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One day left of radiation treatment! Also, this is 1000000% MUST WIN. Very literally can't lose this. Honestly need to win by 15+ and have full control of it. Not only would losing to such a garbage team be incredibly embarrassing, but it'd put quite the hamper on any March possibilities.

D-Rock took a page from Cigs and wrote a note to the kids ...

Cignetti all day long. Not close.

Respectfully, these two do not belong in the same sentence. One is a 2x AP Coach of the Year with a National Title who has been credited with the greatest coaching accomplishment in CFB history, and perhaps even in all of sports. The other is a good coach who spent ~$13-15M and has a very good bball team at a historically good program. Nice, but that’s not much. Also, football is the much bigger sport and powers college athletics. The Cig hire has taken us from the bottom third of the B1G in athletic dept revenue to the top third, which is a game changer. And exposure for IU is through the roof. CBB doesn’t come close. I wouldn’t trade our CFB Championship for any realistic number of CBB titles. Maybe 10 schools care about CBB. The whole country cares about CFB. Sorry to be a bit dramatic, but this is not close.

thanks so much for all the recruiting news and everything else you do Big Lebowski

The injunction has been denied. Time to update the resume, Charles

Season tickets have been secured!!! So pumped. Very reasonably priced too, imo, coming off a natty.

Don’t know if this is true but saw this on X for Jayce.

I don't think margin of victory matters much at all tonight for tournament purposes. Just get the W.

Technically it's not a "must win," but it effectively is in my view. Yea we could win out, but if we lose this game, that's probably not happening. The last two games we were not expected to win, but unfortunately we were not competitive in either. At some point we've got to play well, and that starts tonight.

Personally I’d rather win at basketball than football. Just means more to me. But, I agree with the point USPS has made several times about IUBB that if you hire a good competent dude and give him appropriate resources he’ll win. I’m comfortable DDV will win here. Whereas, what Cignetti has done is complete unicorn stuff. I legit believe no other guy in the country could have done this. So it’s the choice of both being relevant or 1 being relevant. So, yeah, it’s Cig.

Dusty May… but Curt Cignetti DID!! Love everything about everything that has happened for IU sports and I wouldn’t trade it for anything or anyone.

It’s Tipton, so take it for what it’s worth. But it really doesn’t sound that nuts to me at all. I’m sure BYU paid huge for Wright but I’d really like to know what UM paid for Cadeau.

You said DDV's lack of clout is the barrier to building a top 25 roster. I don't agree. 1) There aren't that many truly elite coches, certainly not 25 of them. So I don't think naming a few top 5 examples really supports your point that much. 2) The coaching "clout" matters a lot more when the money is equal. When it's not equal, it's going to matter a lot less (and yes, I fully realize some kids will take less money to play an elite coach/program). Objectively, coaching "clout" is much less important in the NIL age than it used to be. 3) If you're in the top 25 in spending, by definition you're going to be able to outspend those outside of the top 25. IMO, our main barrier to having a top 25 roster isn't money or clout, it's talent evaluation/roster construction and prioritizing our spend on the right guys. I think DDV having a full offseason with a full staff and GM will have majors benefits there.

Also very easy read. Tales of Dunk and Egg are amazing. I suggest everyone read them. I was worried about this series but after season 1 I give them an A. Very well done so far. My brother in law worries they will continue the show past the books and that is when things can go horribly......example GOT.

Great news for you and your family.

So far they are 0-7 in their 7 hardest game by the NET. With all their tourney quality wins coming at home (Nc State, SMU and Kentucky) besides their neutral court win over IU which is a bottom of the bracket team this year.

Interesting. Nicely written little note. Can’t hurt.

