MikeRoberts

Impressive performance tonight!

Yes, as skinny as he is, is the number 1 recruit in the country - he uses that wiry frame well. Had 14-13-6 in his first college game and followed that up with 5 rebounds in 9 minutes in his second game against a top 5 team i don’t think he has been pushed around at all. He only got out rebounded by 2 players, 1 of which is likely the ncaa player of the year and he only played 9 minutes. - very effective in his minutes

Just for the sake of conversation if for no other reason then I am delayed at the airport, but one could also say, if he can improve his handles and quickness, he could make a case to play the 3 and have a ton more upside as a 6’9” 3 than a beefier 4 or 5

There are players that have a thin, wiry frame and maybe they fill out, maybe they don’t but allowing natural progression to occur is important. Trying to pack on weight on a body that isn’t natural for can do more harm than good. Some of the best players ever were super thin and I think that was an asset - more weight could have slowed them down, been tough on their joints

Imagine us waiting for players like Durant to finally be good because they put on weight… never understood these types of evaluations of kids.

To answer the original question, YES, NIL is already becoming a key decision factor for kids and will become even more so. if a kid is torn between IU and Kentucky and Kentucky can show that on average their kids each make $300k a year and on average at IU each player makes $25k…. That makes the decision a lot easier for that kid and their family. I made up those numbers but this becomes more of a business decision than it ever was before because the numbers can be talked about openly

Maybe already stated but Gonzaga played 6 guys essentially with 2 never leaving the court. that is insane

What is the vibe on campus? I’m disappointed that we aren’t packing Assembly Hall. I drove 4 hours for Hoosier Hysteria and was shocked it was so empty this team should be fun to watch and seem like relatively good kids - no reason not to turn out. Glad to hear students are - curious what else is holding the fans back. Maybe we just need to string together a handful of good performances and enter a big game ranked before we pack the hall again

IU 76 - SJU 71

What? McDonalds sells baskets of fries? I eat there almost weekly and never seen that

How is nobody outraged this man ordered a “basket of fries!” Since when does McDonalds sell baskets of fries? it’s not long johns dude

I didn’t see much to free up Kopp and Stewart for open catch and shoot threes. Those two should take 10 a game and really limit the amount coming from the others. as you pointed out, nobody was even around or attempting to grab an offensive bird on the majority of shots. That’s not a great recipe for success

The wrong people are taking the shots. Why are Race and Phinisee putting up 9 3’s collectively when neither are really good at it. that’s more than Stewart and Kopp collectively. That needs to change

IU 77, EMU 53

Yea, for sure. There are now a million ways to pay these kids legally. Some uber rich may not need the business incentive to do it, they can just have the team sign a poster and pay them whatever they want. for most people, they don’t have a ton of extra money but they do work for businesses that do and they need to be 1, aware of what they can do, 2, educated on why they should do it and 3) be advised on how. That often means a representative of the school/team like a sales rep that is talking to the players, “what are you passionate about outside of basketball? Tracking social followings, building competitive reports,, tracking commitments, educating businesses on NIl results from an ROI standpoint, helping kids with their scheduling and non competes and rules and the list goes on. Anything less is letting the chips fall where they may and won’t be enough

99% here. Yes, IU needs to step up its NIL game. This didn’t just happen, the writing has been on the wall for years. IU has had a ton of time to think, explore and implement. The posters were just one example of how the school can pay the kids - they give their NIL to that company to make and sell the posters. beyond that, IU needs to higher an ad sales exec of some kind to promote the kids and their interests. These kids can sign deals with agencies and such but some national agency isn’t going to have the local contacts and ability to sell these kids to Porsche dealers, restaurants etc like an IU sales rep would. That role is a must

Huh? Isn’t a portion of the schools calendar/schedule poster sales going to the players? the rules were never enforced before and NIL essentially wiped them away - it’s open season for handouts. it’s about precedent and benchmarks this season. Every recruit will ask “what financial opportunities exist at IU via NIL?” We need strong benchmarks to share - other schools will

It should be a comma/journalism etc class to do interviews with players, do podcasts etc and put that content out via IU media channels and start building internally. That way, you get the students involved, get them real world experience and build a product that you can control

I wouldn’t say “you heard it here first” maybe heard it here thousandth. There are a lot of people, including myself that expect big things this year. I don’t expect a first place in the Bigten nor a final four but I do expect a top 5 in the BigTen and a top 7 seed in the tourney. I never felt that way under Archie, never had high hopes. I think this team will compete night in and night out and get us caring a bit more than the past 5 seasons. what I don’t like is what type of reload is in store for us after this year. We should be crushing recruiting with us likely losing 5/6 best players after this year. We have some good pieces coming in but cannot afford to take a big step back, it will crush momentum

That is NIL… it’s paying players and other schools have been good at it for a while. Now that it is legal, we have no excuse if football schools can muster enough money to support a gazillion football players and have enough left over for basketball to outkick us… that is pretty sad

I was doing some digging after posting this and apparently Knight put up all of his IU stuff up for auction in 2012 including his plaid sport coats, championship rings etc… wish I had known/had the money then to pick up some of that

With Tom Brady’s 600th touchdown ball valued immediately at over $500k, it got me thinking - what is the holy grail of IU basketball memorabilia? if you had “X” that would be the show stopper piece?

When you say things like this, are you talking to Cupps and he’s telling you “that he knows he’s not a day one guy?” Never seen this

I agree. Selling TJDs spot should be the easiest sell IU has.

What if anything is Thad matta able to do here?