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What’s crazy is that we are in a place in which IU fans feel disrespected because we are being picked 3rd in the Big Ten ahead of Michigan, PSU, USC etc .. THANK YOU COACH CIG !!

Last year we went with a true money ball approach and none of us were happy with the result. This time around they've kind of done a 180 and decided to spend heavy at the top. Seems like a staff still figuring things out. I appreciate the willingness to pivot when it's needed. We will see how the execution plays out this time around. Hopefully the net result of this year is we have a good core of returners next year and can use the portal to add a couple big time difference makers.

Come on. We're borderline top-10 roster spend in CFB and something like #7-10 in MBB. BY FAR the main driver of revenue for an athletic dept is the football stadium. And ours is about half the size of the big boys, a HUGE disadvantage. Yet our roster spend in FB and MBB is right there with the biggest athletic depts. That's thanks to our donors. We are giving basketball plenty of money, especially for how much they've stunk. Sometimes I worry we're giving MBB too much money... send it to Cig? We need the damn staff to use it wisely. Depth is only going to come from scouting/development/retention -- IU along with almost every other school cannot buy it. We'll see if this staff can do it. I'm worried, but it's possible they figure it out.

Just got back from NY………. Ladies and Gentlemen the New York Knicks are NBA champiiiiiiiiiiiiooooooooooooooons. what a team.

I totally get the gripes with the roster but this is just not the case. By all reports our basketball spend is close to $20M this year and our national champion football team also has a player payroll that's among the highest in the nation. There's plenty of money available, the coaches just need to use it effectively. Dolson and the AD seem to have done a good job of monetizing the football success and investing in the fledgling flagship program that is IUBB. We play in Peru in about a month. And IUFB will be here before we know it. Super excited for that.

Maybe... We agree on some of this; I have a general opinion that if we believe that PAlex Moody is an instant rotation player, we could have spent on an experienced backup big rather than Harris or Lindsay. But my opinion is just that, and I'm sane enough to understand that I have MUCH less information than the staff about the development of Sisley, the potential of Sokolov, and the ability of Moody, Karvala, and Manherz to contribute immediately. It will be interesting to find out. We will be in a position of having experienced/well-regarded depth if we have an injury at the 1-3 spots, but at the cost of depth on the front line. Finally, I am well-aware that it is really hard and expensive to build a ranked-team roster when the current staff has no record of P4 winning and no NBA development examples to feature, and the 20 year history of the program has been lousy. That puts stress on the budget and means that there were going to be roster gaps that we need to roll the dice on.

On top of that Cig has a reputation as a QB whisperer—the most important position in sports. So for the 3rd year in a row he’s had no problem going out and getting either the top guy and/or the guy he wants. That’s a crazy luxury.

^^Now THIS I can get behind.^^ We kinda screwed ourselves with the roster construction from last year. Should have taken our lumps with more developmental players so that we didn't need to start from scratch for the second consecutive year. However, we were not going to be in a position to bring in a viable freshman class going into last year. I'm not thinking any part of the solution was to bring back Dorn or Harris - neither impressed me. But pretty much none of our featured players had more than one year of eligibility remaining. That was a big mistake.

Yep. Cig & Co are great scouts, player developers, and retainers. That's how they spent ~$22M on the roster and beat all these programs spending $35-40M. Most amazing thing I've ever seen.

I get the roster concerns people have. TBD, but valid. I really think the problem was how expensive the portal is and how much we had to use it again in season two. Below is how programs make their roster budget go far: 1) Scouting: This is an extreme example, but Wagler as a #140+ ranked high school kid was probably ~$500K last year (before he blew up and got other deals Illinois didn't have to pay for). What a steal for Illinois -- his real value was closer to something like $4M. 2) Development: A 5ppg player is on a cheap deal. Turn them into a 10ppg material contributor and they're still on the same cheap deal for the rest of the year (sometimes two years). 3) Retention: A happy player in a great situation won't hit the portal for $1 more. For most, it will take several hundred thousand more to hit the portal and risk a good thing. So, retaining players is quite a bit cheaper than getting them from the portal. In season one, we did very little of the above. Not good and really put us in a bad spot. On top of the portal being expensive, IU's recent struggles mean we don't have much to offer but money. We aren't a title contending NBA factory. So, all that means our $18-20M budget couldn't go very far and we've still got roster questions. Also, there is a chance we could have made some player selection errors on top of that. I'm not sure... hard to tell. TBD. Anyways, we need to get on the track of doing a good job with scouting/dev/retention. Without that we have no chance, even if you give the staff top-10 money for the roster each year.

Doesn't UGA have to win once in a while to consider it a rivalry?

Somebody at IU had to have looked at Anderson, and decided: "This player has potential, and might be able to contribute to our team". Colsten, or CTM, or someone made that assessment.

I figured it was either 1) a lifelong dream to play for a crappy 4 win team in East Lansing MI or 2) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The Iowa football player banned for betting on a women’s basketball game. Or was volleyball? Is the clearest sign you never self report. Self reporting gets you harsher punishment when it should be the other was around.

Music to my ears.

And the same handwringing and speculation. We’ll get to see some international play soon, we got some good players, we’ll see how they shake out I don’t see the point of constant handwringing and complaining but it’s a message board so that’s what it is. DeVries and staff just missed the tourney with a much weaker roster, I’m looking forward to making the tourney again and building a team with the multiple underclassmen we now have. It’s up to staff to get us there, if they don’t there will be pitch forks, and they know that.