Just saw this. Sorry if already posted somewhere: https://247sports.com/college/indiana/article/indiana-pacers-vp-ryan-carr-is-joining-darian-devries-indiana-basketball-coaching-staff-275311374/?source=column&lctg=26140&eid=a7f2d363bcb10ce63ad46f2c04fa551423d8bf1a7468dda686c3080c3f76cc4b&utm_source=247Sports Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=260223_090959_Peegs.com&utm_content=Link

The starting point problem here is the assumption DeVries’ recruiting after his late hire with 0 staff was strategic. IU had just once again missed the tournament, had 8 years of mediocre results, had 0 returning players, players recruited to Woodson’s failed front-court non-outside shooting teams, zero staff. That’s the opposite of hitting the ground running. If we make the tourney (I think we will), which is step 1 on this obvious complete rebuild, he’ll have a year of budding success grounded in high output 3-point shooting/ guard play and a staff in place and returning players to add pieces to in a system already in place. This offseason (and next) is very important but no reason to tie it conceptually to last year, as if DeVries would go chasing mid-tier players. He’ll chase the best with more time to get them. He knows we’re undersized for the B1G, he knows we need more athletic forwards. He landed Wilkerson and beat UK to get him, that’s the kind of guard he wants, who he’ll pursue and how many forwards remains to be seen but what he was able to do starting with nothing is not somehow the model

In the end, it comes down to player evaluation. So many factors enter into that evaluation: Fit in system Willingness of the player to work at development A kid that will play for the team's best interests regardless of their pay Physical/skill ability Mental toughness of the player when adversity hits Fit for projected role Value for the budget hit Curt Cignetti is very good at many, many things, but evaluation, including all of those factors, is probably his ultimate superpower.

So ... go Marquette!

Top 25 CB out of East St. Louis, IL 247 On3 ESPN

Yes, kids want to play in the NCAA tournament, but the reality is that is not close to the most important thing. If Lamar Wilkerson's main goal was winning the NCAA tournament, he would not have gone to IU. The order of operations, probably looks something like this: 1) How much am I getting paid? (by far most important) 2) How much can the coach develop me so I can get paid at the next level? 3) Am I going to win? Schools having appeal at 1, 2, and 3 are generally going to be highly correlated, but that doesn't mean #3, or even #2, are truly driving decision-making for most kids. But in most instances kids are going to come if we pay them more than other schools, that is just how this works. So again, if we are top 25 in roster spend, we should be able to field a top 25 team in terms of talent. I have no idea if we have an ongoing talent evaluation problem or if circumstances last year were just really difficult (I would lean towards the latter). But if Reed Bailey is making $1.5M and Tucker is making $2M+, which I imagine he is, our ROI is on those players is not very high. Ultimately, I do agree with you that making the tournament is going to be very important to establishing momentum and will help our recruiting.

Since the Olympics are over and baseball hasn't yet started, I just pick some random TV channel for background noise as I work. Just happened to have ESPNU this afternoon. They're showing the "Fab Five" 30-for-30 doc. I've seen it a couple times, and always chuckle when Jalen Rose delivers this line: "As soon as we set foot on campus, we started a revolution." Um, I think you're slightly overestimating your impact and taking yourself a smidge too seriously.

We weren’t going to win the last two no matter what. I’d rather have not been non-competitive both games and had a 50yr record loss at Purdue, but whatever… I think we win easily tonight and everyone feels good about us having control of our own destiny with winnable games left and should make the tourney. If we barely scrape by with a win I think we’re still out of Archie territory and at least in “Mike Woodson…will they or won’t they..” territory.

I'd rather win this game, along with the next two. This season is starting to get a bit too close to Archie Miller territory where it feels like we're limping across the finish line and just trying to survive.

UConn doesn't spend as much as some may think and Purdue may have spent roughly as much if not more on this year's roster than we did. I agree with your second blurb entirely. Just pointing out the above to say, basically, there's a threshold you have to hit to be competitive and IU is definitely above the threshold. "Clout" may cause us to lose out on some top guys, but like you said, there are enough talented players in the portal every year that, with our budget, a top 25 team can and should be fielded. I think that's a lot tougher to do with the situation DDV walked into, but with a year under his belt, next season should be better IMO. I wonder how many spots we try to fill/flip. No doubt many lessons learned since he took this job. Excited to see the year 2 roster. Gotta finish strong now though.

