Gordon a scoring machine
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Shooting guard
6-4, 205, Indianapolis North Central
Rivals.com Rankings
Rivals150 for 2007: No. 2 overall
2007 shooting guards: No. 1
Career Stats
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color=#000000>Watch the latest highlights of Eric Gordon in action
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As one Big Ten assistant coach said this summer, Eric Gordon is wired to score.
The nation's top shooting guard is the most high-tech scoring machine in the top heavy class of 2007.
Rivals.com National Basketball Recruiting Analyst Jerry Meyer watched Gordon light up opposing teams during the AAU season. Meyer said he isn't surprised by anything the 6-foot-2 scorer from Indianapolis's North Central High School does on the court.
"Gordon can truly score from anywhere, and in any type of game. In a slow, half-court game he can grind out points coming off screens or posting up. In a wide open game, he can get to the other end in a flash after snagging a rebound or run the lane with the best of them."
Gordon has played in the enormous shadow cast by Josh McRoberts and Greg Oden in the Indianapolis prep scene. And despite leading the city in scoring as a junior, all eyes were on Oden.
Not this year - especially after his highly publicized, and heated, recruitment. Gordon reneged on his early pledge to Illinois and announced he'd play for Indiana. The scribes are already calling him the best player to suit up for the Hoosiers since Isiah Thomas. Talk about high praise for someone that has yet to play his senior year of high school.
But the high marks are coming from those within the game, too.
"He's one of those kids that you get once or twice in your career as a college coach," says one longtime Division I coach. "Gordon has all of the moves already. You can tell he has been well coached. You don't see too many teenage kids that understand some of the small details that he does."
Meyer agrees.
"His jumper is so effortless that you sometimes wonder if he is being too casual," Meyer said. "I love the way he can get it off so quickly and with such efficiency."
"It is hard to compare him with Greg Oden and McRoberts because they don't play the same position, but Gordon can take over a game better than both of those guys," another high-major assistant coach says.
Gordon proved that all spring and summer long. He was the top prospect at the adidas Superstar camp in July. Paired with Derrick Rose on the Meanstreets Express AAU club, Gordon helped his team claim the Peach Jam championship. They were runners-up at the Reebok Big Time tournament.
"There are a lot of guards who can have big nights, but with Gordon big nights are the norm because of his physicality," Meyer said. "On the rare occasion when his jumper isn't falling, he can get to the rim and also the free-throw line with his combination of strength and speed."
Gordon keeps the scorekeepers busy. At any given moment he can, and often does, score 35 or more points. That kind of scoring production will continue in college, says one NBA official who hasn't seen Gordon play in more than a year.
"I don't think it is too crazy to say that he could be a guy that averages 18 or more a game as a freshman," the scout said. "At Indiana, he could be the top scorer in the Big Ten right away."
The Hoosiers could use that kind of firepower next year. The other 10 teams in the Big Ten will be burning the midnight oil trying to find a why to unwire Gordon in the process.
Rivals.com is unveiling its preseason Elite Team for the Class of 2007. Comprised of the nation's top high school basketball stars, the Elite Team is broken down into position-specific first, second and third teams. These stars will soon be signing with the top college basketball programs en route to the NBA. We will announce one player each weekday from Oct. 2-20.