Indiana continues its recruiting roll

Outside of perhaps Steve Lavin at St. John's, nobody has been more productive on the recruiting trail over the past couple of months than Tom Crean and his staff at Indiana. On Wednesday night, the Hoosiers got an early Thanksgiving treat when five-star junior point guard Kevin Ferrell made his verbal to Indiana public.

During a ceremony preceding his Wednesday night game at Indianapolis (Ind.) Park Tudor High, Ferrell finally confirmed what had long been suspected -- and even reported by the Indianapolis Star though Ferrell later denied -- by everybody who follows high school recruiting.

At this point, it's really important to take a look at what Indiana has done here. The Hoosiers are coming off of a couple of tough seasons, had been crippled by NCAA probation stemming from the Kelvin Sampson era and there was some unrest starting to pop up among the Indiana faithful wondering if Crean could do the job.

After all, Crean had made it very clear that he intended to lock down the state of Indiana's borders. And, after the July recruiting period whether or not he could do it seemed to be in doubt.

Clearly, Crean has answered any questions and silenced even the most vocal of critics with his recruiting. His class is ranked No. 27 nationally.

"There is no denying that the Indiana program has needed to pull itself off the floor and locking down in-state talent is the first step to doing that," said Rivals.com director of high school basketball Jerry Meyer. "Indiana is loaded with talent, enough to be the nucleus of a championship team. Coach Crean is well on his way to building that nucleus"

For those scoring at home, the Hoosiers have accepted nine commitments from in-state players since Peter Jurkin (who we will count as an in-state player because his host family is based out of Indiana and he plays with Indiana Elite) got the ball rolling with his Aug. 9 commitment.

All told, the group includes three five-stars, three four-stars, two three-stars and two freshmen who have yet to be rated but project as high-level recruits.

Just as important, Crean has been able to touch three of the state's most powerful and talented summer programs in Indiana Elite, Spiece and the Eric Gordon All-Stars.

Indiana commitment timeline

August 3, 2009- 2011 three-star SF Austin Etherington.

August 9, 2010- 2012 three-star C Peter Jurkin.

August 15, 2010- 2012 four-star SG Ron Patterson.

September 3, 2010- 2014 PG James Blackmon.

September 26, 2010- 2014 PF Trey Lyles.

October 31, 2010- 2012 five-star PF Hanner Perea.

November 11, 2010- 2011 five-star PF Cody Zeller.

November 21, 2010- 2013 four-star SF Collin Hartman.

November 21, 2010- 2013 four-star SF Devin Davis.

November 24, 2010- 2012 five-star PG Kevin Ferrell.