BTOWN

Ballo's three visits set up are IU, Louisville, and Kansas State -- all pretty much back to back with the first being at IU.  Louisville has money but players all bailing the program and had to go to like choice #5 for their coach.  Kansas State has a good coach who has used the portal well, but in terms of history of using players like Ballo, it's pretty non-existent.  From an individual standpoint, I would have to think that Ballo would view IU as the best situation.
In terms of offense, I certainly get the spacing issues at IU.  But something that does deserve some consideration is that Ballo hasn't been a guy who demands a ton of touches on offense.  He's a dominant rebounder and good interior defnder, but he's a guy that only takes 8 shots per game since he's been a starter at Arizona and a decent number of those are on put backs as he's an exceptional offensive rebounder.  He's not likely to be a guy who IU feeds the ball to constantly like we did with TJD -- he's not likely to get the touches Ware did as well.  But he is a big who was used to setting picks on Arizona to get shots for other guys, something we didn't really ask as much of from TJD or Ware.
The dude is ranked as the top or second best guy in the portal right now.  There is a reason for that.

Simply not true. You don’t think Mgbako developed over the year? TJD didn’t develop? Reneau from year 1 to 2? If you said they didn’t develop then you should check your motives for why you believe what you do. I’m saying this as someone who would have been 100% behind a change for someone like Bruce Pearl. 

Well...since teams are allowed to score 3 points at a time while we are only allowed to score 2, we should be allowed an extra player to make it fair.

He's the one forcing Woodson, year 4 on Indiana despite the crap show that he was in year 3. Woodson can't coach, won't recruit, and we can't dump him because Woodson was butt hurt when we hired Archie. And Archie got 4 years, so we're stuck with a lazy, incompetent has-been for our coach.
And Woodson is going to try to buy his team with the Cook's and Simons' checkbooks.

Rabby is saying that should be it for the portal for Indiana.
Ware & Mgbako will declare but at least Mgbako should be back. 
Reneau and Cupps coming back unless something drastically changes

Yep! Winning a conference championship sucks! Long live Woody
In all seriousness, look at his emotional response to that win and his connection with the players. I’d love to see that at IU
 

“I’m not gonna talk about my graphic design skills. I”m just not”

It's just kind boggling to me.  We could fire Woody now and bring in Dusty.  He would have Trey, Leal, probably MM and Reneau, and bring in 3-4 starters from his top 25 FAU team and have a top 25 team here next season.  He could also likely land a couple good 2025 recruits which Woody cannot do.
Or we keep Woody for one more year which will probably be a worse season than what Dusty would have here next season.  Then Leal, Trey, MM, Reneau, and the 2025 class are all gone and Dusty inherits a complete dumpster fire when he takes over next spring assuming he's still available.  So someone here explain to me like I'm a 5 year old...why are we not just firing him now?

Just as incredibly tone deaf as Woodson. 
People aren't upset that we've won 4 in a row. We're upset because it's become painfully obvious that he's going to be retained, and this 4 game win streak against mediocre teams is apparently a good enough reason to give him another year. 
And if I'm going to get excited about next year, I'm forced to be a fan of a style of basketball I abhor, at a program who now has to resort to buying talent in the portal rather than recruit and develop players, because the coach is too lazy to recruit.
 

Give me Dusty, Abernathy, Matt Graves, and LaVall Jordan as assistants and let’s see what happens. You have everything covered. I still feel a change will be made.

Time for all of us former Kelley kids to start sending emails to our favorite prof Vivian Winston?

If the change to a million a year allows Dolson to go around the BOT for the buyout, that would be an absolute masterclass by Dolson. 

If you're afraid to vote against another Trustee, you shouldn't be on the Board of Trustees

There was convo here early on that Bako should come off the bench and he wasn’t that good. Good Lord.
Glad that convo is dead.

Wow, starting to feel bad for Geronimo...

If you have time, a great session with Mack and the Hoosier Hysterics. Truly an impressive, intelligent young man.
My favorite story from the interview was at the end. Mack is torn between Kansas and Indiana; loves both programs but kind of leaning toward Kansas. He’s in the 'thinking and praying about it' stage and driving to school, when he looks up in traffic and sees that the car in front of him has an Indiana University vanity plate. He takes it as a sign from above and at that point he decides it’s going to be Indiana. 

