BGleas

Was wondering the same thing. I thought they had 1

Yeah, OSU playing well and IU struggling doesn’t necessarily tell me that Holtman overachieved and Archie underachieved, it tells me the people doing the picking were wrong. In my opinion there is no question that Holtman took over a better situation. 1) Despite two down years, OSU has been a much better program than IU the last 10+ years and had an established culture. 2) Holtman and Matta coach to the same style 3) OSU was bad Matta’s last year largely because their best player missed the entire season 4) Holtman inherited Bates-Diop, Tate, Kam Williams, CJ Jackson, Andre Wesson and had Kaleb Wesson gifted to him in his first class. That is a very, very solid core

Since it's just for fun! PG - Phinisee SG - Langford SF - Hunter PF: Watford C: Davis/TJD Bench: TJD/Davis, Al, Green, Race, Franklin

It's actually good for the NBA and NCAA. It's good for the NBA, not so much because of scouting, but more because it gives kids like Zion, Barrett, Trae Young (last year), etc. a year in major college basketball to build their brand. When kids were going straight from high school the NBA fans didn't know who they were, so the league and teams struggled to market them. It was tough when your team was drafting a high school kid at #8 that nobody knew and you couldn't sell to the fan base and corporate sponsors. It's really all about marketing/sales. For the NCAA, while I don't like the rule as a fan, the NCAA absolutely benefits from having the above mentioned guys and all the rest of the one and done studs in college basketball for even just one year.

While I guess they could hangout before, it's not likely they'd have much time afterwards. It's not like Brooks will make the call and then immediately head over to Applebee's with his bud's. He's going to have a ton of media obligations following the announcement, which will take a considerable amount of time.

Yup. That was the state tournament. Once you lose there it’s over.

I’d almost look at it this way, would you have have Morgan, Langford, Fitzner and McRoberts with a freshmen Phinisee, or TJD, Brooks, Franklin and a healthy Hunter with a sophomore Phiniseee?

I don't live in Indiana so maybe your comment doesn't pertain to me, but have you watched Kyle Guy play? He's really good and really fun to watch.

Painter would have no problem recruiting at UCLA. UCLA recruits itself irregardless of who the coach is. It doesn't matter, they get 5*'s either way.

If Brooks is one and done, I completely agree with you. As @Old Friend has said numerous times, this program does not need a one and done right now. It needs guys buying into the program/team that are going to be here multiple years. With that said, if Brooks is going to be here at least two years, then I'd love to have him. If things fall into place this will be a talented, albeit young, team next year, but if guys like Hunter (healthy of course), TJD, Brooks, Phinisee, Smith (assuming he buys in), etc. are here in 2020-21 this could be a monster team.

Sort of. You have to qualify for Districts, which is based on how you do during the season, both league and non-conference. Each district then gets a certain number of teams (it can vary by district) into the state playoffs, based on how they finish in the district playoffs. For example, in your earlier post you said Butler would play the #5 team from District 3. That means the team that finished in 5th place in the District 3 Tournament (yes, they actually have consolation games).

No problem! Yes, the state playoffs start next Saturday, which Butler has qualified for. The brackets actually just came out this afternoon. The neighboring town from me, where my buddy is the assistant actually got matched up in the first round against the team that just beat Butler in their District finals.

^^^^You bolden it, but just to be clear for this skimming, this was still the District playoffs (think sectionals in Indiana), not the state tournament. The last bolder section (PIAA Tournament) is the state playoffs. I’ll have to look up who the #5 team is in District 3 is. I’m in Disctrict 3amd a few of our local teams in our league made it. A former teammate of mine is the assistant at one of our Distrct 3 schools that made it. They have a crazy good point guard who is on the low-major D1/D2 borderline. Really good player, would be a good matchup.

I know Easton, I’m probably about an hour and a half from there, maybe a little closer. The state title games are played at HersheyPark. They have a stadium there that seats a little over 10K. I’m about 20-30 minutes from Hershey.

This was a District playoff game (I think Sectionals in Indiana is the comparison) in PA. The state tournament begins next week. I live in PA, though not close to Pittsburgh. I'm about 25 minutes away from where the State Title games are played. Hoping to catch them if Butler makes the finals.

Yup. Heck, if IU was irrelevant then this article never would have been written. The fact that this article exists shows that IU basketball is extremely relevant. You don't see articles like this about Boston College, Wake Forrest, Minnesota, Cal, etc.

I have no idea what Stevens intentions are, but I can tell you the Celtics are not firing him. Danny and Wyc (the owner) love him and as I said, they don't make moves because of fan pressure. I worked for the team from 01-06 and the last two years fans were screaming for Doc Rivers to get fired. It was never even close to being considered. Danny and Wyc loved him and believed in him. Two years later with a better roster Doc coached them to a title. As far as the Celtics, no there is no rebuild. It will be an interesting summer though. The Celtics have a ton of assets and will be targeting Anthony Davis and Durant. The big issue though is Kyrie Irving. While he committed to resigning in Boston before the season, that seems to be much less of a certainty now. He doesn't seem too happy right now, but the problem is you need Kyrie to get Davis and/or Durant. Davis and/or Durant don't come without Kyrie being there. So, if Kyrie does leave then where does that leave the Celtics? Obviously you then keep Tatum/Brown and you have a ton of quality draft picks, but at that point you're probably not a true contender anymore. Boston/Kyrie are really the linchpin of the summer NBA market right now. But, two things 1) I'd be stunned if Stevens isn't the Celtics coach anymore and 2) Archie isn't going anywhere anyways.

