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Congrats to the young man. Another high caliber kid entering the program.

Or 71.

No matter how much we love basketball, academics are more important and lead to a productive and successful future. Congratulations, C J Gunn!

He already is 6'4 with a 6'10 wingspan

He wants you to know that Illinois' struggles aren't his fault. It's the player's fault. In fact, Beilema noticed how bad they were almost a year ago. That's how insightful he is. Definitely not his fault. I love it when Illinois sports are a mess

*succinctly identifies why Purdue was not an option.

To me it is us or VT for Clowney and I think he will be wearing the candy stripes.

Really? Nice. That forces me to take another look at Stephon Castle. He’s always listed at 6’5”, but in the fall league games of theirs I watched he had a full 2” on Newton. Their HS team is gonna be must see tv this winter.

Evansville is not good at anything. They don't score hardly as mentioned above and give up well over two goals a game. This better be over early and bench emptied in second half like against Trine. After tonight it gets more interesting with opportunities for huge wins. First we need to take care of Wisconsin who is the most bi-polar team in Big Ten. They started the year horrific, with a loss to Green Bay who has beaten no other team this season besides the Badgers. They then played pretty well and looked like they would be contender in the Big Ten. However, last two games they have reverted to early season form and got dominated last night by a Northwestern team who is the worst in the Big Ten. In other words looks like hopefully we are catching Wiscy at right time. Then it's VCU and Maryland who are legit and probably two of the five hardest games we have this year (along with PSU, Akron and Notre Dame). However, with both teams having RPI's in the 20's this is a huge opportunity to move up our seeding in NCAA Tournament (we don't lose to Evansville, we are making the NCAA's even if we lose last four with our resume). Right now we have an RPI of 18 and are a fringe seeded team which includes a bye and a second round home game. I would like to get that closer to 10 which guarantees that bye and moves us closer to second round home game as well. We are almost always seeded higher than our RPI, due to our history and schedule, so if we can get just get the RPI to somewhere between 10-15 we should get two home games and a top 8 seed (top 20 should get us seeded for one home game and bye). I don't see any way we can get a top 4 seed and home games all the way to college cup though but at least an upset is possible then and maybe you can draw ND or UK as the top 4 team so it is a short drive for Elite 8 if bracket plays to from. They do try to seed regionally.

Low end Marcus Bingham and maybe Jaren Jackson if he reaches full potential but he is ranked around 104 currently so let's not get super crazy with player comps.

Well ... let's start with Marcus Bingham and work from there.

Official visit starts today

https://mobile.twitter.com/WCIA3Bret/status/1450202041188589578 Turns out that Bret Bielema is a complete creep. Who knew?

https://247sports.com/college/indiana/Article/Jakai-Newton-Covington-Indiana-basketball-recruiting-official-visit-173373015/ Of the interviews he’s given, this one with Rabby is probably the gushiest. Seemed pretty blown away that fans were cheering him at the football game. This fan base never misses a chance to make an impression.

Dickie V has lymphoma at age 82. High cure rate but still very dangerous at his age. Prayers for Dickie V! He’s a quality person who’s done a lot of good for a whole lot of people.

Florida--likely out Bama -- puncher's chance with a great visit this weekend - 15% VT -- even their 'insider' mod is starting to lean IU - 25% IU -- When the recruit's mama starts liking Jakai Newton new recruit posts a month after Noah's OV, I start to believe more and more -- 60%

Just saw him and the coaches, while my wife and I were on a walk around campus. Looks every bit of 6’3”. He was there with his whole family. We said “Welcome to IU” and we got big smiles and thanks from all of them.

Nothing to do w reunion, but still very cool! (And, if you’re not going to the Port Hole, you’re missing out on great food and music!)

Yup. Given his age and present athleticism, it’s really easy to see him sprout to about 6’4” and show up at some EYBL event next spring looking like the 2nd coming of Russell Westbrook and he just gets buried in offers. Better to lock him up and call it a day.

Hopefully the ladies could live up to expectations unlike our Football team. Can’t wait to watch.

I am hoping Kyrie holds out. I am hoping a lot of these players do. Bradley Beal, Jonathan Isaac, Michael Porter Jr. It is rare to get essentially celebrities to go against the grain like they are.

Yup. Kiffin to FIU. Mike Leach to Washington State. Gruden will be coaching college within a year and a half.

Great work @Mike Schumann, I always appreciate your ability to quickly establish rapport with these young men. Fascinating to hear how our 'peer group' for recruits has evolved over the past 6 months with CMW and staff coming on board, consistently hearing Alabama, Va Tech, Georgia, Georgia Tech, etc. is a swift departure from the days of Miller's 'inside out' approach.

You guys will like this. From Brooks Cupps’ book on leadership: Gabe Cupps (Brook’s son) entered the conversation for a few minutes… Gabe sent a text to each player on the team before tournament games that simply said, “We’re gonna win.” Where does that confidence come from? “It’s the work put in leading up to the big moments.” Gabe originally tried out for the North Coast Blue Chips AAU team… The same team that Bronny James (LeBron James Jr) played on… During a break in the action, he asked Bronny to play 1 on 1… “I didn’t know how good I was. I wanted to see.” Gabe earned their respect and made the team… Later LeBron noticed Brook’s coaching ability when he was helping out at practice and determined he was the best coach to lead the team moving forward. LeBron’s superpower as a leader is “gassing up his guys.” He has the ability to create more belief in others through his belief in them. A critical leadership action where LeBron excels… What did Brook and Gabe say to each other during their long embrace after winning the state championship? “I just told him how much I loved him.” https://learningleader.com/bc/

It's going to be so hard to tell in advance anymore because with the transfer portal we never know who is actually going to be on the team from one season to the next. Without having to sit a year, there's a much greater chance for players to transfer in or out. The scholarship grid is a nice tool, but the accuracy is pretty much out the window.