None are a must win until you run out of opportunities for me. So technically it’s not a must win but they would make life easier winning it. Here’s the thing if they lose then Northwestern would jump below 75 so the loss would be Q2. If they won out the rest of the way they would add 2 Q1( one of the road to a bubble team) 1 Q2 so definitely could lose this game and still make it but I wouldn’t recommend that path

It's either because I didn't read the books, or because I watched the series years after it ended, but I feel like one of a very small group of people that didn't really mind the last couple seasons of GOT. It was a little goofy, but still overall enjoyable for me. It certainly didn't ruin my life like it seemed to for the diehards of the series.

I take it he didn't get another judge who is a donor to Alabama. I am so sorry to hear that.

We will be ringing the bell with you soon! Too many of our friends have had chemo/radiation. And yes, this is a 'really gotta have the win' game.

I need to start the second season of The Pitt. That is a show I liked to watch several at a time as it is one continuous hour in a day. My wife is going back to school and doesn't have a lot of time to watch and asked me to wait for Spring Break with her, but I caught her watching it on her phone over the weekend. She said that she couldn't wait. SMH

Money greatly decreases the need for “clout” to build a roster. If you’re top 25 in spending, I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to expect to have a top 25 roster.

The pipeline begins https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/48018176/four-star-qb-gunner-rivers-son-philip-rivers-commits-nc-state-wolfpack-football

He has one job. Assemble a better roster for next year.

I don't get tired of Cig interviews. Here's a new one with Greg who knows him from Alabama. Starts at around 2:30 and goes for about 20 minutes. Some repeat topics, but some new stuff is here and there.

Jared Kelly - Four months after a torn ACL, Lee Beebe Jr. was back deadlifting 500 pounds.

I really feel like this is a huge hire. Maybe the game changer we need to get back on track.

Upgrades are needed. Coach should know it, and he has to go get them. Could be great, if so… After seeing it, I like the potential. Rooting for him

I did not know that Mrs. Cunningham was still alive. Today is her 97th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mrs. C!

Can't flush it quickly enough. Northwestern (11-16) (3-13) and if we can't kick their a$$...............! Wildcats average 74 ppg basically same as their opponents shooting 46% FG and only 32% on 3s. Not a good rebounding team at 32 rpg with a -5 margin. They average just 9 turnovers/game so they're not careless with the ball. Nick Martinelli is their go-to guy averaging 22 ppg on 50% FG and 44% on 3s. He's also their leading rebounder at 6 per game. Arrinten Page, one time IU target, averages 10 ppg on 55% FG and 5 rpg. Tre Singleton, a freshman from Jeffersonville, IN, I've seen mentioned as a possible portal entry. Plays 25 min/game averages 8 ppg on 47% FG but a measly 17% on 3s. Averages 5 rpg. Lose this one and the fat lady probably starts singing. Radio Live Stats

This year could result in a crazy stat. If we win all our games Cig will be the only conference coach to ever have a winning record against all the other schools in the 18 team big ten

2026 season tickets appear to have sold out for new buyers.

That's a questionably based CBS pick that USPS has already addressed. We are not last 4 in right now. That said, yeah, let's get this W

Then we go get players that are good enough from schools that don’t have the money. Kansas and UConn are playing. Teams like Wisconsin, Houston, Purdue, etc aren’t paying what IU has available. I do cut the staff some slack this season because it’s was an entirely new roster. Next year there will be some carryover plus freshmen. So less holes to fill but a bulk of the money available. Let’s see what they do. I’m excited about the new hire to help the roster building as well.

Great point. Without knowing how things would play out, I'd hire Dusty 100%. Though Cigs had a good track record, we had no idea how he'd do in his first P4 job. Or even if he'd like IU/Bloomington. And we had been gawdawful in football forever. There was no real indication he'd get us off our a$$ as quickly and to the extent he did. Now, if this question is pitting Cigs' natty vs. Dusty's potential for one -- that's a no-brainer as well: Cigs six days a week and twice on Sundays.

Are there still key players in the portal,or is the portal even open?

I haven’t watched yet but you will be about the 11th person to recommend it and most said that this last episode was one of the best in the entire saga.

You'll have people sit there with a straight face and tell you this is all legal. I've seen better footwork on my 7 year old's city league squad.