An Indiana Basketball recruiting target has chosen Villanova.
Jordan Longino, a top-40 shooting guard from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, declared his commitment to Villanova University on Thursday night. Longino is 6’5” and will fit in well at Villanova due to his intangibles and shooting ability. He is a member of the class of 2021.
Indiana was towards the top of the Pennsylvania native’s list, but there wasn’t a great deal of mystery surrounding his decision. The 247 Sports crystal ball contained five predictions for Villanova and none for any other school. There were also no reports of any talks between Archie Miller and Longino. It is quite rare for a recruit to pick a school without any buzz.
This is the second time this month that Indiana has lost out on a recruit to Villanova, the first being top-50 wing Trey Patterson. However, while that may sound like a defeat, it is highly unlikely the Indiana coaching staff views the situation that way. Miller’s priority recruits for the class of 2021 have always been Trey Kaufman and Aminu Mohammed. Mason Miller has started to slide into that category as well.
Longino would have been a solid pickup, but Miller would much rather have the three players listed above. Indiana would be a lot better as a team if they had Kaufman, Mohammed, and Miller instead of Patterson and Longino. It’s a calculated recruiting loss; you don’t want a recruit you’re not fully in love with taking a scholarship that could be used for a better player.
If you’re an IU fan, don’t view these two commitments as losses. View them as the ideal class of 2021 slowly beginning to take shape for the Hoosiers and be encouraged by the fact that Indiana is still towards the top of some recruits’ list even though Archie Miller isn’t putting that much effort into pursuing them.