lillurk

Daily Hoosier piece lists UGA and Tennessee official visits as possibilities. I think your concern is valid but I’m inclined to take it at face value: unscheduled potential visits are lower priority. Are the UMd/UVA visits actually scheduled? Haven’t seen dates.

Oh, REALLY good sign. Good programs in worse spots last year than IU, maybe more PT but without his PG and without as much likelihood of winning right away. I was worried about a coach he’d already committed to at UGA.

Notes here he was 6/42 on closely-guarded 3s last year. That means he hit 38% of his other ones, for those who’ve been concerned about shooting.

Terrific dot connecting here, and I’ll add that at the highest level of recruit, you could even imagine a player making enough to relocate his family closer to his college. That’s always been possible with under-the-table feels, but now a school like IU, with NIL collectives working outside the formal institution, can say, “our last draft prospect got $x/year from Hoosiers for Good, Hysterics collective, and endorsements. You can buy mom a house.”

No obviously there will be newcomers to those lists: frosh, transfers, breakout sophomores, etc. But having two or three of the best dozen returning players in the league is a terrific foundation.

Only four players from 2022 B1G first-third team are still pending a definitive stay/go announcement: Kofi, Edey, Dickinson, TJD. By my count, roughly ten honorable mention players are likely to return, Race and X among them. Also, a fun aside unlikely to matter: Race played 63 minutes across nine games his redshirt freshman year due to injury. Often a player with a year like that can petition the NCAA for an injury redshirt waiver. He almost certainly won’t, of course, but I think it would be an option, though not realistically.

The scouting quoted here on him literally mentions he’s a good catch-and-shoot player. I’d love to see the Synergy #s on that type of 3 vs. off-the-dribble for him, and closely guarded, late clock, etc.

I think the staff would like it if the AAC DPOY was also a dead-eye shooter, but if he was he’d be in the draft. As pointed out above, CMW correctly identified shooting as an offensive weakness. Dennis isn’t a great shooter but, as @Stuhoo said, he’s an upgrade on Galloway in that department right now. Shooting can be developed, too. I understand the hesitance to assume Bates will be a high-volume, high-% shooter next year, but sophomores who scouts say can shoot and who have the green light from their coaches are a terrific bet to improve in that area. IU’s defense was good, but a little short of truly elite last year, and the leaks were on the wing. Dennis addresses that well. He’s a good fit with the type of 2/wing CMW has targeted; clearly long, athletics defenders are a priority. That also tells me CMW thinks he and the staff can teach/develop shooting IU (like every team) has two avenues to get better next year: get better on offense or get better on defense. Of course they can do both, but just because the defense was good doesn’t mean it can’t be improved upon. More Bates, Galloway, Geronimo, JHS, and a wing defender like Dennis helps on defense. Some of those players also likely improve the offense, even without massive shooting gains, when you consider whose minutes they’re replacing.

A 2-guard who knows that’s what he is…as if I didn’t like his game enough before.

Buy low on frosh who hit FTs and miss more 3s than you’d guess.

This is the general consensus among informed UM fans, too

Believe USPS mentioned he stayed in Centerville when he went to the first four this year. Think they’re neighboring towns.

I used to play in a 2x/week pickup run where I was the only regular who hadn’t been a college athlete (mostly hoopers, some former footballers). I’m 6’, still roughly in my athletic prime of life though not in the shape I wish. Not much of a scorer but in said run I always marked one of of the opposition’s two best perimeter players. I’m a 3-and-D wing with enough playmaking to attack a close out. I’d gladly play but we’re gonna get skunked.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an interesting story about Sean and Archie Miller both getting back into coaching this cycle. I have no ill will toward Arch, but, “I haven’t thought one second about my time there. It came and it’s gone,” is not what I’d want to here as an AD looking for a coach to have learned from his experiences. It’s not what I’d want to hear if I’d played for him. And it’s not what I’d want him to say if he wanted my child to play for him.

Good point. Also I’d encourage everyone to sit back and get used to this. Not crazy to imagine years to come watching JG, TB, JHS, Jakai, Gabe, etc. doing exactly this

The staff will be fine. You can field a team with 12 scholarship players if it comes to that. But they’ll know more than us, and there are always late commits, other draft-withdrawing players who will hit the portal, midyear transfers where you might benefit from having an open scholarship, and so on

Or, I mean, I can keep a secret if someone hits the DMs

I would guess this, too, but do we know it? Can someone FOIA it?

@ KU is the perfect time for a new crimson script Indiana alternate.

Agreed, right now it seems clear a Scheyer Duke offer is the most coveted one (not speaking for Booker — though probably — but more generally). Possible UK wasn’t a great example. They get dudes but the recent classes haven’t been the heyday Cal ones.

Those seem like easy fixes, relatively speaking.

Also think IU stands to benefit as much as anyone from that particular trend. Michigan too, I assume. If you’ve got alumni NIL $, nice town/campus, and recruit guys who end up in that range, you could really capitalize.

I think Demo’s probably right that he’s a “best offer” prospect, so MSU, or UK if they jump in, maybe. But it’s possible if he’s a late decision that IU has a good, noisy year, and he thinks joining Cupps, Newton, etc. has buzz. Assume only one of Bidunga or Booker is a Hoosier, so the staff will have to figure out who they want most, if the Bidunga blowup is real.

Nebraska home game, too

Jakai’s HS teammate Stephon Castle is rated more highly right now, but sometimes having teammates that good artificially deflated at least one’s rank. Big pic, I think, both Cupps and Newton have positive roles as frosh, and I’m verrrrry excited about their soph year.