8bucks

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

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.