Remy Abell, a 6-4 guard from Eastern High School in Louisville, has committed to Indiana and will be part of the recruiting class of 2011, Jody Demling of the Courier Journal reports. Abell, who is a combo guard, originally signed with Bradley, but was released from his LOI after Bradley fired its coach. According to Rivals, Abell had offers from Xavier, Penn State, and Western Kentucky, and was considering Butler as well.
The Abell recruitment has been a source of controversy in other quarters. Abell, while certainly receiving interest from some quality programs, is not a top 150 recruit, and IU already is in a scholarship crunch for 2012 and beyond. IU had a ride to give for 2011, but obviously Abell now will be expected to hold down a spot through 2014. The first logical inference is that Tom Crean believes that Abell can make the 2011-12 team better. Perhaps he can help at the point, which is IU's most glaring backcourt need. Absent that, it would have made more sense to bank the scholarship. Second, and while I try to avoid speculation about particular players, it does raise the question of whether IU will see some attrition from the current roster before the 2011-12 school year begins. We'll see. Meanwhile, as Demling notes, Abell will be IU's first scholarship player from Kentucky since 1970. Welcome aboard, Remy!