updated 5:36 p.m. ET Aug. 29, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - He has been a practicing Division I basketball player for less than 12 hours, but Eric Gordon does not hesitate for a second. When he is open, in rhythm, in the structure of the Indiana offense, he shoots. He knows exactly who he is.

IU coach Kelvin Sampson told Gordon before practice began: "Don't defer. Play like you're the guy." No one here is kidding anyone. Gordon already is wearing a crimson jersey in practice, and in case it's not clear what that signifies, it's the same color as star center D.J. White has on his back.

The Hoosiers are working on some new side inbounds plays as they prepare for a Labor Day weekend trip to the Bahamas. Actually, for several of the players -- including Gordon -- every play is a new play. But these came from an NBA assistant coach who is a friend of IU coach Kelvin Sampson. As each one develops, Gordon's teammates either are busy screening for him or looking to pass him the ball, and the action concludes with him flicking a deep jumper off his fingernails and into the net.

That means they're good plays.

Because any play that finishes with an Eric Gordon jumpshot is a good play.

When the Hoosiers begin the season Nov. 18 with a home game against Longwood, Gordon officially will become the most gifted freshman to play at IU since Isiah Thomas. That means better than Steve Alford, better than Jared Jeffries, better than everyone in between. There is no guarantee Gordon will finish his career by leading the program to the NCAA championship (as Alford did in his senior year) or a runner-up finish (which Jeffries did as a sophomore). But there is no guarantee he will not.

Gordon is a 6-4 shooting guard from North Central High in Indianapolis who once was the object of an intense recruiting battle between Indiana and Illinois. He committed to the Illini as a junior but reconsidered after the Hoosiers made a coaching change. This will make him, shall we say, less than popular when IU visits Champaign on Feb. 7.

He soon will be beloved in his home state, though. Gordon and national junior college player of the year Jamarcus Ellis have stepped directly into the lineup and will help White make the Hoosiers a contender for both the Big Ten championship and the Final Four.

Ellis is a beautifully unselfish player who will facilitate the scoring Gordon and White will deliver. White, who could have entered the NBA draft and been selected somewhere in the first round, has worked so much to improve he became the only player on the United States team to average double-figure points (16.8) and the only one to average more than six rebounds (8.6) in the Pan American Games. When Sampson is asked whether his big man will be OK with Gordon regularly outscoring him -- which probably is what will develop -- the response is: "The best way to answer that question is that D.J. came back."

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Even as a freshman, Gordon is a powerful wing. The strength in his upper body mostly was used in Monday's practice to fuel the ease of his long-distance jumpers. It is not work for him to shoot from range. He is so strong he seems only to need the tips of his fingers to launch a jumper. He can use that strength to overpower defenders and score in the lane, but the work the Hoosiers undertook in this session did not lead in that direction.

Aside from the inbounds plays and basic drills to get the players loose and teach them some essential skills, what the Hoosiers did mostly was run. Sampson never has been much for fastbreaking, but he's never had players who fit the running game like these guys do.

They worked on rebounding missed free throws and converting those opportunities into high-energy fastbreaks. Here, Gordon showed a knack for finishing or getting himself fouled, but also the selflessness that will keep him popular with teammates. From the right wing, Gordon sent a sweet pass to White as he cut down the lane for a layup. Later, part of a 3-on-2 break, Gordon drew the defense toward himself and sent the ball to Ellis for an easy score.

Not everything in the game will come this easily. Like any freshman, Gordon will have to be taught how to play defense -- although he does have the tools to be a lockdown defender, Sampson says. He will have to deal with adversity and heightened competition. He might even come to doubt himself once or twice. Not now, though. He looks as if he's been a college player for years, not hours.

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