Does it ever get exhausting having thE same conversation every few days?

There’s so much consternation about the middle and back of the rotation, I’m surprised there hasn’t been more questions about the top. My issues would be two-fold: 1) Burton and Sherrell have some fairly big question marks for your two top money guys, and 2) we’re clearly going to play a lot of mins (~50%) with a two big lineup with a coach who has never done that before. I worry more about the Burton/Sherrel (and to a lesser extent Yigi) combo not producing anything substantial than I do if one the freshman will contribute 10mpg or not.

FYI. He noted he might be in an upcoming commercial (Aflac?). He also said the high school recruiting market is red hot.

Stu, you've made some excellent points. The truth is that right now, IU doesn't have an inherent advantage over other programs. The lack of success in the basketball program will continue until IU gets a GREAT, and I mean, GREAT coach. Someone who can coach up the players he has to get them to overachieve a little bit. It has to be a Cig type of situation. You have to have success and then you get players to come. This is why I would've gone hard after McCollum when IU was hiring. I have no idea if he is going to be a huge success at Iowa or not. But, as an Xs and Os guy, he was probably the best coach IU had any chance with when they were hiring. I hope, DD is/can be that the kind of coach who can elevate teams.

I care what you think!

Texas, USC likely better rosters on paper. Similar spending. Similar rosters with less spending. Maryland, Villanova, Miami. We spent big to secure our top 6. They see that and Sisley as top 7. I don’t think many have issues with that. Add a starting level 4 and some bench depth with a pulse and it everything changes. If one of Burton, Sherrill, Yigi go down we fall off a cliff. I like the idea of the top end but I’m not high on our freshman outside of PAM being ready in year 1. If I were, that changes a lot.

100% agree. And on top of that we didn't win much with all those one-year left seniors. Painful. As for who the staff let go and brought in... I get your point. I don't know until the season plays out. I get the concerns.

The staff has nobody to blame but themselves for points 2 and 3. There was very little to develop because the staff went senior heavy year 1 and with what little underclassmen they brough in, they ran them off after the season. I still want to know what Darren Harris does that Nick Dorn can't do, and for half the cost. Does the staff think someone like Trevor Manhertz is more ready next year than Josh Harris?

I think it's more than fair to say there's a lot of question marks with the roster and program heading into Y2. Even so, we should have more P5 talent and size on this roster, so I'm content to wait and see how they do. Plenty of good reasons to be skeptical which have been covered at length already. For me, as long as Cig is here, it will be more enjoyable to focus on and enjoy IUFB in the offseasons.

IF that is the case, it wasn't spent very wisely. A $20M roster shouldn't have this many glaring holes and weaknesses. 3 point shooting is minimal and the lack of depth is a complete mystery. I don't understand the approach if we truly had that much money.

Monshun Sales isn't a take then? LSU has a lot of pull, regardless of who the coach is. Especially for kids from the South.

Being generous. We pretty much punted on spots 6-13. Sisley and Harris being 6th and 7th men don't inspire much confidence. Really wish with a GM who got a head start on the portal that we'd moneyball some production off the bench. Instead, we're relying on true freshman and guys who have gotten minimal run. Could have a few break out guys, could have none...big risk.

Some schools have self-reported for less, didn't ya, Rick Greenspan?

Watched 1 of his OTE games last year, a soul sucking experience every time. The “analyst”, in the spirit of ridiculous OTE overhyping, compared Jenkins to Karl Malone. Putting aside that’s a really bad comp, the guy calling the game with him, obviously a top shelf ball knower, DID NOT KNOW WHO HE WAS. Laughed and laughed.

CB from Grimsley High School in Greensboro, NC. 247 ON3 HUDL

Can honestly say that in both football and basketball if a kid is interested LSU I am not interested in them.

Committed to LSU today.

I’m sure this won’t impact their player rankings going forward in any way, shape or form.

He does seem to have some blinders on and unable to see the forest for the trees. Hopefully the Big 12 conference humbled him a bit but in my experience this type of person doesn't understand the word humble. I will not be surprised if we see some sort of retaliation to members of the conference. I'm thinking he has Cincinnati marked with a bullseye.

It can be argued the Big 12 saved college football, for now. A "well oiled machine" (pun intended) stacking evidence, calling TTU's bluff, and ready to execute the rules established to not only the football program but the entire athletic department. Most importantly, it showed that the conference is bigger than some oil tycoon billionaire Chairman of the Board. And here's the thing, when the dust settles, TTU has a really good chance to win the conference. They never really needed Sorsby to begin with.

6'2" QB that was on Valpo's roster last season. From Brownsburg https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/5300251/iosua-stephens

Most likely a day late and a dollar short. Kinda to bad though because we have the recipe for something special minus a crucial component. Put the eggs in the basket of development and hope it comes true.

CTC is everywhere

OG Anunoby. Champion.

Another great video from IUFB.

Was watching at a bar in Chicago last night and it went wild when OG’s shot went in. I’m not sure there was a single person rooting for the Spurs. Small sample size, but I think you’re dead wrong. They haven’t won enough for people to hate them.

Wow. Just wow. For the Glory of...

That was the wildest **** I have ever seen. OG is the king of New York