It's getting to be go time as the early signing period is less than a month away in the strangest recruiting year that I have ever been cognizant of. We are 29 days away from 2014 recruits being able to put pen to paper and lock in their commitments to college programs. Indiana is still sitting on one commitment at this moment from top 50 SG Rob Johnson. That doesn't mean the Hoosiers aren't still tracking a few other players as well.
Indiana is probably only looking at bringing in a maximum three players for the 2014 class at this moment so it isn't the most important gotta have class in the world. Only Will Sheehey and Evan Gordon's scholarships will be for certain opening up at the end of the year. That means the Hoosiers still probably want to add at least another wing and possibly a big man to the class if they feel the depth is necessary.
In comes Devin Robinson. Robinson along with Rob Johnson were probably the two biggest risers in this summer's AAU and camp circuit performances. Johnson went from unranked to top 50 over the summer and Robinson has gone from a back end of the top 100 ranking to 5 star status. Oddly enough, both live in the same Richmond, VA subdivision. One would think that having Johnson on board provides a boost to Indiana's recruitment, but that is uncertain as of now.
Robinson is a 6'8" wing that has a smooth jumper and can create his own shot. He would be a big addition to the Indiana roster, but the other schools aren't going down without a fight. Robinson's recruitment has been very quiet as mostly his family have been the ones handling all the contact. We haven't really known which way he leans for quite some time. It was speculated that Indiana and UConn were the front runners for the last few weeks, but UConn and Robinson both mutually ended the recruitment last week. That would allegedly put Indiana on top, but no one seems certain.
Florida, Oklahoma St and Notre Dame are the other three schools to have received officials around Robinson's Hoosier Hysteria visit. Notre Dame has been in on him the longest, but it sounds like Florida is making a hard push late. He just finished up his final visit this weekend to Florida and I would expect to hear his decision soon. Could be in the next week or two. As an interesting note in the world of "recruiting is creepy". Robinson's schools wouldn't allow any staffs into the school to recruit Robinson to give him a little break. Oklahoma State's coaching staff apparently was waiting for Robinson at the airport in Virginia when he got back from his Notre Dame visit. That apparently didn't go over as well as they thought it would. It sounds like it's a three horse race between Florida, Indiana and Notre Dame with Florida being IU's biggest threat.
In other news, James Blackmon Jr. has reshuffled his schedule a bit after a visit from Coach Crean this weekend. Before Crean's visit to Marion, it was expected for Blackmon to decide on Oct. 22 right after he finished his official visit to Kentucky this weekend. That tells everyone that Kentucky is probably a shoe in to land the commitment. Then Coach Crean paid Blackmon one last visit. Now Blackmon has doubled back on that Oct. 22 date.
Blackmon has been quoted as being fatigued by all the talk that his commitment to Kentucky is all but a formality. He will now make one final visit after Kentucky's Big Blue Madness to Indiana. I'm not sure how to read into this change of plans. Blackmon has been to IU 1000 times and really isn't going to get a new experience with his visit. So I don't imagine that's going to sway him, but it does suggest that he's still in consideration of all the schools. Outside of Kentucky, Michigan is still a pretty big threat to land his services. From everything I'm seeing and hearing it sounds like its down to either Kentucky, Michigan or Indiana and I would put the odds in that order.
If Indiana misses on these two, I'm not sure there is much left out there that we're currently aware of. Stuff always opens up and players constantly transfer so there are plenty of possibilities coming around in the Spring signing period, but these two are likely it for the fall. I fully expect a fan base melt down if at least one of these two don't pop for Indiana. Please don't. This class isn't a huge deal in the scope of things. It would be nice to add a few more trees to the forest, but IU's 2015 and 2016 classes are set up very very well. Just remember how upset everyone was on the two man class of Will Sheehey and Victor Oladipo and calm down. I think that worked out well.