Stuhoo

Big time P4 schools would be very interested if Leal was willing to start the year as a 10th-12th man IMO. Two years in a row he played his way into the rotation from that original expectation.

GiganticEnormous

Northwestern has much more difficult classes! :)

Okay ... then Kenny has the long-standing relationship; either with the player, the agent, or the AAU program. This. Is. Good.

Why? Because we don't have a "fatal flaw." Some are judging the roster as if there needs to be certain pieces of certain sizes and profiles that fill certain criteria for the roster to be effective. If we have a dominant defensive post? That's just another tool in the kit, but every time we insert one type of player we remove the skill set of a guy like Bailey from the lineup. Winning happens when a staff instills: a culture, work ethic, a coherent scheme, and then recruits effectively to that culture, work ethic, and scheme. Will Darian Devries do the actual things that affect winning? Hell if I know - but he did so in a major way at Drake and to a solid extent in his year at WVU. If we instill a culture, work ethic, and effective scheme, opposing coaches will most certainly not be salivating at the thought of playing against our posts. In Edey's second year, St. Peters ended Purdump's season with a couple of 6'8" guys guarding Edey. In his junior (national player of the year) year, Farleigh Dickinson had a 6'7" post guarding him. Both of those teams adjusted on the defensive end and Edey couldn't effectively guard their posts on the spread out offensive end. Toughness, proper defensive principles, defensive scheme, making us hard to guard. That's what will win if we don't have a dominant defensive post.

Not if Rod Clark has already been the lead recruiter for them. Gonna assume that it is no coincidence that these two kids tweeted their gratefulness at IU offers within days of Coach Clark's announcement.

Two competing concepts: Top 75 recruits, which Trent Sisley is, rarely if ever redshirt. Pretty much every player that is not going to the NBA wants to extend college NIL years as long as possible; that's where the money currently is above and beyond a proven star in Europe.

Did they order the Dante's Inferno pizza? If not, I am not sold that this has been a good hire.

It’s very likely because Devries knows a whole bunch-o-stuff that we do not know.

Sure—valid concern. But not only am I not concerned, I think he’s a very smart, hardworking guy who was fully supporting his then coach, completely ‘gets’ that there was disfunction (hell, he experienced it first hand) and would be a great culture piece at the end of the bench for the new guys. That is my opinion.

Lots of discussions about quality of life in various places. Here’s a thread to discuss.

Sure! But those posts certainly are not about how he could help as a basketball player; very much (to varying degrees) about how he would effect team culture.

I detect more than a hint of bitterness in the ten posts by six different people I quoted above yours. ;) It’s all good—different opinions; but some animosity towards Leal that extends beyond his bball skills? Yes.

I watched an NBA playoff game Friday night. One team’s starting lineup went: 6’6”, 6’7”, 6’4”, 6’2”, 6’2”. And that lineup had only two shooters that were crushingly incredible outside shooters. All five were guys that had to be guarded at the three point line though.

Is he gonna play as freshman? Of course we don’t know right now, but I would expect him to be a 4 defensively and that would give us the extra big people are pining for. Bailey, Alexis, and Harris at the 5 and Devries, Sisley, Bailey at the 4 could be a thing.

We really needed a slot guy after our UM transfer’s ACL tear. So good on us!

Here’s what he brings: Leadership Maturity Connections to the state, the town, the boosters, the athletic department, the student population, and the league. Finally? He brings good defense with low turnovers if he plays some.

First problem with that projection is that we are guaranteed to play more than 31 games.

Devries is very much echoing the Cignetti model: Get really productive mid-major kids and rely on ability to evaluate talent in deciding which one’s success will translate to P5 ball. With outstanding evaluation and development, that can be a fantastic strategy; however, there is no guarantee. If evaluation isn’t on point, you’re stuck with a lot of guys that aren’t good enough to succeed in power five ball.

Not the first time it happened …

During that era I was in my late 20's and received annual physicals for work, and it was standard.

That was at IU under Archie. At Providence and away from Archie's offense he suddenly got pretty good! ;)

I'm a big Al Durham fan. If he had eligibility he'd be a 100% yes too.

Leal is a 100% (and then some) yes for me. Doesn't expect to necessarily play. Will defend and not get nervous if/when he plays. One of the few truly positive culture influences of the past few years. Works his @$$ off. Plays for IU, not money bag or a pro career. Eats up minimal to none of the NIL budget. Someone on the team that actually already has a relationship with boosters, the university, and the community. If we don't want a bunch of mercenaries, it'd be damn nice to actually have a player that knows where Mother Bear's and Buffalouie's are. He's a very bright young guy. You think he didn't understand the reality of Woody's real limitations? Yeesh; of course he did. Far better than anyone on this board. Better than anyone in university administration. Hell, him and Gallo understood better than anyone else on the team. Luke Goode is more likely to log significant minutes, but Anthony Leal would be an excellent addition.

Whoa. Wow.