Is Indiana really "under pressure" to get in-state recruits?

Look, I get it.

The college hoops offseason is long, and you have to keep that content churning.

So when I see articles like this one, I understand that it's not written with bad intentions. It's just part of the grind of keeping the content flowing and #narratives afloat throughout the year.

That being said, it's long past time to say that the success of Indiana basketball does not rely on recruits from the state of Indiana.

This article states that "Since Crean’s first full recruiting class in 2009, the state of Indiana has produced 31 players ranked in the ESPN 100. The Hoosiers have landed just five of them -- with three of them coming in the class of 2012." That... doesn't seem bad to me? Look, recruiting is a crazy game these days, and good players have a multitude of options. So the fact that Crean has "just" gotten one-sixth of the top Hoosier State recruits in his time in Bloomington doesn't bother me. For three of those years, the team was legitimately bad. And for the rest of those years, the competition is always tough - not just regionally with the Michigan schools to the north and U of L and UK to the south, but nationally as well, as this year's Indiana Mr. Basketball, Kyle Guy, is going to play for UVA.

But let's look at the big picture here. Indiana basketball can have an entire starting five from within Daviess County, or they can start five guys plucked from a Mongolian yurt, for all I care. But it won't matter if the team can't win or play well together. And despite an almost 30-year title drought, Indiana basketball is still a national brand with fans across the country. And as a result, the Hoosiers will attract interest from players in every part of the country. Just look at next year's team: JBJ is from up the road in Marion, of course, but Thomas Bryant is from upstate New York, Juwan and OG are from Missouri, RoJo and CuJo are both Virginia products, and De'Ron Davis comes from right outside Denver. Also, it goes both ways: it's a lot easier for recruits to go elsewhere. With AAU ball, national tournaments, and the influence of Big Sneaker, recruiting is no longer just a regional pursuit. Thus, players have a larger pool of teams to choose from, just as teams have more players availble to recruit.

So, if any combination of Kris Wilkes, Jaren Jackson, Paul Scruggs, and Malik Williams wind up in Bloomington in fall 2017, I'll be thrilled. All of them seem like great players who are ranked top-50 nationally and also happen to be from Indiana. However, if none of them end up at IU, but Crean still gets a good recrutiing class in? Then I won't be worried either, and it wouldn't be "a difficult pill to swallow" or "put a damper on the good vibes in Bloomington," as the article states.