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Thanks coach and team. Never thought I’d have this photo op

No. He needs to make a splash by winning lots of basketball games, including high-profile games. Woody made a splash with box office recruits and portal gets, and the fan base didn't give a **** because it didn't enable winning. Get a bunch of no-names and curb stomp Kentucky on national tv this fall and all will be well in a big hurry.

Wouldn’t even consider it. Not even close. Way too many vagaries in CBB to throw that much jack at a single player for 1 year. IF AJ Dybantsa, who’s a legit star, can’t get you out of the 64 what exactly is Flory Bidunga guaranteeing you for a third of your budget?

I don’t get how our fans can be frustrated money wise. The IUFB roster is top-10 or close to it, which is insane, and IUBB is #10-15. We aren’t the biggest athletic dept and we have a 55K seat football stadium. What more do people want? This is enough. In fact it’s pretty damn good. Our issues are mostly with the bball coaches performance (scouting) not resources. Also, I think UK is inflating their numbers. Imo the biggest CBB spenders are mid-teens.

imo, you don’t go for bidunga…..especially since he is testing NBA waters. You would have to keep a huge chunk of money aside while waiting.

He isn't worth that number.

100%. I’m confident that most of school budget numbers we’re hearing are probably at least in the ballpark but the player expectations are agent driven nonsense

Some will be immediately disappointed with the roster we assemble. Some will wait to see how that roster performs.

Per the Hoosier Huddle, Kevontay Hugan is back on the active roster! In terms of what happened, the case is still no one knows. If I had to guess, the player accepted "the standard," or at least will try to. Hopefully it all works out...

Just an inkling, no inside info whatsoever, just based off of online chatter, but I feel like we’re going to get the two ND players and Fru. Wouldn’t be a terrible start.

We hired Carr to evaluate talent and manage a budget. Let him earn his money. Iowa did more with less $$. We will have to spend wisely considering we need an entire starting 5 plus a few bench pieces. I really think many may be disappointed with the roster we end up with again. My hope is that Carr identifies the guys we can afford that are team buy in guys that can compete in the B1G and make the tournament. This portal can’t open up fast enough.

By we you really mean you people shouldn’t be shocked once Pandora’s box was opened other schools besides the “basketball” schools would take advantage of the rules in place. I’m guessing St Louis is a school some are losing their minds that they are spending the same as IU. @Hovadipogave the link to the guy that’s funding everything. He kept the hottest name in coaching from jumping to a Power 5 job and staying in the A-10. New world. Hopefully IUs billionaires decide to follow suit

Sweet. Raise some damn awareness of IUBB history! Also, undefeated national champs in the two major sports. There is only one (1).

Mormon-ey more problems…am I right

We better be willing to pay more. If schools like St Louis are paying 10-12 we will never separate ourselves. We’d be keeping up with the jones’. Gotta, at some point, separate. I’m not saying pay Haralson 4. On its face it all sounds ridiculous. But we will need to overspend in several spots if we are trying to rise towards the top. If 12 is our Max, we’ll get some guys but it’ll spend quickly. Id rather pay Bidunga top NIL money or someone like that. I do love Haralson though.

First I don’t think the asking price is nearly that high but 16 points a game in the ACC as a freshman isn’t proven production. He’s only going to get better as a sophomore. Yeah he didn’t shoot the 3 well but neither did Enright, Conerway, and even Dorn for long stretches. He’s a take for me with what I have seen in the portal.

ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, a former NFL player and executive, likes our boy Fernando ...

He Mustaf wanted a change of scenery after one year in Atlanta. I won’t stop until this guy runs out of eligibility.

DeVries, Ill forgive you for last year if you can shove Sampson into a locker on this one.

Sounds like trilly said it’s currently us vs Houston for Markus Burton.

That top 5 part is way off, Rabby said. That guy has been really low on what he says teams spend. He tried to say that ILL only spent 8 million this year.

Rumor is Kansas offered 3 million, and he told them it would take 4-4.5. I don't think we can get to that number

Amen to that It was a 2 hour wait in line, worth every second of it. Was really nice to see that size of a turnout right here in the heart of Domer country lol.

I'd guess it's #10-15 in the country, with #7 to #20 all being within a few million of each other. We've just got to scout well and effectively pitch the guys we want to put this money to good use. If we can't do that, it's pointless to give this staff more money, we would pull a '25-26 Kentucky. And we don't have unlimited money at IU... If we can show some traction and make the tourney, the money will go up. Just like it did with football. Especially if we make a S16 or something.

If it's $12M that is pretty good -- up about 20% from last season. Especially for a program that's done diddly poo for a decade. If we can't put together a solid team with that much money we're toast no matter how much we spend.

