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[attachment=2782:ImageUploadedByBtownBanners1445917342.213859.jpg] Hard to not get behind this type of excitement!

I think the consensus is his game is on the rise. Seems to have a lot of the tools and the size that given some development could be a solid player down the line. He'll get a bump in the rankings but partly bc he committed to IU so will need to follow his HS season and see how the game develops.   I think the staff really did want Durham, but sounds like they weren't expecting it. On his end,  this may have been a bit of an emotional post visit decision. I'm not saying Durham isn't convinced IU is where he wants to be but he didn't come in close is how I heard it put. Maybe that doesn't matter.    I don't think it has much effect on the outlook on the '17 class from IU's perspective. If he develops, great. Either way, the staff will continue to recruit at his position. The in-state kids will still be a priority and can't see this having any impact. Really, biggest thing with those kids is how IU does this year.    Too much hypothetical to get upset about, imo. Just monitor his progress.

^^ that's a pretty great pic!

Welcome aboard--Al Durham!  Heard you have a New York background.  If Coach Chuck--Oladipo---and Coach Crean like your game----count me in!  Hoosier Nation welcomes you!

I wish there was a "like x 1000" button for this pic

wow thats so odd that we would play them here in fort wayne.....i wonder if it will be at the coliseum or at IPFW, anyways thats kind of cool    edit: just looked on ipfw's twitter and it will be at the coliseum.....well i guess i better get my tickets!!!!

Of course, everyone knows mamasa has his whole retirement tied up in TIS stock.

His father and Chuck Martin graduated college together so he definitely isn't the first in his family to go to college. He is just excited to be a Hoosier. These are the types of kids that we need. kids that want to be here. Same can be said for Grant Gelon. Sadly it seems like people around here just bash kids, even if they are excited to be here

Because I've watched much worse go on in Memorial Stadium. This team is electric, as was last season's, and the season before. It's not clean or pretty, but damn they're fun to watch when they're clicking. Maybe I just have realistic expectations for the pace at which a gutter program can progress in 5 years and can see that this team isn't producing the results, but is building momentum. That's not something we've seen before. You realize we got to watch arguably the 2nd greatest running back to ever come through IU last year, right? And if Howard were healthy, we'd be watching another with immense potential. When you have players being looked at for a Heisman, that's fun. Have you also noticed the defense forcing fumbles, recovering fumbles, and getting interceptions??? Holy hell they are doing something right! The D line has been getting to the quarterback! There are legitimate improvements all over the place with some glaring deficiencies left to fix. But hell, at least things are being fixed, and the past few teams have legitimately believed in themselves. That's a crazy thought. We have a psycho sophomore QB in Diamont who actually believed he and some backup RBs could beat the defending champ, and #1 team in the nation in OSU, and nearly did! That is exciting and fun.

Congrats Mr. Durham, welcome aboard. Thank you for choosing IU and wanting to be a part of this great storied program. Best of luck the next two years until we see you in the candy stripes. Go IU!

IPFW has announced that IU will play them not only in 2015, but in 2016-17 and in 2018-19. 2015 IPFW at home 2016-17 AT IPFW 2018-19 IPFW at home

I know I was close to the edge after the Rutgers debacle but after a step back, I know that even if missing a bowl this year would be 1 step forward, 2 steps back for IUFB.  I agree Phil, an ax after this season would lead to a rinse/repeat scenario that has been IUFB since the 90s.

i very much enjoy watching this team, and I make no apologies for it.  Don't berate/degrade someone for their opinion.  It's a fun team to watch.  I've talked with other B1G fans (not IU) who have commented that IU is watchable for the first time in years.  Sorry if you don't agree, but don't make others feel inferior for their opinions.

This kid wanted to be at IU and IU wanted him. I'm very happy for him and by his height for a PG/SG I will take it. I want kids that wanna be Hoosiers not these kids that will only be here for 1 year aka Vonleh.

Albers is a clown

BTB tailgate!

player rating has no bearing on my feeling unless he is Lebron James. It's the fact Crean seems to utilize poor recruiting strategies regarding positions, oversignings, early acceptances, and a multitude of other factors that indicate to the haphazard style in which I've been told he runs the program. The timing of the Gelon and Durham commits are my problem not the actual players and I've been clear on this from the beginning.

And perhaps there are some other future Hoosier hoopsters in that pic as well! 

See! No one is bashing. Some are just now and then pointing out the laundry list of reasons why Durham and Gelon potentially are not good enough! ;)

Want an example of when it took a good coach 5 years to get a dumpster fire in a power house conference to even resemble a real team? Cutclife at Duke. After going 15-33 in his first four years, he snuck them into a bowl game with 6 wins and lost. The following year? 10-4. Then 9-4. Currently 6-1. Not saying K-Dub will be able to pull off the same success, but I'll definitely argue we'd be jumping the gun when we have visible improvements that just require you to look beyond the W column.

