lillurk

He wasn’t perfect, and when it ended it was probably time. I think he might agree, this far removed. To paraphrase John Gasaway, if basketball coaches divided responsibilities like football staffs, he’d have a reputation as a terrific offensive coordinator.

I can envision the back of Fran’s head as he storms down the tunnel after his second tech

Crean had four top ten offenses in five years starting in ‘11-‘12, and a borderline top 25 one the sixth year, after which he got fired. Miss me with the revisionist history.

They’re really different dudes, but this stands out. Crean was demanding, goofy, and actually won meaningful stuff at IU, and his players, broadly speaking, seem to maintain a fondness for him. I’d add that in the macro, his offenses are IU were truly excellent, not just a matter of reputation.

three charges in the first half…Brad Underwood is going to get so red-faced about Cupps

This is spot on, I had tried to say something similar in the summer thread but this is better. I’ll do a table to pick each game, like @vemmeistars did, but to tip my hand a little more I’ll say I’m more bearish on OSU than the consensus here.

This is especially true the further down the recruiting rankings you go. Romeo and TJD: great. Race: good pickup further down. Missed on lots of top ~40 guys who were good (UNC’s backcourt, Garland, etc.) but did very poorly at identifying and developing guys who weren’t sure things.

Yes, I’ve been thinking this all offseason. The hoped-for depth isn’t much about projection, IU returns a bunch of players who have played meaningful roles on a tourney team: TJD, Race, X, JG, Kopp, and Trey. Add in a guy who got some burn and doesn’t hurt you (Leal), and a sophomore who had flashes (Bates) and you’re not even asking anything of the newcomers when you say this team will be good and have some depth. Every leap from Bates and the frosh is gravy.

As an undersized non-pg, Utah to B1G, Jenkins Jr. bears some superficial resemblance to Alonso Plummer. But Plummer got to play next to, arguably, the second-best guard in the conference, in Trent Frazier, and Jenkins…doesn’t get that luxury. (Not to mention Demo’s less-than-ringing endorsement.)

Yeah, totally fair. If he’s ready there may be backup PG minutes; if he needs some seasoning you can probably stagger JHS and Galloway on nights when you can’t afford to roll a frosh out there.

Yes — most are looking to a player’s ultimate destination in these rankings. For the reasons Wayne mentioned there’s probably a cap on Cupps at like ~50. Seems like a high-floor guy. Like barring injury or other catastrophe, he plays early and often, but isn’t likely to land on draft boards.

Part of the problem of “too many guys want a max” is the payroll cap, tax, and player max structure itself. For instance, on a wins per dollar basis, the very best players are actually worth well over the max to their team. Now of course they’re able to make endorsement $, and are still quite rich, though remember the folks writing the checks are usually far richer. But the max actually tamps down the pay of, say, Giannis or Jokic versus what they’d make in a more flexible structure like what MLB has. The domino effect here is that there’s actually more left in the pool of total player salaries for the fringe all-star types all the way on down to dependable backup Cs, or young players who hit free agency with some track record indicating they could pop a level or whatever. You can imagine a world in which, say, Giannis gets $70M/year, Middleton and Jrue Holiday get close to the current max, and so on. If so, no more than two of those three are Bucks, and some other team would happily pay the third. But there might be much less left for Brook Lopez, Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton, Bobby Portis, etc., so you can see why the players union — which by percentage is mostly the latter type — prefers the first-team all-league guys take a discount, if that’s what’s on the table from the owners.

Should we assume his presence at team camp, with Ben Davis HS, indicates IU had a head start on other high-major programs?

I wonder how the staffing changes might've impacted things. I still think Demo’s right, that he’s going to take the most high-profile offer. The case the staff can make is that the difference in wattage of exposure is marginal, but the compounded value of being a star in your home state at IU exceeds going elsewhere. And maybe more recent NBA connections at the HC job matter, too.

I could go either way with the Gavitt games. Maybe we’d replace it with a marquee game, but part of the reason it hasn’t been marquee is that IU just hasn’t been great during their run. Other B1G teams have gotten the prime matchups. I assume this year will be different. Its also not during a schedule window that makes IU miss a bigger chance. Later than the tip-off events, earlier than feast week.

Would’ve had a conference 6th man of the year campaign at least once

The NBA Finals participants this year, Boston and Golden State, were first and second in defense, respectively. By now most know that the Kerr-era Warriors’ secret sauce on defense is switching 1 to 4 most of the time, and 1 to 5 when they play a bit small with Draymond at the 5. Boston does much the same; the defensive player of the year, Marcus Smart, is basically who you’d create-a-player as your PG if you wanted someone who could mark Steph Curry and ALSO bump KD or Giannis off a spot. Not a perfect analogy but IU has some similar pieces to each team, grading on a college hoops curve.

@Uspshoosier mentioned in another thread that CMW’s approach has real strength in shorter recruitments, this may be another example.

the contract was for B1G teams to play four or more times in the original 8 year deal. IU has played in 4* of 7 so it’s unclear if they’ll be in this year or not on that basis. However, if you read between the lines from some of the folks who know, I would guess they’re playing one. Four games was the minimum for B1G teams, but the TV networks want more IU games, not more Penn State ones. (Especially when IU is good.) *Creighton 2015, @Seton Hall 2017, Marquette 2018, St. John’s 2021.

Attempting to reverse engineer why CMW would feel that way: 1. Defensively: instantly playable frosh at PF/C are rare if you demand they execute scheme. Long-term, an anchor on that end after Race and TJD. 2. Offensively, polished, versatile, broad base of skill. Maybe he develops into a true three-level scorer, but again: ready to contribute in a necessary role now with potential to grow. 3. Monteverde connection: we’ve discussed. Seems clear CMW values prep academy development. Whether it’s KJ Evans or anybody else, this strengthens that bond. 4. Roster impact: probably frees Geronimo to find time on the wing if he earns it. Softens the blow if top 2023 Cs go elsewhere.

A version of this worked very well for John Beilein, and as assistants go, he may have never had a single one as good at recruiting as Ya or Kenya (Walsh TBD, wary returns promising).

All while Kenya was courtside, lol

This rocks

Yes, glad you mentioned this. I was getting long-winded already :)

Whether all-American or all-_____ team lineups are playable is usually a function of voting requirements. So if the AP all-American ballot just asks voters for POY, 4 other first-teammers, then ten players for 2nd/3rd, the results can lead to 4 PFs and 1 G. I don’t believe most college awards require voters to select based on position, so for example Dickinson, Edey, and TJD we’re all on the B1G 2nd team because they received between 6th and 10th most points. By contrast the NBA requires voting by position for all-league teams. Thus, for example, Joel Embiid was on the second team despite finishing top 3 in mvp voting.