IU star recruit Eric Gordon sounds like THE REAL DEAL

After years of getting kids into Blooomington with great HS and all-star resumes, who "talked the talk" on paper, but who couldn't "walk the walk" in important Big Ten games, we can finally
look forward to a talented and dynamic kid like Eric Gordon coming to Bloomington who wants to be THE person who connects the dots under pressure.
Gordon, the 6-foot-3 shooting guard from North Central that Illini fans thought they had signed, sealed and delivered, answered questions on Tuesday at the McDonald's All America Game Media Day event at Freedom Hall in Louisville, and Mike Hutsell takes it from there: Finally some good news for suffering Hoosier fans!
Color South Beach Hoosier cream and crimson with delight!

http://www.sapulpadailyherald.com/collegesports/cnhisnscolsports_story_086155645.html
Gordon: ‘I’m just looking forward’
By MIKE HUTSELL
THE EVENING NEWS AND THE TRIBUNE (JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind.)

LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Eric Gordon is relaxed now.
To him, it’s just a matter of what’s ahead. It’s not what happened.
Perhaps the most talked about men’s basketball recruit in a much-heralded Class of 2007, the Indianapolis star doesn’t like to discuss much about the past.
He’d rather not talk about his much-debated switch on a verbal commitment from the University of Illinois to a signed letter of intent with Indiana University.
“To me, that’s all behind me,” said Gordon.
“I know there’s questions about that wherever I go. People want to talk about it, I know it’s going to happen. But for me, I’m working toward moving ahead.”
At Tuesday’s McDonald’s All-American Media Day, Gordon was quiet, almost soft-spoken. Almost an exact opposite of the public perception of the North Central High School star — who said following his junior season that he would attend Illinois but then started visiting Indiana following the hiring of new head coach Kelvin Sampson in the summer before his senior year.
After a full summer and fall of questions concerning the status of his commitment to the Illini, Gordon announced on the day of Indiana’s Midnight Madness that he had changed his mind and he would sign with his home-state Hoosiers.
The change sparked a nationwide debate that spanned from message boards to national news outlets about his recruiting saga.
The questions centered around him visiting other campuses while being committed to a school and about accepting phone calls from another coaching staff without letting the Illinois staff know his decision was wavering.
“The decisions that I made, I made because I thought they were what was best for me and for my family,” Gordon said.
“When I said Illinois, it was what was best for me at that time.
“I talked with my family when Indiana made its coaching change and I visited the school a few times. After I weighed everything, it just seemed more like the program that I wanted to be a part of. It was the most comfortable fit for me.”
And about that perception that Gordon left Illinois hanging while deciding to make the change — he swears it was never the case.
“The people that needed to know what I was doing, I was up front with,” Gordon said. “All of the coaches knew what I was doing. The people that were most upset about it were the ones that had no idea what was going on the whole time.”
Those people also were likely the most vocal about the ordeal. Within days of his switch, Gordon started receiving letters from a disgruntled Illinois fan base. It was within minutes of the choice that he started hearing media debates about the ethics of the whole process.
“People were mailing me quotes from newspapers saying ‘this is what you said,’” and basically calling me a liar,” Gordon said.
“That type of thing hurts when you hear it, because I honestly wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. I was just doing what I thought was best for me.”
And it’s those type of responses he says he’s expecting the first time he enters the Illinois campus as a Hoosier next season.
“It will be like I’m on ‘America’s Most Wanted’ or something,” Gordon said, slightly smiling at the notion. “I know they’re going to be ready for me. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, but at the same time I’m going have to realize it’s just another game. It’s 40 minutes, just like every other game we’ll play.”
That’s what Gordon wants to believe. That it is time to move ahead. He’d like to bury the perception of the Illini fans and become just another Big Ten basketball player next season.
That could happen, if Gordon was just another basketball recruit. The reality is that Gordon is a kid who the McDonald’s All-America media guide dubs “the best all-around high school basketball player in all of the country.”
He’s a player likely to be the run-away winner of the Indiana Mr. Basketball vote after a senior season that saw him average 28.9 points per game while leading North Central to a 21-5 record and runner-up finish in the state finals.
And it definitely won’t happen after nights like the one Gordon had on Feb. 1, when he poured 47 points on a Loyala (Ill.) Academy team featuring Michael Jordan’s two sons in front of a national-television audience on ESPN with Jordan sitting in attendance — a game in which the Panthers cruised, 88-47.
“I knew he was there,” Gordon said about playing in front of Jordan that night. “I didn’t want to say I was putting on a show in front of him, but it was sort of neat that it happened that way.
“I didn’t get to talk to him that night. I would have loved to meet him but he got out of there before I had a chance.”
All of that, though, is part of the past Gordon is trying to learn from but at the same time move ahead.
For now, he only worries about the things that are in his own hands. After Wednesday’s McDonald’s Game at Freedom Hall in Louisville, he’ll focus on finishing out his senior year and picking up his diploma in May.
After that, he’s got a scheduled appearance in Michael Jordan’s Roundball Classic this June and by the time the summer semester commences in Bloomington, he’ll be ready for his full-time role as a Hoosier.“I’m ready,” he said.
“I’m ready to get down there, to be a part of the program. To start practicing and play for a great coaching staff, to play at Assembly Hall in front of the fans.
“It’s where I want to be. I’m just looking forward.”

Mike Hutsell writes for The Evening News in Jeffersonville, Ind.
Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc.
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Meanwhile, Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal, covering the McDonald's All American Game, reports that Gordon is looking forward to the high-caliber competition this week.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703260482
Indiana HS Headline: Gordon has a quick turnaround
mcdonald's all american game
By Jody Demling jdemling@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

It's been a long and tiring weekend for Indianapolis North Central standout shooting guard Eric Gordon.
The 6-foot-3 Gordon started on Saturday in Indianapolis playing for Indiana's Class 4-A state championship. He scored 25 points, but his team dropped an 87-83 decision in the title game to East Chicago.

Gordon left Indianapolis early yesterday and by midafternoon was at Hoops Basketball Academy practicing with the West squad in preparation for Wednesday's McDonald's All American game.
"I'm sore and tired," he said. "I didn't know it was going to be this quick where the McDonald's game was going to be right after the state championship game. But I've been looking forward to this. I was sore, but I'm OK."
He tweaked his hamstring in the state final but will play this week.
Gordon, who averaged a state-best 29.1 points a game, said he's been looking forward to showcasing his skills with the nation's top players.
The boys' game will be played at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Freedom Hall.
During practice, Gordon was working for a while with a dream group that included Memphis-bound Derrick Rose, Kyle Singler (Duke), Kevin Love (UCLA) and Michael Beasley (Kansas State).
"I've known these guys for a long time," Gordon said. "This will be fun."
Gordon, who committed to Illinois before signing with Indiana after coach Kelvin Sampson was hired, talked with the media about his decision.
"It was tough," he said. "I mean I was going to give IU a chance throughout my whole recruiting process, but Kelvin Sampson showed me different ways and what I could do. I'm really excited to get there."