WayneFleekHoosier

Neither were in retrospect though. I was pumping up that Michigan roster immediately. I used them to compare to us and the disparity on what we put together. I knew that front court would be Dominant. I thought Cadeau might suck and McKinney was a 5 star “wildcard” that popped. That roster was a monster from inception. UConn…Karaban returns as an NBA guy. Ball returns as an absolute stud. Tarris Reed, a proven stud. Then add Demary. And a top notch recruiting class of 5 stars. Didn’t take much to see that vision. Go man to man on any of these rosters and you see quickly how deficient we are and have been. I need to see what the hometown discount really ends up being to retain in this world where money is king. We need some serious talent upgrades. And we will need to spend to get it.

They’ll figure it out. And have the best rosters. When that cap gets reached it’ll be the Dukes/UK/Kansas etc that set the cap. While still getting the best players. UK spent 22million or so. While a few were around 12-14. We were in the 10 range. Find out what the cap is and see if you can financially get there. If financially you can’t, then I guess you try to money ball. We spend inordinate money for Operation costs/coaches/etc. earn in the top 5-10. Find a way to translate some of that to talent. If we pay for a top 10 staff and they aren’t, that’s wasted money. Just get it to the right players instead.

I don’t think it’s that simple. At all. There are ways to donate through collectives and charities that provide tax benefits. It’s not a money pit. I think smart, business minded folk in billionaire clubs can figure it out.

Maybe we should go try to snag Pharrell Payne from Maryland. He’s a beast. I’d rather have him than Fru, and several others. He can’t be happy at Maryland right? Still holding hope for a Euro big though.

Yaxel, Boozer and Dybantsa were the only ones last year anywhere near 4 million. And probably only Dybantsa. can’t compare 3-4 M this year to last year. That’s the mistake our staff made the previous year. We used the season before data to track a players worth. Rates had doubled. Rates are up again. The best teams will figure out a way to get the best players. Almost always happens that way. We have not been forward thinking about the portal or finances. We keep thinking rates will top off. We again thought profit sharing would cap it. Clearly that’s not happening. We need to become forward thinking and behave like a Kansas/Michigan/Etc. If you get that level of talent plus a decent coach you will at minimum make the tournament and the skies the limit. I realize money doesn’t materialize from nothing but lesser earning basketball programs are spending more NIL than us on the regular. I’m not sure I understand that math.

Johnson was a big payday. Michigan paid big. Everyone knew that roster was stacked. Especially when Yaxel opted out of the draft. I said so myself, during the portal season. Agree with Cadeau, but they retained players of high worth and added 4-5. Roster was STACKED. Duke, Kansas, UConn, Louisville, UNC, heck even USC, Washington, but the list goes on and on. Teams that PAID big for 3-5 high level guys. It’s not 1 or 2. It’s The Who’s who. Texas Tech. And on and on. Using Michigan as the example, they retained quality players. We don’t return any quality, unfortunately, but that should free up money. We thought last portal was expensive. lol. We needed to spend there. We paid 5 guys that literally gave us nothing. But we are in for another rude awakening as players are asking double what they did during the expensive portal from last season. But certain teams will end up with the top end players. It’ll be the same teams. They always figure it out. It’s our turn.

Fair. But multiple schools are paying for pieces like this. 3 or 4 highly, highly ranked and expensive guys. At some point you’d think Indiana would see that as a winning strategy and try to join the ranks of the big boys since we are right on the precipice (financially). It’s always someone else getting the best guys.

Agreed. Stokes and some extra cash then Dolla Bill gonna be reinvigorated.

I think so. Self gonna run it back with Stokes. Peterson didn’t give that man enough stress this season. Putting that ticker to the test coming up with endless lies on the spot. I really, really don’t like Self, if you didn’t catch my drift.

Hearing strong early rumors of Duke. Probably too good to be true.

Speaking of Bidunga. lol.

