2013 Hoosier Recruit Luke Fischer Starts Season Strong

What do we know about Luke Fischer? Well he's a Wisconsin kid that plays on a Germantown team that has not lost a basketball game since 2010, his game continued to grow greatly over the summer and he gets compared to Cody Zeller all the time, Really that last part is probably what Hoosiers fans should be most excited about. Are the comparisons 100% accurate? No. But are they fair to be making? Yes.

Luke Fischer is not Cody Zeller. Not yet at least. However the comparisons make a lot of sense. Both Luke and Cody approach the game nearly the exact same way. Both are very composed, fairly unemotional, not super athletic but good floor runners. Truly the style of play is very very comparable. I actually find it very interesting how Crean has been able to recruit skill set clones of his current roster for future rosters. Jeremy Hollowell = Christian Watford. Stan Robinson = Vic Oladipo. Fischer = Zeller. Troy Williams = Will Sheehey. Lots of similarities in a continuation of style for Crean into the future.

With that being said, Fischer still has a ways to go to achieve Zeller status. He started that approach with a path less traveled last fall. Fischer stepped onto the volleyball court in the fall and he has since attributed that to his increase in explosiveness in the last two years. As you watch him progress from the day he committed to the day to present you can see how much his game has grown.

Fischer is very patient in his offensive game and has pretty natural timing on the defensive end. This is where you can probably credit volleyball the most. His shot blocking presence has greatly increased as he's discovered the timing necessary to block shots on the volleyball court as well. On the offensive end he has a solid skill set with a nice little turn around jumper from about 8 ft and can range out beyond 15 ft pretty easily. However, he's going to do a majority of his damage within a couple feet of the basket.

Fischer is going to be a very good player for Indiana over a four year span. Despite the constant comparisons to Zeller (I've done it four times in this post) don't let that dictate your expectations of Fischer. He's not going to come in right away and compete for National Freshman of the Year. He is going to need some time to grow into the player he can become. As a freshman he should be able to provide quality minutes in the post behind Perea and Jurkin and as a sophomore and beyond he should be able to battle for a starter's role. The kid is good. He just need a college weight staff and more coaching.