college visits planned and one of them is to Bloomington with the IU program that has “picked it back up” in recruiting him.
After scoring a team-high 23 points in the Indiana Junior Boys’ 103-89 victory over the Indiana Boys All-Stars on Wednesday night at Columbus North High School, the 6-foot-2 Gordon stood outside his team’s locker room and discussed his recruitment.
The consensus four-star guard plans to visit Arizona State, Auburn, IU, Notre Dame and Xavier, but he doesn’t have specific dates set just yet.
Gordon — like every high school recruit — will have five official visits, where a prospective school can pay for his transportation, lodging, three meals a day and entertainment expenses.
“I haven’t nailed it down yet, but those are the officials I’m probably going to take,” Gordon said. “Unless things change in July.”
The soon-to-be Cathedral High School senior previously considered Arizona State, Butler and Notre Dame to be his top three schools, but that’s no longer the case.
“Now it’s changing around,” he said. “It’s just constantly changing.”
IU and Auburn have recently picked up their recruiting efforts toward Gordon. He said IU associate head coach Tim Buckley is his lead recruiter, and the Hoosier coaching staff loves his game.
“They think I’m definitely a guard that works hard, and I’m a guard that can really stand out for their program,” Gordon said.
IU hopes to go three-for-three on landing commitments from the Gordon brothers, Eric and Evan Gordon, who sat a few rows behind the end of the Indiana Junior Boys’ bench on Wednesday night and also attended IU.
Eric was one of the top high school prospects in the country before embarking on a one-and-done career at IU in 2007. He averaged 20.9 points per game for the Hoosiers en route to being named a Third Team All-American by the AP and Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
He was drafted seventh overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers and now plays for the New Orleans Pelicans.
Evan Gordon committed to Liberty University, where he spent two seasons before transferring to Arizona State and then IU.
Both of Gordon’s older brothers speak fondly of IU and Evan Gordon does the same with Arizona State, Eron said. But they don’t want their college decisions to sway their younger brother during his recruitment.
“Evan, he was honest to me about both,” Eron said. “He wants me to choose my college accordingly and to make it really be my own decision. He don’t want me to base it off theirs.”
Eron is well aware of his family’s ties to Bloomington and the Hoosier basketball program. And he’s brutally honest when answering the many IU-related questions that come his way.
Would that mean anything to be the next Gordon who goes to IU?
“No,” he said. “Not really.”
Does he feel any pressure to go to IU?
“No.”
He considers IU and Butler the schools with which he’s most familiar. The Gordon's family home is two minutes away from Butler’s campus in Indianapolis.
Gordon’s definition of familiarity includes college campus, coaching staff and roster.
“I’m really close with Collin (Hartman) since we went to the same high school,” he said. “I’m actually close to a lot of the players. Yogi (Ferrell), he played with Evan. He played up probably four or five years with Evan, so I basically really know a lot of the team.”
The same goes for his relationship with Butler, which has several players with in-state ties to Gordon.
When describing what he evaluates in a program, he listed three things: the current players, the coach and the environment.
The players are the people who he’ll spend the most time with in college, and a school’s coach is the one at the helm of the team. But a program’s environment is something Gordon said is “really underrated.”
“I feel like this past year, it’s been a roller coaster for IU’s environment, so that’s something you have to take consideration into,” he said. “And that’s something I think you have to take into consideration with every school, you know, what you like and what you don’t like.”
Until he’s ready to make his college decision, Gordon is focused on becoming a better all-around player. He wants to solidify himself as an elite guard and that begins with improving his jump shot.
“I feel like my shot can become more consistent,” he said. “I think I’m a good shooter now – nowhere near a great shooter, nor what I could be — but I feel like that’s one thing that stood my brother Eric out apart was his shot. We both have insane athletic ability but our shot, that’s what I think separated him that doesn’t separate me.”
Gordon will have the opportunity to prove himself and show off the improvement in his shot for his entire senior season, something he didn’t have the opportunity to do last year. The Indiana High School Athletic Association limited Gordon’s athletic eligibility after he transferred to Cathedral from Indianapolis’ North Central High School.
“Well you know it’s really been a roller coaster, considered to be one of the top players in the state and not playing all year basically, except for one month,” he said. “It was a lot different for me.”
Gordon is now eligible to play varsity basketball for Cathedral, and he’ll be one of the frontrunners to be named the 2016 IndyStar Mr. Basketball. If that happens, expect more scholarship offers to roll in for Gordon.
Until the time is right, he’s going to take his time in making his college decision.
“I just don’t know when would be the correct time for me to choose my college, but I’m definitely going to take all of my visits and take my time,” Gordon said.
