Armon Bassett told the H-T players didn’t go to class for two weeks during the turmoil and this contributed to the low number. I would buy this as an excuse until I remember my last semester at IU; one in which I didn’t go to class ever, drank four nights a week and managed a GPA much higher than 2.13. And I didn’t have any tutors.

The moral of this story is that everyone should major in journalism.

DeAndre Thomas is headed to Robert Morris and will be eligible immediately because its a NAIA school. Al Bruehl, the coach at Robert Morris, told Rivals.com that Thomas is already down to 285 pounds. Not that I’m calling Mr. Bruehl a liar, but you seriously have to question the validity of this statement. It took a whole summer of walking around Bloomington last year to get Thomas below 300.

Brandon McGee’s destination has yet to be confirmed, but if you believe this report, he’s headed to Auburn. (PostmanR interjection: I work with the dude that runs that site. He told me how it all went down today as far as his sources are concerned. So unless he’s lying to me, Inside the Hall approves of this message. He broke the story; if it comes out being false, we’ll see what he has to say. Until then: McGee to Auburn.) McGee was also considering Oregon State. He’ll be remembered by IU fans for foolishly attempting a windmill dunk — and missing it — at the end of last season’s 78-64 win at Michigan.

So to recap for those of you keeping track at home: Jordan Crawford is heading to Xavier, Armon Bassett to UAB, Jamarcus Ellis to Northern Kentucky (reportedly), Brandon McGee to Auburn and DeAndre Thomas to Robert Morris.

Van Treese, a 6-9 forward from Lawrence North who is a member of the 2009 class, has not been offered a scholarship by the new Indiana staff, but Indiana remains in his top five schools.

His list could become shorter in the near future as Louisville’s interest appears to have tapered off. There is also a possibility of another school getting involved and the rumor is that California is interested. Mike Montgomery was visible this past weekend at the Kentucky Hoop Fest watching Indiana Elite and presumably, Van Treese.

I got a good look at Van Treese on Friday and Saturday and came away impressed. He ran the floor, played hard, pounded the glass and converted most of his opportunities down low. The problem for the IU staff with limited scholarships available is whether or not he fits the mold of the missing piece for the 2009 class. He is somewhat similar to Bobby Capobianco and perhaps the coaching staff is looking at Roger Franklin as a more viable option because of his versatility.

With that said, the Indiana staff will get another look at Van Treese next week in Las Vegas and a decision on a scholarship offer should come shortly thereafter. My question for you, ITH’ers: Will Indiana look to lock up one of the top players from Indiana in the 2009 class or will they shift their focus elsewhere? Thoughts in the comments, por favor.

Strengths: Capobianco is a physical presence to be reckoned with and while he wasn’t one of the primary options last weekend on the offensive end for Indiana Elite One, he showed a soft touch close to the basket when given an opportunity. His stroke from the free throw line also looked polished for a big man. If he can continue to develop his physical strength, he should have no problem finishing plays underneath the basket in the Big Ten. His attitude on the floor is tremendous and you can tell his teammates enjoy being around him. His willingness to patrol the paint and do the little things that add up to winning will be a hit with Hoosier fans.

Weaknesses: When Capobianco spoke to Inside the Hall shortly after his commitment, he talked about speed and agility as two areas that he’ll need to improve upon. He was able to get up and down the floor well, but will need to improve his foot speed if he hopes to step away from the basket on defense. He didn’t show much of a perimeter game this past weekend, but perhaps that was a result of his role on the Indiana Elite team. As with most big men, he’ll need to improve his ball handling.

The Bottom Line: Capobianco is a blue collar player that will be embraced by the Assembly Hall faithful. You can tell he enjoys playing the game and doing the little things that it takes to win. He probably won’t come in and contribute double-doubles right away, but if he continues to work on his strength and conditioning, he’ll see the floor sooner rather than later. He’s another solid pickup by the Indiana coaching staff.

Strengths: The first thing that jumps out when watching Hulls is his intelligence on the floor. He’s been well-coached and it shows as he has a knack for finding the open man and taking what the defense gives him. On Friday, he showed a quick release and a deadly shooting touch from outside. At one point, he knocked one of the nets loose and caused a slight delay in the game as the net had to be fixed. The first two games on Saturday, Hulls played more of a distributor role for the Indiana Elite One team and showed excellent court vision and the ability to go left and right with confidence. Even when he was up against talent that was physically superior, he didn’t back down from the challenge and seemed to invite contact. In the final game on Saturday, Hulls took over once again and scored 17 points to cap off an undefeated run for his team in the Kentucky Hoop Fest.

