Decision Time: Garrett Green
By Editorial Staff
LSU transfer Garrett Green is expected to make his decision on where he will take his talents and final year of eligibility at some point tomorrow.
Although this has been a quiet and quick process for Green, don’t let that discount the importance of IU landing his services. At this point, this would be Coach Tom Crean’s biggest recruiting victory with regards to the 2012 class. I promise you that is not a typo. If Green selects the candy stripes he will suit up for the Hoosiers during the 2011 campaign, but yet his biggest impact will be in 2012. Let me explain.
As it stands right now, including the over sign that the Big Ten allows, IU will only be allowed to officially give scholarships to four out of the five 2012 recruits assuming no one transfers between now and then. Since Green will only be eligible for the 2011 season he doesn’t directly affect the 2012 scholarship numbers. Indirectly, however, is a completely different story in my mind. Green’s addition to the team will undoubtedly move Derek Elston one spot lower on the depth chart with this being his last season to realistically see any sort of playing time. Through my ridiculously good deductive reasoning skills, that means addition through subtraction. In other words, if it is hello Garrett Green, then it is good-bye Derek Elston… which ultimately means hello Class of 2012 in its entirety. It also brings the Hoosiers one more transfer away from making room for another top ranked recruit, Gary Harris. And let’s be honest Hoosier Nation, if no one transfers before the start of this season, it is highly unlikely we’ll get the two transfers needed for Harris to join “The Movement”.
I know that is a lot to digest and a lot has to happen if Green chooses IU for all of the above to come to fruition; so let’s try not to let the potential 2012 implications distract you from the impact he could have on the court in 2011. Green is a 6’11” PF that has big conference experience (SEC). He adds to our depth at a position where IU has had anything but depth in three seasons. It would be unclear until the season gets much closer and official practices begin what kind of role Green would have on the team or how he fits into Crean’s system, but I think he has the capability to replace Tom Pritchard as an everyday starter. Also, anything that can take any amount of pressure off of Cody Zeller is fine by me. If nothing else, he will provide a safety net for Zeller in case he needs an extended amount of time to get used to the speed and physicality of the college game.
Unfortunately, this is the part of the post where I apologize for giving you all false hope, because in my opinion I do not think he will choose IU. Who will he choose? Get this, IU will lose a recruit to… Long Beach State University. Through my following of his recruitment a couple of factors have been identified as having direct influence on Green’s choice along with one wild card factor that was never confirmed but still could play a big part in his decision. The two major factors are the quality of the graduate school and the quality of the basketball team (he told Scout.com’s Evan Daniels that he’d like to experience an NCAA tournament) with the wild card factor being proximity to home (he’s originally from California).
Including the wild card, I have the score being 2 to 1 in LBSU’s favor. Obviously with regards to proximity to home LBSU takes the cake. Concerning graduate programs I’d have to give the nod to IU. Which means I consider LBSU’s basketball team to be of higher quality in comparison to IU’s?? Not exactly, but I do think that LBSU makes the tournament without a doubt this year while I think that IU, in all likelihood, earns an NIT bid. LBSU returns four senior starters to a team that is coming off a Big West regular season conference championship and NIT tournament bid. Clearly the addition of Green to their squad all but punches their ticket to the Big Dance this year. Couple that with LBSU being approximately 30 minutes away from his hometown and it’s stick a fork in IU.
But hey, what do I know? I’m just a blogger with no inside connections to Green or to the basketball team. At the end of the day, it comes down to Garrett Green’s perspective of the Indiana University basketball team. If he thinks we’re going dancing then maybe he does pick IU, but I just don’t foresee that happening. However, in the unlikely event that I’m wrong, better to be pleasantly surprised right?