It’s kind of funny now looking back a few months when Indiana was oversigned by three players for the upcoming class and everyone was concerned about how the Hoosiers were going to fit under the limit.
How could the Hoosiers pull it off?
Then Victor Oladipo announced he was headed for the NBA — No surprise there.
Next was Cody Zeller, the following day, making the same announcement — Again, not a real surprise.
Maurice Creek‘s decision to transfer and gain immediate eligibility somewhere else for his final season was a bit of a surprise though a lot of people inside of the program expected it to happen. Creek wanted a fresh start and thought he could contribute somewhere for one season.
Remy Abell was probably the biggest surprise of the group as it seemed like he would have a chance to get some minutes as one of the veteran leaders returning on the team. But Abell wanted to play the point and that wasn’t going to happen at IU with Yogi running the show. Abell has narrowed his potential choices to St. Mary’s, Saint Louis and Xavier.
When the dust settled there, suddenly IU was one scholarship down heading into next season. It was ultimately a quick journey from plus three to minus one. And now with today’s news that Evan Gordon will transfer from Arizona State and play his final season of eligibility in the 2013-14 with the Hoosiers, IU once again has all of its scholarships filled.
So when you look at the 2013-14 roster, one thing jumps out at you right from the start. The upcoming season of Indiana Basketball will have a team that will have more newcomers than returning players.
There are seven newcomers. Six are freshman and Gordon makes seven. That group includes Noah Vonleh, Troy Williams, Stan Robinson, Luke Fischer, Devin Davis and Colin Hartman. Evan Gordon is the seventh player. I find it interesting that his brother, Eric Gordon, played one season at IU as a freshman in the 2007-08 campaign. Now Evan will play one season at IU as well, his coming on the back end.
The seven new players will join a veteran cast that includes Will Sheehey, Austin Etherington, Yogi Ferrell, Jeremy Hollowell, Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Peter Jurkin.
But think about it. Think about how young this Indiana basketball team will be next season. Technically, 11 of Indiana’s 13 players will be freshmen or sophomores. That number is 10 for sure and likely is 11 if Etherington is counted as a redshirt sophomore. But the two that aren’t in that category are Sheehey and Gordon.
That’s a far cry from last year’s veteran group that made it to the Sweet Sixteen for the second year in a row and won its first outright Big Ten title in 20 years.
The bottom line here is that the 2013-14 Indiana roster is set moving forward. Now the challenge turns to whether IU and Purdue will play two times next season.
It’s always something.
Follow Terry Hutchens at Twitter.com/indystar_hutch
