Indiana's Recruiting "Issues"

So Indiana has missed on some recruits. Was it Indiana's fault? Tom Crean's? Dirty Recruiting? or a LOADED roster?

I'm leaning on the latter playing a significant role in the decision of 2014 recruits. Before we examine our lineup now, let's consider what happened in 2009. Indiana landed a top 10 class with Creek, Hulls, Watford, Elston, Hulls. This is a group that played from Day 1. Therefore going into the following season, it was safe to say playing time would more difficult to come by.

The 2010 recruiting class was a down class (many thought) of Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey. This "down" class has turned out pretty darn good hasn't it? Did future playing time affect this class and some of the higher ranked prospects?

The 2011 recruiting class wasn't much different than 2010 with the key exception being Cody Zeller. Indiana *missed on a lot of good recruits both of these years. With another year under their belt, did the 2009 class affect other top commit's decisions on becoming a Hoosier?

Then the 2012 class of Ferrell, Hollowell, Perea & Jurkin comes in. This class, as freshman came into a senior dominated team. Now that those seniors are gone, it is this groups turn to take over.

Indiana followed the Top 5 2012 class up with another top 5 class in 2013.

-Noah Vonleh -Troy Williams -Stan Robinson -Devin Davis -Collin Hartman -Luke Fischer - This class is LOADED. They might not have gotten as much hype as "The Movement" but they are a better class than the 2012 group in my opinion. This class is dynamic and has Indiana sitting very nicely for the future.

Now let's look at our Roster when the 2014 kids get here... (Assuming no attrition)

Seniors: Austin Etherington

Juniors: Yogi Ferrell, Jeremy Hollowell, Hanner Perea, Peter Jurkin

Sophomores: Noah Vonleh, Troy Williams, Stan Robinson, Devin Davis, Collin Hartman, Luke Fischer.

That roster is loaded with talent and experience. A 2014 commit will have to deal with two SOLID classes for their first two years in Bloomington. The third season in Bloomington will contend with this 2013 class as seniors... It's a bleak picture for any player to look at.

Think about this, in 2014...

Yogi - Entering his 3rd year as a starter

Jeremy - Entering his 3rd year as a key contributor

Noah - Possibly entering his second and final season in Bloomington

Troy - Possibly entering his second and final season in Bloomington

Stan - Will be entering his second season as a contributor

Devin / Collin / Luke - Harder to project, but they will have another year of experience.

In 2015 not much changes. Players get more experience, and get better. It becomes even harder to gain minutes.

This post turned out to be a fair bit of rambling, but I hope the point comes across that without ANY 2014 recruits, Indiana is set up for a VERY promising couple of years. When you land a large class, especially two back to back, you will miss on some bigger name talents. Guys want to play, and that is important to them when they view themselves as 1 or 2 and done guys. It will be harder to crack Indiana's lineup moving forward as these players gain more experience.

I would imagine a lot of you are thinking of Kentucky right now. Their model doesn't apply to this logic as they basically turn the whole program over every season. Therefore they don't run into the issues that Indiana is facing today. These "issues" that fans are pointing out, are GREAT "issues" to have in my opinion. We are stocked, and ready to contend in 2015.