Posts Tagged ‘John Calipari’

A signature win for Indiana

Published by Source on December 10th, 2011

The Build-up

Despite being 8-0 and winning each game by more than 10 points, Indiana was not favored to win today at Assembly Hall. In fact, most people outside of Indiana did not even really think twice about Indiana’s chance to win today. The reason? The top-ranked, undefeated and uber-talented rival Kentucky Wildcats were coming to town.

John Calipari’s bunch was fresh off of a win over previously top-ranked North Carolina that vaulted them up to that number 1 spot. In addition to that, Indiana hadn’t beaten UK since 2007. But none of that matter to Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers. Because of that, their program has been changed forever.

Most Hoosier fans will tell you that this year’s IU team has been playing better than the non-ranking given to them by national media. They have been receiving votes in each poll but had yet to crack the Top 25. Indiana’s first 8 wins did not exactly come against top competition, though they had won 2 true road games (Evanston and NC State) and a tough home win over Butler. There was a lot to be excited about in Bloomington and with an entire week to prepare for this game, Hoosier Nation was in heavy anticipation for their date with Number One.

Kentucky came into Saturday’s game with 8 wins of their own, coming against the likes of UNC, Kansas and St. Johns, but had yet to play a true road game. With a young team, a road trip to a wild environment like Assembly Hall is a real challenge.

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Derek Willis changes visit plans

Published by Source on October 10th, 2011

2013 star big man Derek Willis will be very busy this coming weekend (Oct 14-15). Originally planning to visit Kentucky and Indiana, the Willis’ have changed their plans a bit.

The visit to Indiana on Saturday night for Hoosier Hysteria remains in the plans, but a Friday night visit to Kentucky for Big Blue Madness has been replaced with a trip to Louisville for a scrimmage. Then on Saturday before going to Bloomington, Willis and his father, Del, will head up to West Lafayette for a daytime Purdue visit.

Willis originally committed to Purdue, only to reopen his recruitment in August. Willis is a junior at Bullitt East High School in Mt. Washington, KY. Louisville and Kentucky were the early favorites as the two big hometown programs, and then Indiana jumped in soon after. It has been unclear how serious of an option Purdue still is for the 6-8 junior, but it is certainly interesting to see a visit being added this weekend.

Willis is considered a 4-star prospect by Rivals and is ranked #23 overall in his class.

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Posted in Indiana, Purdue
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Gary Harris updates

Published by Source on October 4th, 2011

Gary Harris is one of the top uncommitted players in the class of 2012. His recruitment has been a long one, with “favorites” shifting from one school to the next on a weekly basis.

Harris set up three official visits to Purdue, Indiana and Michigan State, the schools thought to be his final three options. That visit to Purdue took place this past weekend, while the Indiana (Oct. 15) and Michigan State (Nov. 5) are still forthcoming.

Last week, it was reported that Kentucky had become a serious player in Harris’ recruitment. The news today is that the Hamilton Southeastern senior star will take an official visit to Lexington on the weekend of October 22nd, in between his visits to IU and MSU.

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Louisville and Kentucky Visit Gary Harris

Published by Source on September 20th, 2011

By: Eric Gardner, Purdue contributor

Late Monday, the news came through the Twitter feeds and blogs that Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari had a surprise in-home visit with Indianapolis-native Gary Harris.  This definitely is surprising but not shocking.  One thing you can say about Kentucky is they have the ability to pull off a commitment at the last second and if you have been following the Gary Harris recruitment, you know that this is way late in the game.

In the past two weeks, Gary has had not only Kentucky but also Louisville stop by for an in-home visit.  The main players to this point have been Indiana, Purdue, and Michigan State but Gary has stated that there may be other schools that can still join in his list.  Those three main schools have all already set up official visits for the next two months.  It will be interesting to see if Louisville and/or Kentucky can score a visit, as well.  Not much has been made about the Louisville visit but from all inclinations it went okay.  Now that Kentucky got a chance to sit down with the Harris family we will just have to wait and see what comes of it in the next few weeks.

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B1G / Chicago Recruiting Tidbits – Friday 9/16

Published by Source on September 16th, 2011

Every Friday we will release a list of small recruiting news “nuggets” or “tidbits” they deserve mention on this site but do not necessarily require full articles. Here is this Friday’s edition of Recruiting Tidbits:

* DePaul has added a late member to its 2011 recruiting class in JUCO point guard Worrell Clahar. The 6-foot junior comes to Chicago from Lawson State CC (Alabama) and will have 2 years of eligibility with the Blue Demons. The commitment actually happened over Labor Day weekend, but got lost in the shuffle by yours truly. Apologies on that one!

* Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy was the place to be for college coaches on Wednesday night as all eyes were on 2013 star Jabari Parker. In the house to see Parker were head coaches and/or assistants from over 20 D1 schools, headlined by Mike Krzyzewski (plus 2 Duke assistants), Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, Thad Matta (plus assistant), Bill Self (plus assistant), Bruce Weber (plus assistant), Oliver Purnell and Larry Krystkowiak (Utah). Several other local schools were represented, including Chicago State, UIC, Valpo, Illinois State and Northern Illinois. The workout also featured Marquette commit and Steve Taylor (2012) and Texas A&M verbal Kendrick Nunn (2013).

* Indiana commitment Peter Jurkin (2012) has been out of basketball for most of the last year with a stress fracture in his leg. Inside The Hall is reporting that Jurkin is now back at full strength after missing most of his junior season and the entire AAU evaluation period.

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Posted in Chicago HS Prospects, DePaul, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Mid Major, Ohio State, Purdue
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Derek Willis Opens It Up

Published by Source on August 5th, 2011

By: Eric Gardner

So things are a little messy right now but all we do know is that Derek Willis is wavering, but his Dad is not.  There lies the problem.  Earlier today Derek Willis posted on his Facebook page that he was going to “back off” his commitment to Purdue University.  Apparently he talked with his high school coach Troy Barr and told him that he wanted to decommit.  Then stories started.  Then they changed.  As reporters started getting ahold of the high school coach and Derek’s father, they found out that not even his family knew that he was going to decommit.  His father said that he hopes his son stays committed to Purdue.  He believed that the relationship with Coach Painter and Owens is solid and that he is looking forward to his son’s career as a Boilermaker.  Del Willis, Derek’s father, said that his family was going to go to the lake this weekend and talk about their next step in the process.  They should have a decision by Sunday.  Sunday can’t come soon enough for Purdue fans.

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