Update on John Wilkins

From several other premium sites and bloggers' quotes.........
(PM me if you want the links, but they aren't hard to find, just that many are premium)


...now several of the current Indiana teammates have signed up as friends...I suspect trying to keep John focused on IU and nowhere else.....

One Iowa State blogger says he has heard Wilkins is just waiting for an Indiana offer and that's where he's going..but no offer yet...

and one guy on an Indiana blog says this...
"...John Wilkins did visit this week from what I am told and a quote from him was
"he wants to play close to home where his dad can see him"
Of course his dad is in Gary....."

also.......
"Indiana continues to hotly pursue 6-foot-9, junior college forward John
Wilkins, the Belgian native now at Southeastern Iowa. Sources inform
us that Hoosier coach Tom Crean flew out to Burlington, Iowa on
Wednesday to scout Wilkins. We also hear that his recent visit to
Bloomington went well (yet no offer?). A visit to Illinois State, his father's alma mater, was
planned after the IU trip and that likely be his last trip. If that happens this
weekend, look for a decision next week. Bradley is still a potential player, and
the Braves had a scholarship open up a few days ago. The first day of the
April or spring signing period is the 14th, a week from this coming
Wednesday. It then runs through May 19."

...so unless Indiana gets a verbal form someone else....then JW appears to be waiting for an offer to play there...and thus far Tom Crean has been striking out on everyone else he was aiming at - so John Wilkins might just get offered as a 3rd, 4th, or 5th option for Crean!!!
BUT IU still has a couple targets they consider higher, including, believe or not, Beas Hamga...who was once an IU recruit, then verballed to Iowa, then UNLV, then juco and now is one of the only remaining BIG 7-footers left out there.....
IU still desperately needs a big man and a PG, although they don't need more foreign project big men!

One IU blog said this about Hamga...(and a couple other big man targets)

"We posted earlier on the boards about Hoosier assistant Tim Buckley being
out in Texas scouting this week. Many guessed it might have been Dallas
area top 50 junior Keaton Miles he was catching. Miles has talked about
Indiana in the past including a near trip to one of the IU Elite Camps. But we
hear he went out to see 7-foot Beas Hamga, now at a Texas junior college.
Hamga was originally recruited by Indiana a couple years ago but ended up
at UNLV and later transferred to Valparaiso before landing this winter at
Weatherford Community College, a school about 30 miles west of Fort Worth,
Texas.
...7-foot-0, 210-pound Ben Mills from Hartland, Wisconsin has had his family
indicate they would like to be released from his letter of intent from Boise
State, following the firing of Broncos head coach Greg Graham. Soon after
that statement from his parents, Boise State hired former Gonzaga assistant
Leon Rice as their new head coach and Rice met with the Mills family last
week before they headed out on a family vacation.

We give this story some attention as Mills was reportedly at one of the
Indiana elite camps last summer and may have a long relationship with some
on the IU staff dating back to their Wisconsin days at Marquette. Also
because Mills is a kid who grew late, is still just 17 years old and had a very
nice senior season, leading Hartland to a state title last month.

The other midwest big affected by a coaching change is Kevin Noreen, a
6-foot-10 forward from Minnesota who signed last November with Boston
College. The Eagles recently fired coach Al Skinner. Like Mills, Noreen just led
his high school team to a state title and along the way became the state's
all-time leading scorer, averaging a gaudy 37 points and 16 rebounds per
game. He was later named Mr. Basketball in the state. A source in
Minneapolis says it's too early to tell what Noreen might do but does expect
a lot of high major programs to try to get involved."

other 2010 names that IU is still after...Will Yeguette, Aaron Nance, Brandon Mobley, Ge-Lawn Guyn...

BUT -- also there's word of other transfers - even Tyler Zeller , top 7-footer who is at North Carolina and reportedly unhappy and rumored to maybe want to come back to his home state of Indiana and play there...

Note this blogger's thoughts.........
"John Wilkins obviously took a visit to IU last week, but he hasn't played in a year because of eligibility issues stemming from his work with professional teams in Europe. I'd be lying if I said I knew if he could help or not. If his presence completes the team in Crean's eyes and the Hoosiers can at least be an NIT team with him in the lineup, he's probably worth signing. If not, he might be better off using it on the Class of 2011. I know this, whether Crean signs another player for 2010 or not, he's going to keep recruiting. Having a scholarship crunch doesn't seem to be something he's concerned about.

I've heard a rumor circulating that Tyler Zeller plans to transfer to IU and bring in his brother Cody in 2011."

"Where does Crean go from here.....He's always on the go, always exploring new options and different methods. He's exactly what you see on the sideline. He has John Wilkins and Will Yeguete to woo, still, and will work in on several other 2010 players. You can expect IU to be active in seeking players who are released from their letters of intent due to coaching changes."


Also - there is some discussion on John Wilkins' 5-game NCAA penalty and the possibility it might change...
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15399



So - there are the opinions of others who are trying to stay up on the situation as best they can.......
My thoughts - those BCS coaches are good salesmen - they can get kids to come and sit the bench for 4 years over taking a mid-major offer and playing a ton...so I expect since nobody else is taking Tom Crean's scholarship offers, there should still be one left in a couple weeks, and it'll fall to John Wilkins...with stars in his eyes and the vision of tons of immediate playing time on a team that has practically nobody else with Big Ten talent or scoring - he will pounce on the chance to grab some.