by Fitzgerald Cecilio

Bloomington, IN

Incoming 6-9 power forward freshman Noah Vonleh announced his intention to stay at Indiana University for three or four years.

The 17-year-old was ranked No. 8 in the nation by rivals.com and is being projected as the No. 11 pick in the 2014 NBA draft by nbadraft.net.

But Vonleh is not one to rush things.

"The NBA is always going to be there. I just want to go to college, have a great time, play basketball and get a degree," said Vonleh, who had exhibited the same kind of patience after his sophomore prep year.

Vonleh had opted to reclassify back to the Class of 2014 because he was one of the youngest in his class and would want to grow up and benefit from the maturity. Last fall, he returned to the Class of 2013, deciding he was ready to move on to college basketball.

He was later offered scholarships to play college ball by North Carolina, Kansas, Syracuse, Florida, Marquette, UCLA and Ohio State. He was planning visits to Ohio State, Connecticut, Georgetown and North Carolina after an official visit to IU, along with his mother, on Nov. 9, 2012.

Vonleh verbally committed to the Hoosiers the day after, since he and his mom Renell believed Hoosiers coach Tom Crean and his staff could provide the improvement he would need to play in the NBA.

His mother was also convinced that Crean and assistant coach Kenny Johnson had the best interests of her son in mind.

"I just wanted to go somewhere where I felt I could improve," Vonleh said. "All I had to do was look at a player like Victor (Oladipo) and see how far he had come from where he was when he got to Indiana, and now he's probably going to be a lottery pick in the NBA draft.

"He looked around at all of the players he looked up to and how they got where they got and he committed himself to doing whatever it would take," said Renell Vonleh.

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Incoming Freshman Noah Vonleh Could Remain Hoosier for four years