NBA Champion
 
P.S. ccgeneral we miss you dearly.

Have seen a total of 3 HS games of Mgbako and parts of 2 EYBL games last summer, so I wouldn’t pretend to have his full game down, but fwiw:
Looks to be all of 6’8”. Great frame. Will probably play at something like 225. Hard to tell from streams, but looks to certainly have plus length.. Good athlete, not great. Pretty good lift, but needs to gather. Ok 1st step, but he’s not beating good defenders with explosion. Runs well, and runs hard. Pretty average laterally. So, he’s got solid traits, but that’s not the deal here.  Offensively, his best element, no question, is that he’s got a great stroke with deep range. Really simple. Good elevation with a high release and nice wrist snap. Can get it off against a good contest. Can catch and shoot, off the bounce left or right, and has a step back that I watched him splash from about 24’. Likes to play in the mid-post. Faces up, has a nice jab step series, and is looking to put it down for a single bounce either way and shoot a J. Has a pump fake and uses it to drive some, but he needs to get his shoulder in front to beat a guy. Looks to have some feel on the block, but doesn’t seem super well-schooled. Plays through contact, no problem. Bottom line: he can score at every level. He’s not a shot hunter, he takes good looks, but he doesn’t facilitate much and his game appears to be very much about his offense. Assuming he’s playing primarily on the wing, he will be an exceptional rebounder for that role. He’s physical and really goes after it. His defense will hold up but he’s not like Kel’el Ware where you can just autoswitch him and he can handle anyone. But he defends hard and physically and it looked fine. 1 other thing and he shares this with Fino: he carries himself like a 25 yo man. On a team with probably 4 other high major kids, including Simeon Wilcher who will probably start at UNC, there was no question he was the Guy. 
Long way of saying, he’s a rock solid player and a great fit. He can pick and roll, he can pick and pop, he creates space for X and whomever because you can’t leave him. He just looks to me like a kid who can get you 15 a night from pretty much day 1. Probably doesn’t have the highest ceiling in the class, but he might have the highest floor and I’m not really sure how he would fail. He’s a hell of a get. 
 

Love this board (especially during info season) and all the posters that provide us with updates leading to great outcomes like this. Welcome to IU Mr Ware. Man I think I'm going to miss all the players we are losing this yr, but getting very excited to see how the rest of next yrs roster fills out!

Pretty accurate, some misses here and there every once in awhile, but I trust him 

Then there are these comments from Caleb Love's dad in the IndyStar:
"He wants to win," Dennis Love, Caleb's father, told IndyStar. "So, he wants to be on a team that plays in a manner that is open, right — not having a clogged lane. Being able to take advantage of his playmaking skills. A situation that allows him to show his skillset. He also wants to be in a situation, where he can be taught, man, improve his efficiency.

"He wants to be coached. He really wants to be coached and really have someone help him get better. And then he obviously wants to be in a situation that allows him to achieve his ultimate dream, his goal — to get to the league."
Sounds like Coach Woodson to me

VO is everything that is great about college basketball and a great example of why college basketball is wonderful. Players (including VO) can turn pro and change teams and cities every month for all I care. Vic will always be an Indiana alum and will always have his heart in Bloomington.

Hearing these stories of Duncomb’s exploits makes me miss the days when we had serious players whose 1 and only priority was basketball. Guys like Hanner Perea. 

Been on here for over a decade under several different aliases. Never banned or removed, just forgot my passwords every few years. I have loved the community on this site, a ton of knowledge, wild takes, and the perfect amount of spice in interactions when someone posts something outrageous. BTB and IU Basketball are synonymous to me, without one the other isn't as fun. Kudos to everyone on here - proud to be a HOOSIER. @Uspshoosier is a big part of fostering a knowledgable fanbase on this site - thanks for all of your research. 
 
But the BEST IS YET TO COME. This place will be banana's with a deep March run and fellas Coach Woodson is gonna get us some - writing is on the wall. Hopefully see you all in Chi-town!!

Remember when the argument was that 'although Galloway plays with high energy, he shouldn't be a starter on a good NCAA team?'
This is Trey Galloway's team next year.