Indiana head coach Tom Crean hired former St. Anthony standout Roshown McLeod to fill the last vacancy on his staff.
Look for McLeod to at least take a shot at St. Anthony senior wing Dominic Cheek, as well as South Atlanta power forward Derrick Favors — both of whom he has connections to. The 6-9 Favors and the 6-5 Cheek are ranked No. 3 and 11 respectively in the Class of 2009 by Rivals.
Favors will reportedly visit Georgia Aug. 28 and Georgia Tech Sept. 27. Cheek has listed Kansas, Villanova, Wake Forest, Tennessee, UConn, Rutgers and Seton Hall, among others.
McLeod played at Duke and St. John’s and also spent four years in the NBA. He played for a slew of Hall of Famers in Bob Hurley (St. Anthony), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Lenny Wilkens (Atlanta) and Larry Brown (Philly.)
While Indiana still has a long way to go before digging itself out of the Kelvin Sampson Mess, this has got to be considered a strong hire by Crean.
McLeod started the Next Level Players Development program and eventually became the coach for the Atlanta Celtics and Georgia Stars. Hence, his connection to Favors.
“This is a great opportunity for myself and my family,” McLeod said. “Indiana is the cream of the crop when you talk about great college basketball tradition. I was fortunate to play at a very high level in college and in the NBA and to get a chance to coach at the same level for a program like Indiana is a dream come true.”