WayneFleekHoosier

He’s pretty slick. Not a rebounder but can do a lot for his size. Trilly has Indicated Indiana involved.

Jackson Shelsted in portal. I joked about this when he was in town for the game. But MAYBE???? I know he’s a west coast kid but who knows. He would be exciting.

Always feels a bit "too many cooks in the kitchen" to me. But I know there are a lot of off the court things going on.

IU Twitter mob seems to be confident he’s a target.

Agree with all of this. We gotta do better

Which is exactly why the old Drake guard from Small School West CANT be our starting PG.

Yes, that would be a start. Who the shooter would be a question. Even with that start we’d need some other big pieces imo.

I want another coaching search. lol. I want some IUBB excitement in my life.

It’s projected over time. We have 3 higher rated kids but middle enough you don’t expect those guys to carry the load as freshmen. Which is fine. If we had a top 15 or 20 kid maybe. But it’s all projection.

Wow is right. Good analysis by BTB. I told my son what Stuhoo said. Can’t trail Stirtz on that play. Terrible decision by Fland set the whole thing up. I don’t hate McCollum. I guess I like the Mcs. Because I like McCasland too. I wanted McCasland knowing he wasn’t coming North. IQ wise, McCollum is light years ahead of DeVries and we might be cooked. Lol I was on record not wanting McCollum. (Because I wanted a big name) I still feel that way to be honest but he’s a great coach with a lot of fight. Damn. He didn’t want us, I don’t want him. Lol

I can squint and see Moody having an impact. The other 2 not so much. But it’s so hard for freshman. This year is such an anomaly with so many good ones. Makes me wonder if I need to recalibrate, but it’s just a special class. Manhertz as a reclass (to original class) is interesting. I just don’t know who he can guard.

Man this seems random. Would love to know more here. Anything to DM or something you want to share on here?

It’s true. The Calipari guys are Calipari guys. Pope will need to carve out his own role if he’s going to succeed.

Kentucky will somehow be the top spender or 2 again. I really don’t know where they get their funding but it’s beyond impressive. I don’t LOVE DeVries but I think I like him better than Pope. Pope has had some pressers that make me worried for his mental health. I’m not sure he’s built for that.

Being an impact maker as a Freshman on a top winning team is extremely rare. This year there are a few very notable examples. So you never know. Probably the most strange year ever in that regard with Wagler and the Houston kid. It was a stacked class and probably an anomaly. Time will tell. Class ranking doesn’t indicate the players immediate impact. Moody looks good. Has tools and size. Has a chance to carve out a role. Karvala is an interesting recruit. Not sure where playing time comes from immediately. Athletic kid. Manhertz, will likely get bullied. If shooting is there he can make an impact but it’s a huge step up for him. A lot of the 5 star type guys are freaks in one way or another. Common to see those guys make impacts immediately for good teams. But the miss too. Counting on a mid leveled recruit to be an impact maker AS A FRESHMAN on a winning team is a losing strategy.

It’s basically any fanbase with size and losing results. Kentucky fans are definitely the worst of the worst though. And their results aren’t even that bad. The one that got me this year was the Purdue fans turning on Braden Smith and Purdue this year. It just goes to show you can’t be thinned skinned and you can’t worry about the vocal minority. The staff needs to be equipped to educate the players how to handle it. Woodson and staff/players went about it every wrong way possible. He was not the right type of leader to handle fan adversity. Still has his defenders going against the fanbase on the daily.

It’s the new “the defense takes 4 years to install” narrative fans will latch onto to cope and justify losing. Everyone copes differently, so I get it. Him admitting that out loud adds to my concerns, and certainly doesn’t alleviate it. Like Woodson with his guard play talk and change of styles. lol.

Just completely fell apart. That’s a shame. Henderson is a dog.

Was based on a bad scout on Rice/K9. That team wasn’t far off. If Rice would have been Washington State Rice and Galloway learned how to shoot, and Woody played 2 bigs with our 3 big rotation it would have been. Give DeVries a roster like that and let’s see what he’s made of.

Not good. With top level spending, we gotta get in there. Pay for a top 10 or 15 PG. Pay for a top 10 or 15 C. Pay for another guard or wing on that level. Moneyball the rest. I feel like that should produce a top 25 team. mid major roster building isn’t likely to do it.

Great context.

Sadly agree. I think our odds are little higher if we make 2-3 splashes. Going into another season with no Mojo will be rough from a fan support perspective. We saw a drop this year. That will continue. I don’t think Indiana is totally immune.

In a world where big dogs eat first, we are going to need to find a way to separate ourselves or financially act like a big dog until we can build some program momentum. Coaching is an important factor but ALL the best coaches say you are only as good as your players and will do whatever it takes to get the best ones. Getting them to play for each other, like each other, do winning basketball things, motivate them or find the ones where winning is most important. That’s where coaches has its biggest impact. I don’t see how we pluck enough from a busy Portal to make a statement, without like you said, spending huge.

This was on ongoing debate I had and wanted from last season. Lots of it is trusting programs and trusting coaches. Indiana and DeVries rightfully will get none of that. I know it’s not important to most, and it’s how you finish. While I’ll agree, it sets a ceiling based on Analytics, metrics, and thoughts. If we want to make a statement make a statement. We didn’t make a statement last preseason or end of season. We did get ranked for 1 or 2 weeks early. To me it’s important. It’s important for morale, recruiting, swagger, momentum, etc and etc. it’s also important because it says we have a great roster on paper. And last year, we never did. It was pretty clear a lot of things needed to go our way. We built a bubble team and performed like one. Go freaking figure. Odds this season? Woof. We have a top 20 freshman class with no one that projects to be real impact makers. We return 2 or 3 guys who don’t project to be difference makers. We likely need 5-6 playable guys and 2-3 stars. my odds of preseason 25 with a top 20 Nil? 20 percent.

I’ll need to wait to see full picture and it’s super duper early, but if this is a guy you project to start you are lowering your ceiling immediately. Positves-6’3-6’4. 41% on 5.5 attempts. Negatives-on a scale of 10 he’s a 3 or 4 on athleticism. That has impact on both sides of the court. 77% from charity which for an atheletic plus size guy you take that everyday. But from a guy who is your shooter you want that number higher. Played for a very mediocre Colgate in a very mediocre conference. Athleticism on defense will impact him. 1 year of eligibility. again, full team build vision is necessary and I like shooters, but you are giving up a fair amount. Hearing we will lose all but 2 or 3 guys. So portal could be huge at 7 or 8. Id take him over Cupps, I guess in a Cupps like role.