We better be willing to pay more. If schools like St Louis are paying 10-12 we will never separate ourselves. We’d be keeping up with the jones’. Gotta, at some point, separate. I’m not saying pay Haralson 4. On its face it all sounds ridiculous. But we will need to overspend in several spots if we are trying to rise towards the top. If 12 is our Max, we’ll get some guys but it’ll spend quickly. Id rather pay Bidunga top NIL money or someone like that. I do love Haralson though.

I also hope our Euro scout is MUCH improved. I’d like to spend money there. I think the value can be huge for shooting/size/experience. I’d love to throw some real money at a projectable NBA talent from Europe. Like Hannes Steinbach from Washington. Find a clone of that guy and PAY him.

Hmm. Things are getting spicier, that’s for sure. I’ll go on record I love Haralson and his potential. His positional size, athetlcitism, toolkit, and versatility and not to mention his capability to be a ++ defender goes a long way for me. Shooting concerns me a bit, but we need/want 3 shooters on the floor. 2 is ok if elite, 3 preferred. Thats where roster makeup and team building comes in.

I think he got a cool million from ND. Maybe 2 or 2.5 gets it done?

It’s the twitter mob doing an April Fools joke.

The twitter mob is doing better. They are Marfo’ing Gabe Cupps back to Indiana as their 4/1 joke. Almost got me, too.

My thoughts as well. The spending across the sport has gone wild. Takes a big number to get a competitive advantage.

Gross. The market is what the market is. Someone is gonna pay. (I think)Indiana will eventually moneyball itself into a unproven team. We didn’t want to spend on a center last year when we had some real choices and a definite need. The prices are ridiculous, but we need to figure something out. Freshman and Overseas might be the bargain, for now.

I’ll get back to you as more names enter this weekend. I like to watch video. If we only need 5 or 6 we need to get the right ones. Can’t fill just to fill. It’s a competition to build the best roster. Being full or out of money early isn’t ideal either.

I think UNC got Lloyd. His quotes are so open. He’ could shut the door and won’t. Will be an incredible pull by UNC if so. Would be quite late to the portal but that buying power will stretch the globe.

I’m prepared. lol. I hope to be a bit shocked. I’m preparing myself for all the other rosters, night and day, better than ours despite similar funding. (And that is where I get frustrated).

Exactly. People forget the power of the dollar and sales. There is still a lot to sell about Indiana. About the only thing not to sell out the recent results. New stage isn’t attacked to previous failures besides 1 year. The rest are other coaches and teams. As fans we miss the small picture. Woodson with money and connections had draw. Recruiting is an art form even with money. If you can convince a group of guys what the core can be, they can make their own identity. And if the price is right, there is no limit. Exhibit A. BYU.

Money, money, money, stage, and Indiana does a tremendous job of taking care of these kids, plus playing time. Money is the biggest factor, although granted not the only factor. We put ourselves behind the 8 ball with the season we had this year which was a major flaw in the plan to begin with. They counted on DeVries coaching to be able to cobble enough wins to have a acceptable year. They needed to aim higher but many factors were in play. I get it. We are at the point we have to grossly overspend and rely on “built in” connections to attract the talent until winning can add the third element. We really need to find a way to overspend for 2 or 3 key pieces. But it’s a crapshoot. Injuries, etc. we have a huge staff, we need to relay those connections plus extra money to do what we should have done in year 1. Now it’s harder. I know you can’t have a superstar at every position. We need 3 to be ultimately successful. And 1 being at the 1 and 5 are the hugest returns in wins. I won’t get as upset by the wing spots.

In his four post season games? 15, 17, 25 and 18 mins. Fouled out in 18 mins vs Michigan State. 4 fouls in 17 minutes against Miami. Average 5 rebounds with a 10 rebound performance against USF. The stats will underwhelm. The video/scout is ok as a dunker and a big guy but he’s just not that good. Louisville was fairly good because of their guard play not because of Fru. Making that leap instead of breaking down the video and stats is why we end up in the situations we do.