lillurk

I like Barnes a lot as a program stabilizer, though of course the offensive style and tournament failures are clear issues. But for a hopeful one-and-done below the “can’t fail” range he’s not who I’d recommend.

They’re going to add guys AND the sky isn’t falling. Torvik’s way-too-early projections have IU 31st: https://barttorvik.com/trankpre.php IU finished last year 35th. The sky isn’t falling, momentum is tomorrow’s staring pitcher.

I agree, they’ve got other guys too and I should’ve mentioned that. Mashack, Dillione, Edwards, and Phillips and JJJ could all come back. I like Galloway, Banks, Gunn, etc. but it’s undeniably more crowded at UT

It’s not a perfect market but there are only so many high-major places with the resources IU has who are looking for a wing or two or three. Everyone wants more wings. Not everyone can offer a vet PG, former NBA HC, strong NIL program, two guys in the top ~40 draft picks out the door, etc. I’m not toooooooooo stressed yet because I don’t really think someone who wants all those things has tons of other landing spots as the other seats fill up.

Right, agree. Theoretically athletes have additional layers of complication vs. a non-athlete even before you get to coaching changes, being recruited over, lied to, etc. In general I would expect transfers to make more sensible decisions than frosh on where to go. It doesn’t always play out like that, athlete or non-, though.

Thanks. I work with folks in this age bracket and see students, athletes and otherwise, who make life-changing choices for weird/bad reasons all the time. As a result I find it tough to be overly critical of staffs absent other info — it’s pretty normal for 16-25 year olds to make even huge decisions for reasons that won’t make sense to them even months later.

No ill will toward Knecht, nor really UT — I’m in favor of their success as long as it’s not at UT’s expense. That said, I find this a surprising choice on the merits. As discussed after the Ledlum commitment, UT plays a pretty stifled, set-based offense; if you wanted to really cook IU’s a better choice. UT also returns a multi-year starter at the same spot in Vescovi, and once Ziegler’s healthy, he’ll be their full-time point guard. Barnes tends to play fewer 3 guard lineups and more two-big ones. Even knowing Ziegler will miss substantial time, there’s clearly less PT at UT at the moment than IU. We never know all the details but was he only gonna pick a Nike school or something?

Hey, they were right this time.

Do you mean is not?

I am aware that various places that have been repeatedly wrong are saying this, yes. Anyone got this from Knecht? Anyone with a journalistic reputation to sully saying so publicly? It might be the case that he’s committing to UT tonight, as I said, no knowledge otherwise. See a lot of fake insiders saying so on Twitter to justify the money they’re throwing at various pay sites.

Yeah no special info here, and I know the UT insider said Knecht was down to two, but his process has been basically silent. And now Oregon takes a similar player and UT’s scholarship crunch is tight. If we were UO fans and he hadn’t committed by this point, I think we’d be getting nervous. Probably not visiting anywhere this weekend due to coaches’ AAU commitments but I wonder what’s coming.

I think Ledlum is a nice player but I definitely don’t think he was uniquely suited to next year’s roster at IU. Reasonable minds disagree, but I’m more inclined to buy @stuhoo’s leadership argument than a skill/fit one. There are other fish in the sea. IU has a lot to offer (more than UT imho).

Yeah I think the B1G officiating style is a real issue but you can’t watch UT and buy this

I liked him as a 4 but not really a 3, so if this gets e.g. Knecht more NIL / to campus then I think it can come out okay. I do like the defensive disruption Ledlum offers.

Overanalysis: feels like step one of a two step goodbye.

Heard this was coming from some UM folks. No idea what’s up but two threads I imagine may be intertwined here: 1. Ongoing rumors about Howard taking an NBA job as soon as next summer and 2. UConn’s close to home….

No inside info but: Flory, other 24s, Ware, Reneau, Ledlum

I think he’s pretty good but this is a strange fit to me. He’s from Rockford, IL, so this is close to home, but if that was the primary factor I’m surprised it wasn’t U of I, Marquette, a Chicago area school….

Much better than the rumored transfer to Illinois; thank you Tyger

Terrific news for me, a person who revels in the struggles of Illinois basketball: Shannon going pro

Cannot specifically speak to Catchings as a player or potential reclass. But in general, reclassifications up tend to work out well UNLESS the player is a small guard. That’s not just me hand-waving Lander away, someone did a study I can’t locate and that was the broad takeaway. Besides Lander, some other high-profile examples: Derryck Thornton, Ashton Hagans. There are counter-examples but if a staff has a 5-star grade on a junior eligible to reclass they should probably take him unless he’s like 6’2” or under and slight, IMO. That aside…is a reclass an option for Catchings? I’ve seen the flip rumors buuuut not that specifically.

I know age is a big projection factor so it’s unlikely he’s going to be a star. But on the other hand, I think he could play NBA wing minutes right now.

I was looking today to see if Terrence Shannon Jr. was leaving, and assumed he would. There’s no news yet. The Ringer has him as a borderline 1st rounder.

We’ve already seen Galloway as a ~25 minute/game bench player. One thing I like about potentially bringing him off the bench if IU gets its wishlist: he could sub anyone out, either to play the 1, 2, or 3, or to sit down a big and slide some guys up the positional spectrum.

Haven’t seen Ledlum up close, haven’t heard anything to this effect, but I wonder if he commits to IU if they might have him cut a little weight. He was a 4 at Harvard, played some minutes as a small-ball 5 even. At IU it seems clear he’s a fit at the 3, sliding into some minutes at the 4.