Weaknesses: The main concern for Hulls in his adjustment to the next level will be his size. Will he be able to keep up with some of the taller, quicker and stronger guards? He’s probably a shade under 6-0 and he could run into some match up problems defensively if he’s forced to give up three or four inches. Hulls admitted that improving his strength and quickness will be key to being ready to compete night in and night out in the Big Ten. His quickness seemed to be well above average and with some work in the weight room, he shouldn’t have problem putting on the mass needed to hold his own.

The Bottom Line: There is a reason that Hulls has gone from relatively unknown nationally to the No. 8 point guard nationally in 2009 by Scout.com. He’s a ball of energy on both sides of the floor and what he lacks in stature, he makes up for with intelligence and grit. He’ll give Jeremiah Rivers and Verdell Jones a run for their money to lead the Indiana attack in 2009-2010 and if he doesn’t start right away, he will certainly get his share of minutes right from the get-go.

Gordon was injured in Saturday’s Summer League game against the Charlotte Bobcats and according to Marc Stein of the World Wide Leader, he’ll miss the rest of the Summer League with a hamstring injury:

Just got word from the Los Angeles Clippers that lottery pick Eric Gordon, who has shown some nice flashes here in Vegas despite his struggles from the perimeter, will be sidelined for the remainder of the NBA Summer League with a strained left hamstring he suffered in Saturday’s third quarter against the Charlotte Bobcats.

So we won’t be getting what looked to be one of the better individual duels at UNLV: Gordon’s scheduled showdown Wednesday with O.J. Mayo of the Memphis Grizzlies.

This is definitely not the start to his NBA career that Gordon was looking for after the tumultuous end to his time at IU. In terms of the duel with Mayo, I’m sure the 300 fans watching the summer league on NBA.com will get over missing this matchup. Get well soon, EJ.

Hulls is the No. 8 point guard nationally for the 2009 class according to the latest rankings on Scout.com and helped lead Indiana Elite One to the Hoop Fest gold title with 17 points in a win over the Terre Haute Jammers.

On how he came to the decision to choose Indiana:

“The coaching staff and Coach Crean, I only knew him for two weeks and I knew I wanted to go to Indiana. He’s going to bring the program right around. I looked at all of the schools equally: coaching staff, education, chance to play for a national championship and Indiana was just the best place for me. Being a hometown kid, that definitely factored into it. Being a part of bringing the program back to what it used to be appeals to me.”

On whether or not he grew up an Indiana fan:

“I grew up an Indiana fan because all of my grandparents. They’ve been IU fans all of their lives. My grandpa actually used to coach there so when Coach Knight was there, I was a big IU fan. Then it kind of faded off a bit. I was a big fan of Coach Knight.”

On his observations of what went on with the program over the past year:

“I really didn’t know what to say about it. I wasn’t being recruited by Indiana, so I didn’t really pay that much attention to it. Obviously, living there you hear it a lot. I just didn’t pay that much attention to it because I wasn’t getting that much exposure anyway. I was just looking at a lot of mid-major schools and I just wanted to play.”

(more…)

The 6-1 Teague is playing for Spiece Indy Heat and several scouting reports I’ve received indicate that he can flat out score.

Teague has already been offered by the Hoosiers as well as Cincinnati, Wake Forest (where brother Jeff plays), Purdue, Xavier and Ohio State and is said to be one of IU’s top targets for the 2011 class. He averaged 12 points and four assists as a freshman at Pike last season.

Nothing much more to report here other than this:

Jordan Crawford is expected to appeal for immediate eligibility at Xavier, citing the unusual circumstances of Indiana’s predicament as cause for lenience.

Can’t say I blame Crawford for trying to play immediately — I surely couldn’t stand having to ride the bench for a year in street clothes — but methinks this might be a difficult move to pull off. Best of luck to Crawford, who seems like a swell young man who should develop into a star under Miller’s tutelage.

Thanks to ITH reader Jeremy for the tip.

So it is with a requisite grain of salt that we take former Hoosier Earl Calloway’s success this offseason. Still, Calloway scored 16 points in his first summer league game on an efficient 5-6 from the field. He was matched up against No. 4 overall pick Russell Westbrook for much of the game.

Pacers coach Jim O’Brien has said he thinks Calloway is an NBA-ready point guard. If Earl’s worked on his shooting and his turnover rate in his time in the NBDL, there’s no reason he can’t fill a back-end roster spot on a team like the Pacers. Whether the Pacers actually need another point guard is a different question, but it sure would be nice to see Calloway — a class act by all accounts — play his way onto a roster somewhere.