Hoosiers looking for ways to stop Harrell

• Indiana vs. Louisville%2C at New York %2C 9 p.m. Tuesday%2C ESPN

Montrezl Harrell was supposed to be somebody else's problem Tuesday night.

A top-100 recruit out of Hargrave Military Academy, Harrell originally signed with Virginia Tech in 2012, before a coaching change caused him to re-open his recruitment. Now, he's a talent University of Louisville coach Rick Pitino described recently as "a front-runner for player of the year."

And he's very much Indiana's problem, as the Hoosiers prepare for their prime time meeting with the No. 4 Cardinals in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

Harrell will test one of Indiana's most glaring concerns heading into this season: lack of depth in the post.

"He's just relentless," said UNC-Wilmington coach Kevin Keatts, who recruited Harrell to Hargrave and later coached him as an assistant at U of L.

A preseason Associated Press All-American, Harrell is indeed a frontrunner — if an early one — for ACC player of the year at least. His 16.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game are both team bests, and his advanced statistics on KenPom.com suggest he's one of the best all-around rebounders in the country.

"It's pretty intimidating to watch him play right now," said Dana O'Neil, a national college basketball writer for ESPN. "He just doesn't have a lot of faults in his game."

Neither Tom Crean nor any Indiana players were made available to the media to preview Tuesday's game. In a statement distributed by a team spokesman, Crean characterized Harrell as "relentless at both ends of the floor," adding that he "causes tremendous problems, because of his length."

What Indiana will do with Harrell — so strong that he once shattered a backboard during practice in high school — might determine whether Indiana can keep pace with the Cardinals.

When Keatts first recruited Harrell to Hargrave, he had to corral a player who spent too much of his AAU season throwing up 3-pointers. At Louisville, Harrell was stationed in the post; he didn't attempt a 3-pointer as a freshman and just three as a sophomore.

The 6-8 North Carolina native finished his sophomore season with 12 double-doubles and a school-record 97 dunks. He's got three double-doubles in seven games so far this season, and he's adding a few of those jumpers back into his shot selection.

"(Pitino has) developed the kid to where he's more of an outside threat," Keatts said. "His game has changed."

He made an intriguing NBA prospect last spring but elected to stay for his junior year, voluntarily shouldering the burden of becoming both Louisville's leading man and its recognized leader. The spotlight hasn't been a problem, on the court or off.

"He leads a different way than everybody else," Pitino told reporters earlier this season. "He goes into the locker room at halftime and does a great job before I even come in. He'll jump on our guys pretty hard if they're not giving everything they can on the defensive end or if they make mental mistakes."

How, then, does Indiana counter such a complete player, at a spot on the court where its own options range from inexperienced to still-unproven?

Crean has been quietly pleased with the development of reserve forwards Collin Hartman and Emmitt Holt.

The former returned early from a torn right ACL and is averaging seven points and five rebounds in IU's last four games. The latter, who joined the program in August, scored 15 points in the Hoosiers' win last week over Pitt.

Those two have backed up junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea through a 7-1 start this season. The Hoosiers' only regular starter in the post, Mosquera-Perea's impact has been inconsistent, but still vastly improved over his first two seasons in college.

Indiana will need the best combination of all three Tuesday.

"I don't think any one player from Indiana can match up with Harrell," O'Neil said. "It's going to have to be by committee."

O'Neil suggested Indiana might try a packed-in zone — for all of its talent, U of L doesn't have a regular 3-point shooter on its roster shooting better than 32.4 percent.

The Hoosiers have reached for their 2-3 zone regularly this season, with mixed results. Against an experienced U of L team and perhaps the best big man on their schedule this season (with respect to Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky), they might have to again Tuesday.

Montrezl Harrell won't leave them many options.

Follow Star reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.