When was the last time you enjoyed watching Indiana football? At the very least, KW has brought an entertaining product to the field. He's recruiting well enough that I'd hope for be extension regardless of whether we win another game this year. I have zero faith out the program to bring in someone better at this time.

If Coach Wilson can win either of our remaining home games and one remaining away game, I have no problem with an extension. It's a measurable and maintainable improvement over his previous seasons. That's really all I can ask for.   Unless, like, Jim Tressel or John Harbaugh have put out feelers to take over the job. Then I would rather go with one of them. But, Coach Wilson with success v. Unknown commodity? Seems like an easier choice.

I remember Knight used to run an annual scrimmage at the Coliseum but I don't think that has happened since 1990.   Maybe a little Two Pull from Granite City???

once they go on sale we should all try to sit in the same area, or at least meet each other before the game 

I'm DOWN!!

IU (13-9) hosts #4 Minnesota (17-3) tonight in Bloomington at 8 pm. Game is also televised on BTN!

alright boys, we all gotta meet up then!

This is going to be the hottest ticket in town!!!

When can I buy tickets. Lol

I will ABSOLUTELY be at that game !!!!!!!! Best news of the day!!!!!!!!!

2016 game on november 22nd according to Bozich.

T-Wat is a Freshman this year, but played varsity ball last year if I'm not mistaken.

Who has bashed him?

Cutcliffe is always the example I use when looking at IU football, it's gonna take some time. We were a dumpster fire. 5 years and revolving door again to get a retread or the flavor of the month MAC coach.

It blows my mind how anyone can think a coach deserves an extension when he's won 32% of his games in nearly five seasons at a Big Ten school with Big Ten resources. How many successful coaches did that for five years and suddenly became good? At some point you have to call a spade a spade. 

If OG can be ready defensively---that alone will earn him some floor time.  We don't really have to have him score this year---but someone who can help defend the 4 may be a real need this year---depending on health (i.e. Hartman) and matchups.   OG's athleticism and strong body will be a nightmare for other teams in the years to come.  Seems to be a player who will be good for at least one break-a-way steal and dunk per game. Great pick-up by Crean. Sure Glad Iowa did not end up with him!

Maybe its to take him with them to the mid major school they'll all be coaching after this season?..............sorry....I had to... No worries mods. I'll ban myself for the rest of the day.

I don't get why some people are comparing this to Gelon... Gelon was a relative unknown recruit who committed out of nowhere who most sites hadn't even rated yet, this kid is a top 100-150 player in his class depending on where you look and it seems like Crean thinks he can turn him into something. I have no issue with adding a kid like this. 

I think kids like Vonleh are critical for future success at IU. One and done players are just as critical to top programs as 4 year quality players.

Ignorant people would freak out, but in reality Ottawa will be tougher than a vast majority of our non-con schedule.

Well for one he isn't from Indiana, so that knocks him down about 30 spots........

@aldurham01: I will be Attending Indiana University [emoji779]️[emoji120]

COMMITTED 10/26/15. Liburn, Georgia (Berkmar) Height: 6'4 | Weight: 175 AAU: Southern Stampede Scout Rivals Twitter: @aldurham01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=555LM2moBXE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pJuGmg_jWw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88XXiF4bOm8 Schedule

We haven't seen one upset this year; I think it comes in one of the next two games. Our let-down game was Rutgers, but in reality we can still finish the year strong with possibly 7 wins if everyone can stay healthy!

Yeah girlfriends and college basketball aren't great comparisons for developing a college football team and bringing them out of the gutter. It takes time. Girlfriends and college basketball teams can have success changed with one commitment.

Except what people are saying after HH is the OG is probably going to be in the rotation because he will be a mismatch wherever he is playing. He can post up small guys and shoot over big guys. Seems like a really good defender as well. Time will only tell. I also think Morgan can come in and get us some rebounds

  Really? That's the only reasonable possible explanation you can think of?

