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Xavier Johnson, Tim Priller, Grant Gelon, Jeremiah April, Raphael Smith.

Why was the hire "lucky"? Cig had been sitting there for a number of years and all of P4 CFB missed him. I'm not saying there was no luck, but there was definitely some good judgement. And by the way, when all the big prestigious football programs came calling for Cig, Scott kept him at IU. Not an easy place to keep a top coach in CFB. Cig signed those new contracts faster than any other coach being targeted in the coaching carousel. That was impressive. And lastly, IUFB is actually more or less a top-10 program in player and staff spend in 2026. An incredible transformation.

Schwarbs says greatest U.S. sports moment was ... Hoosiers winning it all! BTW, props to Kyle for a fantastic effort to not let his eyes wander to where all our eyes were wandering!

We need to find players no matter where they are and at varying points in their college career. 2 years of Lamar Wilkerson would have been better than what Myles Rice or Kanaan Carlyle could do. The problem wasn't that we got non P4 guys last year, the problem was that we got the wrong non P4 guys. We need to have a better hit rate on the guys we bring in whether P4 or not.

Not just "Scott kept him at IU." More like, Cig specifically inserted a clause in his new contract that all bets are off if Scott Dolson or Pam Whitten are no longer at IU.

Counter argument. When you only have 1 shot maker it's not that hard to focus your defense on him and make someone else beat you. And when that team has no one else, there's your scoring drought. It was a roster construction/lack of talent issue, not a "Lamar Wilkerson isn't a good enough scorer" issue.

Let's look at this year. 6th Man of the Year: Braden Frager (Homegrown Freshman) Freshman of the year: Keaton Wagler (homegrown Freshman) Defensive Player of Year Aday Mara (UCLA) Player of the year Yaxel Lendeborg - (UAB) First Team: Lendeborg (UAB) Smith (homegrown) Fears (homegrown) Wagler (homegrown) Stirtz (Drake) Second Team: Thornton (homegrown) Sandfort (Iowa) Boyd (FAU/SDSU) Martinelli (homegrown) Wilkerson (Sam Houston) There is P4 sprinkled in there but the majority is either kids recruited directly to the school or really good evaluation on mid major guys who came and made an impact. Yes, go get good P4 guys but we don't need all P4 guys. The problem wasn't that we got mid major dudes, the problem was we got the wrong mid major guys. And from the list, in his infinite wisdom, Mike Woodson f---ed us because he was too lazy and too out of touch to recruit high school freshman.

It feels like Conerway and Alexis could've been utilized more effectively this year and the staff just never got things figured out. That's more concerning to me than the roster construction itself. The path to MM was begging for this team to take it, and we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory down the stretch. Brutal. But it happens. Weird year for sure. Here's to hoping next year is less weird.

Now you are directly contradicting the reasons that Curt Cignetti cited when he insisted that his new IU contract require that Dolson and Whitten remain in place. Cig said it is a necessity because their leadership and support enabled his success, whereas you are inferring that they merely rode Cig’s coattails. As you stated, “This is how elites work.” Our elite head football coach is requiring his elite Athletic Director remain as a documented employment condition.

Yup. Also spent the last 2 years being coached by 1 of the best developmental coaches in the country. At Belmont Alexander developed Malik Dia(15/6 at Ole Miss), Cade Tyson(20/5 at Minny) and Ja’Kobi Gillespie(18/5assts at Tennessee). Not necessarily advocating for Lundblade, probably fair to assume he’ll follow Alexander to K-State, just saying that where they played isn’t necessarily the thing. How well they’ve been coached is the thing.

Don't forget to add in Woody's golfing, I mean recruiting trips for him and his buddies. Nothing but first class for the King and his friends.

This was submitted by her coach at Assumption. Having seen her play I can say in my opinion we're in good shape at point for the next few years.

Wilkerson was surrounded by mid major players that were misses. Think it's a really bad take to say that he couldn't be counted on to score.

It’s a message board man . People have differing opinions and views on things and that’s ok. Love reading responses to my post for or against thought that was the whole point right ? Didn’t know there had to be a community consensus on all topics guess I missed that lol I mean yeah two decent wins in a November tourney and Tucker played well . But that’s in no way an indicator that they would have Big 12 contender over the course of 20 plus games or even been comfortably in the field last year . Robbed or not just like IU this year they were sitting at home this week . I just think people are Taking at face value that we “swung and missed at better assistants” and that why we were “late on the portal” and DDV couldn't build better roster oh ok yeah that’s it . Maybe it is but maybe not. Again not irrational about expectations but it’s never been easier to win 20 games and just make to NCAA tourney at IU I think their was 0 excuses as to why that wasn’t accomplished DDV had more resources and avenues to than any of his predecessors. And trust me the last thing I wanna endure in 1-2 years is another coaching search . Man I’d love to eat crow for all 3 meals next March . Gimme all the hate PMs win or lose I’m not fair weather I’ll watch and discuss regardless .

