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Eric Bossi discusses Khristian Lander and IU recruiting

Rivals.com
Rivals.com (Courtesy of USA Basketball)

Though the basketball world has stopped its play on the floor, that doesn't mean recruiting has stopped. To an extent, conversations and offers are at an all-time high due to the circumstances. For Indiana, it continues to have success on the recruiting trail.

Rivals National Recruiting Analyst Eric Bossi joined Indiana Sports Beat to talk about all things Indiana basketball. Obviously the most recent news of Khristian Lander reclassifying is the most pressing topic of discussion.

“Yeah he's fast, he's aggressive, he's a scorer which personally I love scoring point guards myself," Bossi said. "The guy who has the ball in his hands the most has to be a scoring threat which has maybe changed from the past.".

While expectations are high for Lander in 2020, Bossi says they should be tempered just a bit.

"I always worry about someone who has to add strength like Lander does, skipping a year of high school and a year of additional development," Bossi explained. "Maybe he won't be quite what he would be [as a freshman] in the 2021-22 season but what you get next year, having him for at least two years, may be bigger than what you could get in just one year. At the end of the day, Lander is a great talent and I don’t think he projects as a one-and-done guy."

With Lander joining the 2020 class, Indiana will now have seven scholarship players from the state of Indiana on the roster. Winning the in-state battles is something that Archie Miller vowed to do when he took over the program and something that is important in building any program.

"Since he's been there he continues to add guys in the Rivals150 and the idea is to lock up your guys in the backyard first and every fan base wants the local kids right," Bossi said. "The out of state guys will eventually come and you already have Logan Duncomb next year and a few others they are prioritizing too."

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With Indiana's top 2021 commit now in 2020, who could be the next piece of the puzzle for Archie Miller and Indiana?

“[Trey] Kaufman is the centerpiece of what they are trying to do," Bossi said. ”Obviously Trey Kaufman is a major target and has been for a while, and the main competition I would say is Purdue right now. So trying to get the edge over Matt Painter is also very important."

Though fans expect instant success, Archie Miller continues to build the Indiana program the right way and Bossi believes something special is coming to Bloomington.

"I think they are on a verge of a breakthrough and there will be a lot of pressure to have that this year for him [Archie Miller], and the roster is in the best shape to do so," Bossi explained. "I really think this is going to be the year for them.

"Archie Miller built a model of success at Dayton based on a certain style of play and style of roster. He's as close as he's been here at Indiana to replicating that, but he's doing it with better and higher rated players" Bossi added. "You have a system in place and he has the players that fit that blueprint.”

To listen to the rest of the interview and more, check out the tweet below.

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