There are some worrying explanations for that and some comforting explanations: Worrying? This staff is not good at evaluations This staff cannot develop the guys that they evaluate After last year, the staff will not have enough of a track record to effectively pitch to priority recruits Comforting? The staff didn't have enough time to build a plan and a pitch for the guys they really wanted The staff put evaluation responsibilities in the hands of certain staff, when other staff should have been and are now the primary decision makers Hiring the two Carrs significantly boosts our evaluation abilities The staff now has a better idea of what will succeed at this level

Really good discussion. I think that teams like Michigan and UConn crushed last year's portal in retrospect. They got a home town discount on select retentions, and identified players like Mara, Morez, and Demary. They now get a discount on the highest price players because those players see the path to NBA success through their programs and can save money on the top tier signees. Just like Cignetti. And like Cignetti, Dusty May and Hurley will continue to identify mid-priced gems because they are that smart and that good. Whereas IU overpaid and misidentified last year. So IU needs to develop players like Sisley, the three freshmen, and some mid signees to get that discount and not have to overpay going forward.

I'm not going to pretend to know much about Fru, but I am just not sure how many other realistic options there are out there. The "Big" market is going to be insane this off-season, and almost every team is going to have to "overpay" to an extent. IU needs at least 2 centers, and it seems like Fru is a very solid option to take one of those spots.

Juke Harris gonna get a big payday.

@oldfart was right. good for AZ and lol at UNC

The problem is that IUs billionaires also have to support a National Title contending football program. Sometimes it comes down to where the greatest value is determined to be.

16-0

I think we can go a little above that, but not much.

I don't follow much sports on X, but ND seems to be taking our natty the hardest. As in they're very butthurt. As we know, ND has been doing all they can to win another championship since their last one in 1988. Like, maximum institutional effort, and their fans identities include being THE football school in Indiana. To have IU of all teams go 16-0 +479 point diff champs while they decline the Pop-Tarts Bowl was an all time gut punch. It's so damn funny. One thing I'd really really like to happen for '26 is ND not winning it all. They have a very good looking team obviously that could go undefeated with a Heisman and all that. If they can't win it this season, they will not get much relief from what's happening in Bloomington.

'76 undefeated national championship team will be honored Monday night at halftime of this year's championship game.

IU spent more money on their roster than UConn (by a couple million I would guess) and was in the relative ballpark of Michigan. UConn essentially added one big piece in Demery from the portal and hit well on Mullins who took less money to go to UConn. Michigan had a nice core of players on the roster and they were able to go all-in on Yaxel and absolutely crushed their evaluations of Cadeau, Johnson, and Mara, the latter two whom were <20 mpg guys at their old programs. The production from that trio far exceeded their value. IU overpaid for a bunch of guys that ended up being duds. Simple as that. Player evaluation is a far bigger concern of mine than it is spending. IU has enough to be more than competitive this year, if not downright good. How they spend and who they spend it on will make the difference.

Dusty said as much in a presser yesterday. The recruits are now doing homework on them, not the other way around. They’ve built a brand of success and helping guys develop, and done it quickly. Yaxel said he could have had way more at UK. Can DDv build a brand that attracts top-level talent for more than just money? Year 1 didn’t inspire any confidence

Johnson was nowhere close to $3-4 million. Not even in the ballpark. Nonsense. Who did UConn pay high dollar to from the portal this year? Silas Demery is their only high impact transfer this year and he’s not sniffing $3-4 million. Texas Tech didn’t either. Atwell, Watts, etc all moneyball value finds in the portal. Not to mention 80% of the teams you listed failed to make the 2nd weekend if they even made the tournament at all. Spend wisely, not blindly. We spent a bunch of money on the wrong guys, that’s the problem.

Says who? Kentucky spent $22mil and was lucky to survive the first round. IU isn’t going to have anywhere close to a $20mil payroll next year no matter how much you want to speak it into existence. IU needs to spend wisely, not blindly.

I also hope our Euro scout is MUCH improved. I’d like to spend money there. I think the value can be huge for shooting/size/experience. I’d love to throw some real money at a projectable NBA talent from Europe. Like Hannes Steinbach from Washington. Find a clone of that guy and PAY him.

If Flory can be Kory, then Fru should be:

Not reporting to your boss is a baller move. I endorse.

It’s funny to watch college fans freak out about all the fake numbers agents float. Been a thing in the pros forever but you eventually learn the real numbers. In college you don’t do so people just go on believing whatever rumor agents float to the media. Most of the media are happy to do it to because that’s how they get “breaking news.”

IU had the money to beat out UK for Wilkerson. Had the money for Bailey to beat out UNC, Texas, and a few other suitors. Conerway had a ton of SEC offers. DeVries wasn't cheap. IU has the money to spend, but with the exception of Wilkerson, the wrong guys were identified.

I too would like Jacobsen’s potential if coached by Dusty May

Not at all, calling it like I see it. Doesn't absolve them from some of their player evaluations...just paints a better picture. If we're in this same boat next year, it may be time to have that conversation. But with a full year of scouting and a continued staff and roster I don't think that will be the case.

Tucker DeVries was the piano

Hmm. Things are getting spicier, that’s for sure. I’ll go on record I love Haralson and his potential. His positional size, athetlcitism, toolkit, and versatility and not to mention his capability to be a ++ defender goes a long way for me. Shooting concerns me a bit, but we need/want 3 shooters on the floor. 2 is ok if elite, 3 preferred. Thats where roster makeup and team building comes in.