8bucks

Since his visit was an unofficial visit (unless i misread that) I think that also shows we had a lukewarm pitch for him

OK. Just expected RC to have a better final 2 (despite NC State have a great tournament run). I guess you could argue those teams are closer to being in the tournament next year than OSU, Michigan and even IU perhaps.

Who else did Rice consider before choosing Indiana?

Where did he visit last?

I thought that was floated then we heard the $1.2 was what was needed to pull him from IU and that we paid less.

At least 1/3 of these dots are about not being able to shoot 3s. Another 1/3 are I guess being concerned he is dominant? Strange worry but that gets to the last 1/3 of the dots, being a downer. If we stop here then I understand some concern but the staff clearly is going after guards and some shooters. That part we have not seen before

I think he should think about going mid major so he can start and hopefully return to freshman form or better. He could work himself into a high level recruit for a bigger payday his senior year.

Fair point. That was the year we beat Purdue twice, finished 2nd in the BT but fizzled in the tournament. Do you think there is more optimism for next year now than there was when it was thought most of our players would leave (some thought only Newton could return) and it was felt Woody would get a bunch of 1 year mercenaries? I agree that we are probably not looking better than the 22/23 team but it is hard not to see we are trending quickly away from who most thought we would be for 24/25.

Hey now, Edy was 50% from 3.

Shoot? I bet he can shoot em

Ballo reminds me of Shaq when he smiles. No i do not expect him to be that kind of player but what a great add it is

I suspect he will still play several early in the year and make many frustrated and then shorten the bench if needed.

Yeah that would be where i see him. My daughter was at Grace this year so we followed a bit. I know they place Purdue in a preseason game but did not watch that.

You would think this would lead the staff to leave 1) before the house falls in and 2) to get somewhere where recruiting is balanced differently. Surprised we have not seen any staff changes for this or because of results.

Not sure we will know how to judge his being right vs wrong until the end. He has said that the staff will rebuild through the portal with very strong additions. He has also suggested 3 to 4 guard/wings 1 defensive 4/5, and one stretch big. So if those come to pass, even if you miss a guy like Hickman but fill with very solid pieces overall, got to give the man his due. So far we have a very good PG pick up, a surprising late McDs HS addition and seem close to landing the portal's top kid. Seems like a good start. Now landing the remaining pieces will get harder since playing time has to be a factor right. Personally, I kind of think the NAIA kid could make an interesting addition as a stretch 4/5 bench guy. If you can land the kid from Evansville, as a bench guy, that would be a very nice add too. But I can see the bench players being a little less sizzle than the top 3 kids and tucker thus creating more arguing about how we did lol Still a lot to play out here.

Yes I was at the urologist this morning and saw this and had to quickly but awkwardly close it quick. Had a guy sitting right next to me. I thought maybe it was something I noticed because of where I was

Crescent are btown classics but the square donuts we used to have was excellent

How do you know he has not committed yet? May not have but very easily could have and the staff is waiting for him to make if official.

He would do better playing overseas than the G league but to follow your thought, playing in the Big Ten and at Indiana would be more attractive to overseas teams, I would think, than having played at Cincy. Now, if he wants to go to Cincy and have a bigger role, I would not fault him for that.

Many of the targets could have multiple years left which would have been better than getting all 1 year guys and doing it all over again next summer. Not all will be multi year but the first two are. Even if we get the #1 class with all our needs met we all know we have to make it work on the court. But for now, this is turning out better than I expected.

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