March 11, 2005

CHICAGO - Entering the 2004-05 season Indiana University head coach Mike Davis' recruiting class was tabbed as one of the tops in the conference in various rankings throughout the nation. Now as the season winds down that class is already providing valuable production for the Hoosiers.

First-year guard Robert Vaden started in all 28 of Indiana's games while averaging just less than 34 minutes-per-game, which ranked second on the Hoosier's this season. In Friday's 71-55 quarterfinal tournament loss to the University of Minnesota Vaden tallied four points along with six rebounds and four assists.

The other "diaper dandy" for Indiana is forward D.J. White. In the Hoosier's bout with the Golden Gophers White came-out of halftime firing and helped IU tie the game early in the second-half. For the game, White pitched in 21 points along with 10 rebounds in what may be the end of a productive first year in Bloomington.

"It's been a challenging year," White said. "I learned a lot this year but I also learned I have a lot of work to do. It was a great year and it was great to be named Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten and I am looking to next year, to make this team better and a success."

A native of Indianapolis, Vaden was the team's third leading scorer and rebounder during the regular season with 10.4 points-per-game and 4.3 rebounds-per-game. In Indiana's 70-63 national television win over Michigan on February 20th Vaden poured in a career-high 18 points. The swingman shot just fewer than 40 percent from the floor during the season and hit 44 three-pointers for a 39.5 percent clip. Vaden was also lights-out from the charity stripe where he converted on over 80 percent of his free-throws.

Like Vaden, White also was in the starting line-up for all 28 of Indiana's games this season while playing 28 minutes-per-game. With his performance on Friday, White continued his streak of 12 consecutive games scoring in double-digits. During the regular season White led all freshmen in the Big Ten with 13.3 points-per-game. The Tuscaloosa, Alabama native shot 58.3 percent from the floor in the regular season to lead the conference freshman ranks. Additionally, White averaged 4.7 rebounds-per-game and was solid at the free-throw line with a 71.5 percent conversion rate.

"With a young basketball team you see a lot of things," said Indiana head coach Davis. "Today I thought we came out and played hard. I'm very proud of this basketball team. These guys have done a great job to win the games we've won. The way they played throughout this season, being so stressful and tense the whole way is what makes me proud of this team."

Both rookie players can also be proud of some of the post-season hardware from the coaches in the Big Ten Conference and the media. Vaden was tabbed as a Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection by the coaches while White earned the same honor and was an honorable mention All-Conference selection by both groups. Both groups also honored White with the Freshman of the Year trophy for his play in 2004-05's regular season. For both athletes it is the first of what could be many trophies that they'll earn over their collegiate careers.