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I think that is obvious to 95% if not more. However frustrating many of us were we were also expecting all the core players to leave and the staff to recruit a bunch of 1 year mercenaries. Now we see that the core came back and a lot of our targets are multi year players. Does this translate into a top 10 team, probably not but it is also not the dumpster fire that seemed to be coming based on Rabbys state of the program tweets.

Another way to look at it is they don’t have to be program changers by themselves. MM was a more confident player at the end of the year and MR improved a ton from his freshman year. If both make another step forward they are more likely to be the program changers. The guys visiting this weekend improve us from X, Cupps and an out of position Gallo.

We still have 5 spots to fill. We also needed a dynamic PG. I hoped we could get both in one player. First 2/3 of his season he fit that. Definitely need more of that than the last 1/3 but he is a huge upgrade and is young. Remember when some hoops guy said after we lost boogie we could probably get someone similar with experience in the portal. Rice kind of fits that

I would argue that it was a great 2nd get. Tucker was not a portal kid but was a late, short recruitment add and while not the shooter Liam was he can be a big help down the road.

Fair point but he is a major upgrade from Cupps and X. Major. His 3pt shooting was very good before that finish. Get tired? Who knows but this is a very good second addition to the team. Still plenty of room for shooters

This is fair and I don’t expect us to launch 30 three pointers/game next year but I would be more shocked if Woody ran with the same offensive ideas this year. I do expect some system changes and the emphasis on guards in the portal suggest this is likely.

I don’t fault a guy for looking at options before deciding.

We heard a lot of these same comments on Woody and how the preparation for the visit was better than other schools on prior recruiting wins but I think the noise around the program has many of us wondering which is true. I remember guys saying they were not promised anything, that we had tape ready to show them what to expect and what to work on, different but better preparation than kids saw at other schools. Now we as a fan base seem convinced that this guy has to start or no way he is coming if he is not a starter. I don't claim to know which is true but it is good to see these comments from Bryson's dad.

His current coaching or play style seems to be one that can continue. His teams use a big, utilizes the 3 but is not dependent on the outside shot.

Ruh Roh - Trilly have an speculation about Chris streaking across campus soon

I saw where he started the year fine but people wondered if he just did not have the energy down the stretch due to sitting out last year battling cancer. Who knows. I will take him and he will be a huge upgrade over both Cupps and X (and I like Cupps as a reserve).

Actually I was impressed. I love a good detective. Now had it been us, we would have sent @Hovadipo in for the hug which would have sealed the deal.

Chris saying Rice to indiana is done - I like that

If you cant find shooters, get rebounders!

What is the role of these GMs? From what I think, I am not sure how unsuccessful former head coaches would excel in a GM role. It I may have the wrong expectations

Ignoring his approach on the boards and twitter, I think NGW either hears what the staff's approach is or has a wild imagination. Assuming he knows their approach, I am curious to see how it plays out. I do think this, including NIL obviously, could help them build a strong team. It could also fail incredibly. I am fine with either result. If the NGW/staff strategy is accurate then we may not know many of the kids we have interest in and have talked to. After the round of visits if we still have 0 commits and we go to the next round I would imagine the staff will start getting worried.

Yikes, can he get it off?

There was some discussion about him after he was added to Tony Adragna’s tracker recently. Not sure if much to it beyond that.

What I find interesting about them is that, if they indeed are representing what the staff is thinking with regards to who to target then if we end up with something wildly different, we will not be fooled by some spin. Conversely, if they hit on their goals and those players end up being duds then it suggests they have trouble evaluating. Lastly, if they hit on targets and those pan out then maybe they do have a solid strategy with this new portal approach. Certainly you can go after a kid as a priority and still miss but over the entirety of the portal approach we use to build a team for next year we can use this as a "general direction" for portal recruiting (per Tyme). 3/4 guards - he notes this is pending some things (not sure what these are) 1 at the 4 position 2 - 5's but 1 that is a stretch and 1 that is a strong defender. Heavy hints towards Rice, Wolf, Hickman, Perkins, and some for Tyson (Belmont) and Carlyle. Again good coaches do not win them all but I think this general direction and these names could give us a nice barometer for how to grade the staffs efforts in the portal.

Well I primarily thought how he made these comments reminded me of a former poster on here.

With Conwell being a combo, and Rice a PG (right?) then hopefully we add both.

Interesting comments from Leal on the recent HH podcast. When asked about portal recruiting and roles the players had in that he started to laugh I guess because Eric paused and asked why he was laughing. Leal said that they see these tweets about kids going into the portal and how they would be a great fit for IU but most of them are kids we have not contacted and are not contacting. Then a little later made a comment about how the team is encouraged heading into the offseason knowing they have so many key players returning but then he added a comment about a lot of people were saying we were going to have a lot of kids leave IU for the portal. According to Leal, the players knew all along they would be back. Sounded familiar. I wonder if he has Tyme to tweet himself or friends that do?

I thought the NCAA frowned on schools making the announcing during the championship game day or FF weekend. I know we made an announcement once but thought it was earlier in the tournament.

Did we have the dead period last year soon after the portal opened?

It is even better if they shoot and make the basket ; >