ROBERT JOHNSON - VIRGINIA IS FOR BASKETBALL LOVERS - ALL-MET ELITE

ROBERT JOHNSON 

 VIRGINIA

 IS FOR

BASKETBALL LOVERS

ALL-MET ELITE

 

Benedictine College Prep

Richmond Va.

 

 Robert Johnson, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound guard, who plays at Benedictine College Prep in Richmond, Va. According to ESPN.com, Rivals.com and Scout.com, Johnson is a four-star prospect

 

 Johnson received his first scholarship offer from UNC-Greensboro’s Wes Miller last year, but has steadily raised his stock over the summer. With his play at NBPA Camp, the LeBron James Skills Academy and most recently at the Nike Peach Jam, Johnson has been gaining a lot of interest from major college programs. He already has several scholarship offers and has narrowed his current list to seven schools: Florida State, Georgetown, Indiana, Miami (FL), North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia. Louisville has also expressed interest in the combo guard.

 

Though Indiana didn’t really express interest until late last month, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Kenny Johnson has been familiar with the Virginia guard and his family for quite some time.

 

“Coach Johnson was actually recruiting him when he was at Towson,” according to Johnson’s father, Robert Sr. “Then when he made the transition over to Indiana, Robert was actually playing for the D.C. Assault at the time and he watched him then. He’s been kind of tracking him.” Indiana really stepped up their interest in Johnson when Hoosiers coach Tom Crean got to see Johnson average 20.2 points and shoot 46.2 percent on 3-pointers at the Nike Peach Jam.

 

The Hoosiers pulled out all stops this past weekend to try to impress Johnson. Johnson was escorted by his AAU coach, the legendary Boo Williams, who also happens to be the uncle of IU freshman guard Troy Williams.

 

The Hoosiers had two of the top four picks in June’s NBA Draft with Cody Zeller going No. 4 to Charlotte and Oladipo going No. 2 overall to Orlando. The IU presence at the top of the lottery also impressed Johnson Sr.

 

“That’s big, that’s big. The player development is huge. I watch Indiana and (Victor) Oladipo, his freshman year, was really under the radar,” he said. “He wasn’t a great shooter and he’s pretty much always had a good motor, but I think Tom Crean and the coaching staff did a great job with allowing him to keep the motor but they worked on the other facets of his game. I watched how they developed him and it’s great.”