McDonald's All-American Game Open Thread

Tonight at 8:30 on ESPN airs the second consecutive All-American game where Hoosiers fans have an interest. Last year Cody Zeller was showing his stuff to the world in the game and this year Yogi Ferrell will be showing the world what to expect from the future Hoosier. Some pretty positive reports have come from the last two days of practice. Specifically, the West practices that include Yogi have been much more intense and competitive than the East practices. This is always a good sign in what is essentially an All-Star game.

Many national writers have reported that there isn't a individual on either team that is capable of staying in front of Ferrell when he has the ball. That lateral speed and quickness is something Indiana desperately needs at the guard spot and Yogi offers that. Eric Bossi of Rivals.com has said that Ferrell and Shabazz Muhammed have been the most intense players on the West and a big reason for such high energy in their practices. Apparently neither one is shy to get on someone if they think the effort is lacking.

One other final exciting piece of reporting and opinion that has come from these practices leading up to tonight's game is the statement Jerry Meyer, Rivals other big recruiting guru stated in a live chat discussing the game and practices. "(Hanner) Perea is better than almost every post player here. With better upside." If that doesn't give you a good tingling feeling about what could be I don't know what will. When a top national recruiting writer says that about Perea when the field includes 11 post players in the top 30 overall that is certainly making a big statement. Tonight's game should be very interesting to watch and at the least the future freshmen for IU look to be big impact guys from the start.