Crean, Creek, & Cook

Cook called to say Crean landed Creek.

Quick Note: The "Cancer Sucks" logo will remain over there to the right until our Relay for Life event on June 20-21. If you would like to donate, you can just click the "Cancer Sucks" logo to go to our Relay for Life page. Before moving on, I just want to say that I have been blown away by the responses and donations. Thank you very much.

Now back to the big news. Maurice Creek is a shooting guard for the '09 class who gave his verbal commitment to IU today. He is a 4-star recruit, ranked #63 overall, and the #12 shooting guard in the 2009 class. He was being recruited by Marquette, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Pitt, Texas, and Georgetown.

Some sites have him listed at 6-4 and only 175 pounds, but he says he is 6-5 now and 195 pounds. He played his first 2 years of high school ball in Maryland and now he is at a prep school in Connecticut.

The '09 class is shaping up nicely with Creek at the 2-spot, Elston at the 3, and Bobby C at the 4. Now we just need a point guard and a center.

The Hoosiers will be horrible next year. There's no doubt about that, but I really like what Crean is doing and like the way these new players are stacking up.

By the way, Cook has now been hired on by the IU Hoops blog for a salary equal to mine. He will specialize in recruiting and breaking news. He will not be given writing priveleges until he learns to capitalize the first letter of his sentences. Cook called me with this news within minutes of it going public and he also called me about the Bassett, Ellis, and Thomas news during the day on Friday. I knew he resigned his coaching job, but I thought he was still holding down his day job. Who knows. Who cares. As long as we get our IU hoops news, right.

Here are some evaluations of Maurice Creek from espn.com:

February, 2008: Creek is an attacking player who is extremely quick and has a very good first step. He is a streaky shooter who can get it going at times with deep range. He gets to the rim but must add upper-body strength so he can be a better finisher. Must continue to work on his ball-handling skills because he is much better right now off the ball. Must also consistently play with more energy. He seems to go as his offense does. If he is scoring, he appears to be more into the game and play harder at the defensive end of the floor.

December, 2007: Maurice is a streaky three-point shooter, who can fill it up at times. When he gets going he can make shots with both a hand in his face and also from NBA range. He possesses a quick first step and quality handle that allow him to attack a close-out and get all the way to the rim, although he would do well to add muscle to his upper body to help him to finish more consistently. His ball skills are solid enough to allow him to bring the ball up the floor and initiate offense against pressure, although he is clearly more naturally suited off the ball. Defensively, his output usually comes in direct correlation to his offensive production. When he is making shots and feeling good he works hard and utilizes his length and lateral quickness well on the opposite end of the court. However, when shots aren't falling he can tend to become much less energetic on the defensive end.

November, 2007: Maurice is a scorer. He can assault the rim with good, not super athleticism. However, his forte is being a marksman from beyond the arc either as a spot shooter or a stroker off the dribble. Ball handling is an area for improvement.

Go Hoosiers!