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....why do I feel a few of these possible misses, high on our radar, will be in the transfer portal next year and IU back as their desired destination? lol

And yet they weren't huge. Which is astounding. But the music endures.

Well yes, maybe spots 9-10. The emphasis on top 100 doesn't mean a whole lot these days when you can upgrade your roster every offseason with 22-24 year old proven players. Karvala and Manhertz may have high ceilings, but physically, I wouldn't expect much from them this season. And why would you? If all three freshman are key components of your rotation, you're likely in trouble. Doubly if someone like Sherrell or Burton get hurt.

All this misdirection that people are concerned about 11-13 lol. People are commenting on 6-9. People have their own ideas about depth and top end talent. Or what to expect from freshmen. So everyone minimizing concerns others have, what is your expectation for the Big 10 W/L record next year?

Now do 1 & 5...that is the issue. We have no other PG on the roster and 2 Centers, that both will be starting. After that it gets awfully thin. There is no world where either Sherrell or the big Turk play 30+ mins game. So I agree IU has some depth, but it all appears to be at 2-4.

I could see Yigi playing the 2 ahead of Monden

https://www.basketunderreview.com/nil-donors-are-spending-big-what-are-they-actually-getting-back/ Decent read. Pretty sure the mid-major kid it references is Leroy Blyden at Toledo. Read somewhere that Kowalczyk talked about putting together the biggest offer he could for the kid and Kansas completely blew it away.

Who is acting like we haven't significantly upgraded the roster? Not me. I've said I have no problem with Moody as 9th man and Karvala as 10th. We agree on your last paragraph. Comparisons to last year's team don't interest me. Simply saying the bench can be a hindrance to success next year. I didn't realize saying 12-8 in the Big Ten next year is so pessimistic of me. I'll remember to give the staff a pat on the @$$ in every post if it makes people feel better lol

Collin had to do that because HP couldn't stay out of trouble and Emmitt Holt hit Devan Davis with a car. But.. people sliding over is in fact depth because you can insert Sisley at the 4, Harris at the 2/3. It's considerably than what we were doing last season lol

It sure appears that way. I would LOVE to be pleasantly surprised by IUBB for the first time, in a long time. But as it stands, the roster construction is questionable, at best, IMO. I will give it a chance, but am cautiously pessimistic and prepared to be disappointed when Sisley inevitably ends up guarding a B1G center and is predictably getting abused. Having one starter slide over to cover another position for an injury/foul/fatigue is not "depth." For instance if Lindsay is the starting SG AND back-up PG, then there is no back-up PG. Same for Sherrell at Center. It's a house of cards. My credentials? I recognized Bailey wasn't a B1G center last off-season. I also recall Colin Hartman (among several others the last 20yrs) playing out of position as "center" for long-stretches and what an embarrassment that is.

I guess I'm just confused on how we thought this would go. We thought the FR would be spots 11-13? Like we actually thought that? 2 kids rated top 100--- just won't see the floor at all/shouldn't be relied upon to offer depth? But, if we go from the issues we had last year to worrying about our 7th-9th spots--- that's measurable growth. Enright vs Burton Wilkerson vs Lindsay Dorn vs Mustaf DeVries vs Sherrell Alexis vs Yigi we're going to sit here and act like that isn't significant? Bench Conerway, Bailey, FR Sisley, Miles Bench SO Sisley, Harris, 3 FR Granted if you played a game bench vs bench--- it's probably relatively even--- but, it's not like we are taking out all 5 starters namely Sherrell/Yigi (both) ever. The bench wasn't near the issue as our top end talent was last season, specifically at the 1/5. people are going to question and pretend they know s*** know matter what lol.. it's easy to do on a computer with no skin in the game. I've not really mentioned an issue with that, though. I think realistically, we've added near the best we could... I really like the idea that all these guys can be back next year... I do hope we find another guy that's more 7th-11th... and not a clear 12th, 13th, as the last two are...

Been following the transfer portal since it opened and was writing down names of potential post players. Came up with probably 25 guys and now down to 1- Emeka Opurum is still on Mike Schuman's latest list of guys we have contacted. Pro's-7'0", athletic, rim runner, rebounder and shotblocker Cons-Not much of an offensive threat, set out last year at Auburn due to some sort of heart condition but has been cleared to play Did a deep dive in to the Euro big men available and feel like most are probably a pipe dream due to cost or NBA aspirations or other schools involved. However I did come across one fun fact: our recent addition Clemens Sokolof has the same agent as Serbian 7 footer Lazar Gacic who played for Mega Superbet (the team we played in Puerto Rico last year). Gacic is skinny but skilled and might be able to provide 10-15 minutes per game as a depth piece. Have no idea if we are in contact but thought it interesting that he has the same agent(Misko Raznatovic) as our new guy.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18phwSvxDG/?mibextid=wwXIfr Love this one. Alisa Williams

I’ll say. Very long game.

Well, definitely unproven. We won't know what we know/don't know until we're well into the season. Cupcakes don't count.

If we are counting on Karvala to be productive in the Big Ten as a freshman, I suppose that's possible. Staff knows better than me so just going to hope they are right and wait and see. In the meanwhile people will question things that are obviously questionable from a staff that has not yet earned the benefit of the doubt. Would be nice if that changes after this year

If that were the case, I'm not sure "unlucky" is how I would describe it. I think I'd go with "coaching failure." Having all 3 fail to be even be a decent rotation piece would point to misses on evaluating talent/fit and/or failure to develop at least 1 of them.

I would argue we only had 1 true starting caliber BIG player in Wilkerson last year. Our 1-5 have now all meaningfully contributed at power conference schools. So going to fully disagree that you could easily make that argument.

Then we suck at scouting, I guess.

"primary ball handler" a buzz word that doesn't mean a whole lot... Moody is going to play some point, so is Lindsay. That grouping, along with Burton, dwarfs--- Enright, Conerway. No serviceable bench big... ok. Sisley is a better rebounder, by a lot, than anyone we brought off the bench, by the end of the year, last season. But, we upgraded IMMENSELY at the STARTING 4/5. You could not make that case, no.

Harris and health at the point. Our floor is 10 conf wins, ceiling 15.

I highly doubt Moody or Karvala are very meaningful contributors next year. Maybe Moody does OK

I was told I was pessimistic for saying the team could go 12-8 in the Big Ten next year lol. I don't think anything is ensured

Career averages for our 6th and 7th players next year Harris 8.4 mpg 2.8 ppg Sisley 13.2 mpg 4.4 ppg That's not good. Not to mention there isn't a primary ballhandler or a serviceable big man on the bench. Agree that the overall talent level has gotten better, but you could easily make the case this roster is constructed worse this year than last year.

You mentioned the possibility of having a season like last year... I think being so significantly better at the 1/4/5 ensures that won't happen. I think top end talent is a bigger question mark than depth