I just want football season at this point.

hey ya’ll.. Ricky checkin’ in - for one last time.. as most of you know, i am known amongst IUMBB fans as the most reliable insider in the history of the program. today, i post here for the final time. as some of you may know, i am a very close friend of Coach Woodson’s - i’ve told the tales.. his firing has not been easy for me to accept, and as a matter of fact, i’ll set the tone now.. Darian DeVries, you ruined my life.. your son shoots the ball like Jordan Geronimo, and i want you to leave my university at once.. until then, Rick will be but an urban legend.. thank you all for the years of support. - Barrel Rick, 2026 not sponsored

Sad day for me. First time in a while my wife and I won’t be in Dayton for the 1st session and have to watch it on tv. Not happy about it but nothing I can do about it. Cant wait to be in the building tomorrow though. Bright side is I will be able to watch the NIT games on tv tonight along with the First 4 games

Ohio St got a high major transfer this last cycle that late in the season had more fouls than points for the year. Creighton got one of the top high major transfers available last cycle and ended up benching him mid season. There are risks regardless of what level you are getting players from

The variance in high major basketball is enormously large. Duke is a high major. Boston College is also a high major. There are probably 20-30 non-P4 schools chalked full of rosters with players who held zero P4 offers coming out of high school that would beat Boston College by double digits. I don't buy that you automatically have a higher floor because you chose to attend Boston College or DePaul over St. Mary's or San Diego St. Yes there are highly skilled guys who were passed over for P4 basketball because they lack desired size or athleticism just like there are insanely long and athletic guys who were passed over for P4 basketball because they lack an elite level skill set(s). If you put Indiana jerseys on VCU or St. Louis this year, nobody would say the Hoosiers are undersized or lack athleticism despite having a team full of "mid-major" players.

There are innumerable examples of successes and failures. Evaluation, evaluation, evaluation. I'm pretty convinced that CDD can coach em up; now we need excellent evaluation that incorporates Rod Clark and lessons learned.

Joe Tipton - Providence guard Stefan Vaaks plans to enter the @TransferPortal, source told @On3. 

The 6-7 freshman averaged 15.8 points per game this season. Was Big East All-Freshman team. https://www.on3.com/news/providence-guard-stefan-vaaks-plans-to-enter-transfer-portal/

So any team who suffers a 6 minute scoring drought doesn’t have a certified go to scorer? IU had a ton of problems this year, but Wilkerson’s ability to score the basketball wasn’t one of them. Terrible take.

What? Wilkerson was about as efficient as humanly possible without any help. He wasn’t out there scoring 20 points on 25 shots a game. Wilkerson was a stud who would start for any team in the country.

You’re going to run out of money quick if you’re only focusing on high end P4 guys. Reality is that you need class balance, production, mixed with some potential. I don’t want another mid-major all-star team, but I don’t want an entire group of P4 rejects either.

Kellen Pickett, a Blackhawk Christian kid is not what we need at this point and time. Maybe if he’s willing to for 10-13 on the depth chart. But all the things that makes winning hard in the B1G will be an Achilles heel for Pickett. Maybe after another year of development, but even then I have my doubts. I genuinely hope the staff goes heavy 1-10 this season. 11-13 is whatever to me. Pickett would be nice there if that’s a route he is willing to take. We really need some dudes, and so far the rumored names aren’t gonna cut it.

And the cost of cigars.

No disrespect to you or the kid. And before I get this out, I've never seen a second of his game. But if this is the likes of what we'll go after. I'm afraid DDV, won't make it. I'd be happy with looking at this kid as a 11-13 in the rotation option, maybe. No, you know what? I'm tired of losing to NW and MN. Go get us some players and get this ship righted. I'll remain hopeful of DDV seeing some success here because honestly. It's our best option. 43 year hardcore IUBB fan right here. But our program is currently dead, it has no juice. And maybe that's to be blamed on the admin. We've got too many non-Indiana/Midwest kids and that's another big reason for the lower attendance? I'd like to see a study on this actually but maybe I'm a nerd now

Delivering

I don’t the right answer but there is going to be failures regardless of where you get your players. Low major to high major, mid major to high major and High major to high major. Every one of them is going to have failures and success stories. Just got to hope the staff evaluate and chose wisely.

I imagine there are gonna be a fair number of coaches who think that way, at least for a while. And it feels like it could create a situation where HS kids with HM talent but who aren’t necessarily considered ready to play big minutes on teams with high expectations, kids perceived as 50-100 prospects, could become somewhat undervalued assets for programs willing and able to to develop along more conventional lines. Kind of like DDV’s ‘26 class. I just think building through the portal on a more than supplemental basis year in/year out is gonna be tough because you’re gonna be paying top of the market on every kid every time.

For every success you can point to, how many "failures" are there? That's all I am asking to be considered. It's a risk. The IU experience has been pretty dismal. Carr will have a job to do.

But in today's world, a coach can spend a year really working to develop a player and then the following year the player bolts for the bigger buck. And yes, coaches definitely want to win but it's a what did you do for me today environment. Hypothetically let's assume Ristic, Drake, Harris and Acimovich all bail. What's the benefit to IU in having spent a year developing them and collectively we got 31 minutes of court time from them?

