John Hart...Another defensive stopper?In a move that a lot of people are questioning on the message boards, Matt Painter signed another guard to next year's class...The third in the incoming class. Many thought Painter would try to pick up another big a la Chris Reid & Nemanja Calasan last season.
I'm not one to doubt the coach that found diamonds in the rough like Keaton Grant and Chris Kramer...So, if Painter thinks he's a good fit, I'll take him at his word. Plus, with Grant and Kramer's frequent injuries, a high-energy athletic guard might be just what the doctor ordered. Hart's no slouch, he's just been a bit under the radar. The Beech Grove Senior averaged nearly 19 points a game and was all-metro, all-county and all-city in quite a few publications.
From Painter's description, he reminds me a whole lot of a guy I knew during my time on campus...Herb Dove. Perhaps he can take the alley oop from Lew Jack a la Roberts to Dove in the 90s. I'm hoping so; we haven't seen that type of play in a few seasons. I'm hopeful that this isn't a signal that Lewis Jackson is going to be a victim of the NCAA academic clearinghouse. Let's keep our fingers crossed that all three of the incoming class make it to West Lafayette.