Say It Ain't So, Mo

Say it ain't so or say it is so, but just say something, Mo.  If you haven't been following the recruitment of Moses Abraham, let me just tell you that the last 48 hours have been very interesting.

I'll attempt to recap it for you now.  Please be aware that I am going by my recollection only.  Mainly because I am lazy, but also because most of this story is based on fan comments, rumors, and unnamed sources.  In fact, it's my belief that many of the IU blogs are now referring to each other when they say "a source close to the situation tells me...."  Regardless, if you are a junkie for any IU basketball related content, then the last 48 hours have actually been fun.

So, Moses Abraham is 6'9" and 235 pounds.  He was virtually unknown 6 months ago.  He came to the United States from Nigeria about 5 or 6 months ago and played his senior season in the D.C. area.  The word on the web is that he has a huge wing span and is an excellent shot blocker.  Good size and athletic.  Somewhat raw on the offensive end.  I even read "not Tijan raw, but still raw".  I've seen anywhere from 4-stars to not rated.  His recruitment heated up the last couple of months and he took visits to Georgetown, Maryland, and Tennessee.  His visits to Seton Hall and IU (senior night against NW when we actually won) were cancelled due to Moses having the flu.  Cancellations of visits regardless of the reason provided usually means that the kid is no longer interested in that school, but all reports were that Moses was truly sick.

Even with the IU visit cancelled, IU was still considered a contender with Georgetown being the leader.  Then came this past Sunday.  Reports from IU outlets were that Abraham was down to two schools -- IU and Georgetown.  However, as I started reading more on Sunday, I came across an article in the Washington Post that also said he was down to two schools, but those two schools were Maryland and Georgetown.  Regardless of which schools, all outlets were reporting a decision on Sunday night around 7 pm.

So, like many IU fans desperate for some good news, I logged on to Inside the Hall, The Hoosier Scoop, Hoosier Hype, and Peegs and started refreshing each site one at a time and kept doing it over and over and over and over again.  I know it sounds pretty pathetic, but each site had a lot of fan comments and chatter, so it was actually entertaining to read all the new comments that would pop up.  7pm came and went with no news, but eventually there were "sources from the Abraham camp" that said the decision would come at midnight.

For me, no problemo.  I'm a night owl anyway and they're talking Eastern Time to boot.  So, I took a break and then re-started my 4-site refresh routine.  Nothing but comments from fans and word from a Georgetwon site that Moses attended the Hoyas Selection Show party, which obviously would be bad news.  Then there was a lot of commentary about whether he could be there during a "no-contact recruitment period", followed by news that it was a public place, blah, blah, blah.  It should also be noted that Crean was in D.C. on Sunday to watch Oladipo play, but also a lot of speculation whether he was going to try to see Abraham, followed by the no-contact stuff, blah, blah, blah.  But I couldn't help myself and stayed online until 1:30am CT (2:30am ET).  Still no news.

Monday comes and IU fans are still clamoring for information....anything they, I mean we, can get our hands on.  On Monday night, I felt like I was in an episode of Seinfeld when I joined a live blog/chat to discuss the lack of news.  It was put on jointly by Inside the Hall and The Hoosier Scoop and they said they had more people join that discussion about nothing than their live blogs/chats of IU games during the year.  At this point, it was pretty clear that this whole situation had taken on a life of it's own.

At some point in the night, Hoosier Nation got word from the Abraham camp that there would not be a decision on Monday night.  With that, I think most Hoosier fans went to bed thinking that this must be good for IU.  If the decision was truly down to IU and Georgetwon and the final decision was Georgetown, then most thought the decision would have been announced Sunday or Monday.  Many thought the longer this takes, the better chance for IU.

Today's news has been a confirmation of that line of thinking.  There have been some reports today that the delay in the decision has been mainly due to IU still being in the picture.  And now, as of tonight, it appears that Abraham will visit IU.  That news is very good news for IU fans and now I just hope that it leads to even better news in the form of a commitment.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

There's still two schools of thought here.  One is that this is IU's golden opportunity to close the deal.  The other is that Mo might just being doing this to appease certain people in his "camp" who might be pushing him to at least visit IU before making a decision.

Another interesting thing about this is that this kid is not The Savior even with a name like Moses Abraham.  My concern with this recruitment getting this much attention, people might think he is supposed to be a savior.  Don't get me wrong, I hope IU lands this kid, but I would see him coming in and competing with Capo and Pritchard and Bawa.  Competing is the key word.  I don't see him coming in as a guaranteed starter by any stretch of the imagination.  But anything that can potentially help IU get better, I am all for it.  And if the 5-spot is going to give you little to no offense, then it would be nice to at least have a shot-blocker on the defensive end.  I'm just sayin'.

And the final angle in all this is that IU would have room on the roster next year, but it would make them oversigned by 1 the following year.  Or something like that.  I actually haven't been looking at the scholarship numbers all that closely because I do expect at least one transfer this off-season, so it probably won't matter in the end.

Now that I've taken the time to type this, I should probably go check some other sites to make sure I haven't missed any comments from "kelin blab" or "4guards" or "Chronic Hoosier".

Moses Abraham....you have to love that name.