Loading ...Sampson lands first 2008 recruit
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by Doug Wilson | Thursday, October 19, 2006 - 8:39 pm UTC
Bud Mackey, a 6-foot-4 guard from Georgetown, Ky., gave Indiana a verbal commitment Thursday night.
Mackey said in a telephone interview that he chose Indiana because of his relationship with coach Kelvin Sampson, who told Mackey that he sees the high school junior as a leader.
“Coach Sampson told me I was his guy,’ Mackey said. “He said he likes me more as a person than a player.”
Mackey attended Indiana’s Hoosier Hysteria event last Friday. His visit to a raucous Assembly Hall made an impression.
“Everyone in there loves coach Sampson, and the players seem to like it there,” Mackey said.
Mackey said he averaged 15 points for Scott County High School last season, including 20 points a game during the playoffs.
Mackey is considered a player whose stock is on the rise. He has grown two inches during the past year and played well during major AAU tournaments last summer.
He said he chose Indiana over Xavier, Miami of Florida, Tennessee and Louisville. He also had a scholarship offer from Kentucky.
Doug what position do you think he will play for Sampson?
cheyennemtnman, he is going to play guard. It says that in the first line of the story.
Hi cheyennemtnman. I recognize your screen name from our Wednesday Q&As. Are you a local fan or do you live someplace else? Your web site has a lot of good stuff on it, BTW.
As for your question, I asked Bud whether he expected to play point guard or shooting guard at IU. He said Sampson told him he would play both.
I realize this is positive news but I do have concerns about PF, C and SF recruiting. Are there blue chippers on the IU/Sampson radar?
Jack, most of the top big guys in the class of 2007 are already committed. IU does have commitments in that class from 6-7, 220-pound Brandon McGee from Chicago and 6-9, 210-pound Eli Holman from California. I hear that McGee is a player. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a JUCO big man added to this class to help prepare for D.J. White probably jumping to the NBA after this season.
In the 2008 class, there are still several frontcourt blue-chippers who list Indiana as being among their front runners. Two of them, 6-10 PF Phillip Jurick from Tennessee and 6-6 SF Darius Miller from Kentucky attended Hoosier Hysteria last Friday, I believe. Those guys are both rated among the top 40 recruits in the class of 2007. IU and Tennessee are the leaders for Jurick.
Yes I knew he was a guard ..I just wanted to know if he would play a point or 2 guard… Both is a good masking answer
… Do you think it reflects on the possibility of Rose coming / not coming to IU?
Cheyennemtman, I’m going to answer because Doug is on his way to Florida right now.
In Sampson’s system I think you’ll see a lot of combo guards. He’s already looking at Armon Bassett to play both PG and SG, which I think is just a nod toward this simple fact: high school poing guards good enough for IU to recruit are almost always the best players on their high school teams. Therefore, they’re expected to score and spend time concentrating on that facet of their game.
So a kid like Bassett comes in and has polished shooting touch and nice moves through the lane. He’s not as adept at spreading the ball around or managing the pace of the game, but why stiffle what he can do? Sampson’s just going to put him in position to make plays.
As for your Rose question, I think Indiana’s staff would be thrilled to have him but is operating under the assumption that he won’t come here. In some ways, they have to operate that way because guys like Rose and Gordon are going to be one or two (max) year players at the college level. So if you get ‘em, great. But you better have guys playing around them that can play specific roles and offer leadership. Those are the guys Sampson and his staff are trying to find right now — the real heart and soul of any program. The stars will come or they won’t….the character guys you have to go out find.