Indiana fans didn't have to wait long for Archie Miller's recruiting prowess to pay dividends, with the Hoosiers earning verbal commitments from three four-star, top-100 players in a 24-hour span.
The big commitment came from forward Jerome Hunter. Hunter, a top-60 player in the class of 2018, sent out his pledge via Twitter on Monday morning.
Hunter is a 6-foot-7 wing, by way of Ohio. He picked IU over Ohio State, Michigan, Pittsburgh and Xavier. (Miller first recruited Hunter when Miller was leading Dayton's program; clearly Miller has faith that Hunter is Indiana material.) Hunter's commitment came a little more than 12 hours after power forward Race Thompson, who declared Sunday night. Thompson is eligible to enroll immediately, meaning he will play for IU this upcoming season.
The third commitment is an instate player named Damezi Anderson, a 6-7 forward. He's the first commit from Indiana for Miller as Hoosiers coach. Miller has cited the importance of keeping Indiana's talent from leaving the state. Anderson figures to be the first of many to funnel to IU in the coming years.
And not only has Miller brought in quality players, they're also not projected to be one-and-dones, allowing the roster to mature. This is ideal for a first-year coach at a power program. He's building for the future, which was additionally bolstered the ability of Miller and his staff to retain freshmen Al Durham, Clifton Moore and Justin Smith. That trio was recruited by Tom Crean, but didn't bail on IU after Crean was fired in March.
Miller isn't done with recruiting this class, either. Indiana entered this recruiting period with five scholarships open for the high school class of 2018. Big-name targets still on their list include five-star point guards Romeo Langford and Darius Garland.
Despite this flurry of good news, there's plenty to prove when the games begin. The Hoosiers project as the ninth-best team in the Big Ten in our recent power rankings rundown.