If we have Phinisee and Race all year, IU is a lock tournament team.

Agree on Smith tonight. He played under control for the most part tonight was active and confident around the basket with the ball, and generally played hard. Maybe getting benched the second half at Iowa had an impact. Also, I’m really happy with what Race is giving. That kid is a smart, active, tough player, and it really changes things when you have both Smith and Race. It gives Archie options that he didn’t have before if Smith was struggling. The impact of the Phinisee concussion on this season was huge. He was really just beginning to really build his confidence before he went down, and just now the last two games looks like he’s back on track.

I've tried to go back and find the tweet and can't, but over the weekend I saw a tweet from one of the UK recruiting site writers and he listed UK's top targets (it was either regardless of class or just 19/20) and he had Brooks at 6th or 7th on the list. I wish I could find it, and of course that doesn't mean that's what Cal's priority list is, but it speaks to Brooks wanting to go where he's needed.

This. And As Old Friend posted last night, IU has nobody who can do that. Also, if you rewatch the three that tied it in regulation, Green completely relaxed and got turned around defensively and lost Bohannon. It was horrible. How you relax on a game-defining play like that when defending the one guy you don’t want to lose track of is inexplicable.

Because Crean had tons of transfers the last several years. Not completely sure, but I don't think NBA defections hurt you in the APR the same way transfers do.

This is not a sour grapes post if IU loses Brooks, of course we'd love to have him, and caveat that I'm just going off the above highlight clip of McNeil, but if Brooks is really set on being a 1 and done, then if this kid could perform/shoot at the Big Ten level even remotely close to what he's doing in JUCO, then he might actually be a better fit (2-3 years of him). Long shot since IU seems in late, but maybe the Dayton connections pay off. The grand slam would be Brooks picks IU and we get McNeil. Again, I'm just going off the one clip, no idea if he translates to this level, but in the clip he looks like a gamer with 'in the gym' range. IU could use some of that.

Thanks, V05! To add to this, if everyone develops the way you'd hope and guys stay, and of course Brooks goes our way, I think in two years (20-21) the below actually looks a lot like an Archie team, and it looks pretty good to me. Add in some other signings and that's a long, athletic, skilled team. Phinisee (Jr) Brooks (So) Hunter (RS So) Thompson (RS Jr) TDJ (So) Bench Durham (Sr) Smith (Sr, though I'd guess he might not be here) Franklin (So) Forrester (Jr) Add in 2020 guys (maybe a big and a guard) and this is a nice team with a lot of versatile pieces.

I think if approached correctly, this is a fascinating topic and one I've thought about as well. I don't know the answer to the question, but I would guess a good way to find out would be to watch some Dayton film on YouTube his last 3-4 seasons there. Being completely honest, I didn't watch a ton of Dayton when Miller was there, but I do remember watching their Elite 8 run and I really liked watching that run. This is completely on recollection, but what I recall is a really long, tough, together team. A team of guys that played with emotion, that you could tell were all on the same page, we're all long, athletic, and well-built, and all knew what they should be doing and where they should be doing it. They weren't one of those mid-major teams winning in the tournament because they got hot from 3 and got lucky. They appeared to have clear leadership, guys that came through in big moments, and like they belonged in that spot. I remember them playing like they were mad that the rest of us didn't think they belonged. With all that said, I don't see that in the recruits Archie is bringing to IU so far. I don't remember his Dayton teams (again, I didn't watching closely) having these sleepy types that don't play with emotion. To be fair though, as others have said, we've really yet to see Race or Hunter play, Langford was a 'must-recruit', and Fitzner doesn't fit what I remember him having at Dayton. I think the jury is still out on Forrester obviously, though he doesn't seem like a guy he had at Dayton. I think Damezi actually does kind of fit what Archie had at Dayton, but again Damezi is a guy you're probably not expecting to be fully what he is until probably his junior year. Phinisee is another guy that I think maybe fits what Archie likes, but again I wonder about his demanour. I love that he's cool, calm and collected, but I think Archie generally likes more fiery guys. Of course, the goal isn't to just mirror Dayton, it's to improve upon it. If I'm being honest, I'm not sure if what Archie is doing so far at IU really mirrors the type of team he really wants or has had. I don't think he's even remotely like Crean though. Archie is being very intentional with his offers, and to be fair to Archie we have to give 'his guys' 3-4 years to develop before we really know. He's had 1 class to this point, so it's really too early to judge them. I do wonder if the "inside/out" approach has gotten to be too much of a mantra. I'm all for locking the borders, I really am, but has he gotten a few guys he typically might not have gone after because of that mantra?