Almost all of our high dollar guys were. We got some filler on the back end, but it’s kind of up in the air if those guys can even meaningfully contribute. Maybe we’ll get one starter out of it. We have so much filler nobody even really knows who might or should come back. If we go into next year with 2 of Sisley/Dorn/Miles/Harris starting, I’d bet we’ll be in trouble. Maybe Dolson meant something else but that’s how interpreted it.

On the bright side, for those that don’t like all the portal-ing, this is a good thing. Locks up players on to a team. I think one year deals are most common, but there are some multi-year ones. And these contracts are getting hard to break.

thing is imo you glossed over "for assembling ... quickly under difficult circumstances...." That was the situation, late hire, complete rebuild, zero assistants on staff to start. Yes, it was a temporary fix, for those reasons.

Then I guess that high-major players are high-major players, is that correct? Your issue is you seem to think a finding a mid-major player who can play at the high-major level is like winning the Power Ball. It's simply not true.

So what makes you think a failed P4 player is suddenly going to become a good player at Indiana? Guys are misevaluated out of high school all the time, and not just in basketball either, look at our own football team for crying out loud. I don't know how you can watch college basketball these days and not understand this? There are former mid-majors littered all over P4 rosters. Some bad, some just ok, some all-conference caliber, and some are the best players in the entire country. Would be utterly foolish not to entertain a 22-23 year old who may have been misevaluated out of high school.

There were exactly 5 players on the Big Ten first through third teams that had transferred into the conference. Every single one of them transferred from mid or low majors. That's not confirmation bias. This is what can be said: high major talent putting up the same stats as a mid major talent will show that the high major talent is much more likely to be a better player. But the truth is that their are going to be many more mid major players putting up good stats -- that's the nature of the beast. High major guys who are important to their team are mostly retained. So writing off mid major players just because they are mid major players limits your options unnecessarily. It's where scouting comes in.

At this point, just win (consistently) baby.

However we build it, and everyone will have an opinion on what the best strategy is...I just want to get to a place where we have some semblance of roster stability year to year. Good mix of high school kids, multi year and development guys, and single year players here and there where it makes sense. I think that is what Carr hit on, during his interview...and mentioned it may take a few years to build that structure. Maybe that isn't the formula anymore, but the huge roster turnover every season doesn't seem to be the ticket IMO.

I think ultimately what you're saying is we need a slasher that can get to the rim during a drought. I do agree with that and saying that wasn't Wilkerson's game and that he was and is a good scorer can both be true. I thought that's what Conerway's role was going to be coming into this season and we probably would have won the first Northwestern game at least if he didn't get buried on the bench. Weird year.

Yeah we will totally have to add some upperclassmen but I am hoping that we sprinkle in a few guys who have more time. I think you try and go like 75% home grown and 25% portal for your team if you can (eventually, I don't think that will be possible in a year or two). We need to start building some kind of identity though. Some culture. Cignetti came and did that on Day One I feel. I don't think Devries did. What even is Indiana Basketball anymore? I don't think you can build that long term with a bunch of one year rentals.

You won't be able to afford 10 all stars nor will you keep them all. The kid was the Horizon league Freshman of the Year. 10 it's, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks in conference as a Freshman. Yeah, go grab the dude for spot 10-13 right now and develop him. That is exactly what I am saying. You just wrote off an Indiana kid who has shown some ability (granted in a lesser league but he was voted the best Freshman in that league) and are arguing to keep doing things like we have been doing. Woodson went out and bought a P5 team of mercenaries who didn't give a flying f--- about Indiana. We are definitely going to have to do some of that again next year but at some point you need to start developing depth and not relying on 1 year mercenaries. I bet you could get the Freshman of the year in the Horizon League who happens to be from Indiana for pretty cheap AND he has 3 years to grow on your bench. Having a Jarrad Odle on your team can pay off even if he is sitting behind Jared Jefferies and Jeff Newton most of the time (as an example).

It’s going to be a long offseason. Ultimately people will see what they want to see. Look at that kid above from Belmont: -He’s played in the MVC just like Tucker. -He’s conf player of the year just like Conerway. -He’s a big guard who shot 40% from 3 on high volume just like Wilkerson.

Sweeping all the honors.

TJD Juwan Lamar Ware JHS That's rough, especially considering that the ten years preceding that would be: Yogi Cody Vic Eric G DJ In other words, Trayce is the only player in the past ten years that was up to the standard of the best from the previous ten years.

Thankfully someone was there to help Rabjohns out. However you want to spread the buyout money out determines if IU is first or like 3rd on the list. I’m sure people think it doesn’t matter, but money is finite. Devries tried to poach a couple high profile assistants and couldn’t outbid their current schools. The budget numbers matter in that context and in other ways too. The flip side is football where the expanding bottom line allowed them to not only keep Cig but two very highly paid coordinators.

Or he doesn’t care. I don’t care how much they spend. Just get the job done. People are going to complain no matter what. I’m more about them fixing the issues than how much money from other people they spent.

It’s what matters most to the success of an athletic department. I’m not an IU football fan and would rather all football nil go to basketball but that’s never happening. He has done a great job with the athletic department and things are looking up in basketball as far as structure goes. If they nail this portal window then we are looking good. But we won’t know until this November/December how the portal actually went.