Unfortunately, as long as it takes, even if we change coaches. I'm not sure Tre as a true freshman was actually any better.    Going to address a few points from this entire thread, and even points I may have read elsewhere, so this isn't all about your point.    First, is recruiting. You can make the argument that recruiting has plateaued, but its hard to say that its slipping. Class size is extremely important in looking at team rankings from the recruiting services. Not sure why, but the 48th place class in 2013 as listed by 247 included 31 players, Rivals lists 26 recruits that year, and ranked the class 38th. This years class was ranked 49th (Rivals) or 51st (247) with 22 or 23 players respectively. The difference in class size alone is going to make a difference of a few spots. Either way, it would not have equaled the two earlier classes without the addition of several higher rated players. So you can make the argument that we slipped a bit last year, but its hard to justify calling it a trend. As far as this year goes, who cares at this point. As someone who follows IU football recruiting heavily, I can tell you that under CKW and staff, they are far more inclined to take commitments later, rather than earlier, and have no problem pursuing the recruits they want right up till they sign on the dotted line. Based on what I've picked up this year, IU is actively recruiting and getting plenty of interest from some very good recruits. How this class turns out is very much up in the air. However, if your only metric is team rankings for the class, it is most likely going to slip also, as its very likely at this point that this recruiting class is going to be several schollies less than any of the previous few years, and unless we have more attrition than expected, probably smaller than any I can find records on.   Second, I'm not sure that the idea of finding a defensive minded coach is any cure for the Hoosiers, it would definitely be a way of addressing our weakest point, but also would not take advantage of where are strengths are. You could argue that point back and forth forever, its pretty subjective. I'm just pointing it out.   Third, looking at the defense overall, I'm disappointed, but not surprised. There only a few bright points I see at this point. Our D-line is decent against the run, our defense has done their part in TO margin, although limited TO's from the offense should get the most credit, (Tied for 10th in FBS), and our red zone defense is respectable. The red zone defense is a bit misleading because so much of the scoring against IU is done from outside the red zone. The part that doesn't surprise me is the secondary. They were always a unknown heading into the season, and now that we "know" them, its hard to have even mediocre expectations. They show a lot of potential, but in any decent defensive team, that potential would be developed on the practice field for a season or two with limited playing time. Some great instincts, good potential, but its telling that it takes a trip to the locker room to get them focused to play for another 10-15 minutes. The best thing about freshmen is that it only lasts that one year.    Fourth, I'd point out that Coach Knorr has done pretty well as a DC in prior positions. And its not like he was at football powerhouses where he had a lot of great pieces to work with. I suspect, if he gets the opportunity, he'll do pretty good here also. I don't know how many times I've heard football coaches say, "Its not the x's and O's, its the Jimmies and Joes." I actually see potential for a decent D here, question is, will it get time to develop under this staff, or given time, will they develop it? Defensively, I really wish we had had a decent DC instead of Doug sooner, I think we would have developed quicker.   I could go one making arguments all day long, but those are just a few that have stood out to me. Several more I can't remember at the moment. My conclusions are probably more interesting anyway. Here they are.   At this point IU is 4-3. Injuries to Howard and Suds aside, we really needed a win in one of those 3 losses. Making a bowl game is a lot tougher at this point than it looked after a 4-0 start. It requires 2 wins either on the road and/or against tough ranked teams. (BTW, kudos to Harbaugh for UM's run at this point, as I was a real doubter that he would make that much of a difference that quick.) This team is capable of winning any of its last 5 games. Its also capable of losing all 5.    Lose all 5, and I'd say Glass consider keeping CKW for one more year, but its a hard sell no matter if you want to or not, and I really can't see it happening. Its still a hard sell if we only win 1 more and play competitive in the other 4. If we actually get 2 more wins, its got to be a automatic that he's back. What we need however, is to see enough to justify an extension. Sending this staff on the recruiting trail in the last two years of CKW's contract is a extremely tough row to hoe. He will be negatively recruited (and already is) because no recruit can realistically look at this staff being their coaches for 4 years, and that's often a huge selling point, particularly at a school with no record of football success.   You can look at all that as a defense of the staff, you can find negatives to justify canning CKW. Bottom line is this. There are 5 more games, and if they do what they need to out on the field the can kill all the speculation of a coaching change, or harden it into solid rock. At this point, just win.

Thinking back to how atrocious we were on that end last year, start by taking it back to basketball 101 and "defense for dummies".  Start by drilling them with defensives stance and moving their feet and keeping their hands up and keeping their head on a swivel and "ball-you-man" until they're sick of it, then keep drilling them with it.   We were so far beyond atrocious on even basic defensive fundamentals that showed no improvement over the year that I can't even fathom getting more complex until these kids can execute these their sleep.  You know what, we should probably stick to staying awake this season since last season defense meant nap time.

  Wins and losses are all that matters. We heard the same things when Lynch was here: the program is getting better because we're selling more tickets, recruiting is on the upswing because our class is 10th in the Big Ten instead of 11th, etc.      I have yet to hear a convincing argument for why Wilson is doing a good job here or why he deserves more time. How many successful coaches out there won at a .333 clip for five seasons and then started to win a lot more? All I hear is wishful thinking, timidity, mindless repetition of lame conventional wisdom and a general loser attitude. It's why we get coaches like Bill Lynch, Kevin Wilson, Mike Davis and Tom Crean and then keep them around for too long.