Demo

Good coach. Worth a phone call, but that's all it would be. He's got a great job and he's built a long-term program. Not going anywhere.

Coach, Thanks for taking a gig a lot of higher profile guys ran from. Thanks for doing what was necessary to create a job that a lot of high profile guys will now embrace. Thanks for being incredibly gracious to me on the couple of occasions that I was fortunate enough to speak with you. I wish you and yours the best of success going forward. Hooking up in a Final 4 game would be ok with me.

Regardless of who my personal preference might be, I'm prepared to support the leader of the program next year, whether it's CTC or someone else. The only exception is Alford. His credentials are secondary. His handling of the Pierre Pierce situation ends it for me. He is less fit then Sampson to lead this program.

Agree with you completely on White. Terrific coach. The thing Underwood's teams do so well is constantly work their stuff until it creates the matchup they want. Then they're disciplined enough to just hammer it until the other team is forced to make a change. I'm telling ya, watch the OSU-ISU game on Thursday. Prohm's a legit guy and ISU can certainly win it, but I guarantee you it'll look like he's a step behind Underwood the entire game.

So now Mark Few can't coach? Not that 15k posts wasn't already a pretty good indicator, but this thread has become officially and unassailably nuts. Few is an elite coach. He would compete at an elite level in any conference in the country. Ridiculous to suggest otherwise. That being said, if he wanted to be somewhere else, he'd already be at UCLA. My guy in this theoretical is Brad Underwood. Watching that guy coach is an absolute pleasure. Like watching John Kresse when he was at C of C. Underwood is 1 of the 10 best coaches in the country. Would take him ahead of 90% of the name guys that this board seems fixated on.

Meaning Behind Username: -Nickname from childhood Approximate Age and Location: - 55 St Louis Are you a born and raised IU fan? -Yup. My father had a Master's in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue and even he was an IU fan, though I was actually an IUFB fan first. When you first knew you were an IU fan? -1973 NCAA tournament. Came to basketball late. Remember watching the Regional final against UK and just hating the look on Joe B Hall's face. So my love for IUBB and hatred of UKBB literally happened simultaneously. What sports did you play in High School and College? -basketball, golf and soccer Besides IU, favorite sports teams? - Colts, Pacers Did you attend IU? -played for 2 years as a walk on at Oral Roberts. Gave it up and spent my last 2 years in Bloomington. ORU played in the Hoosier Classic my Freshman year. We only lost by 9, but I remember sitting on the bench and thinking that there wasn't a single guy that IU played that I could guard. Of course, since they won the NC, that didn't make me rare. What is your favorite IU Basketball Memory? -That. Sitting on the bench watching that team. They weren't playing well yet, but a blind guy could see the talent. Also got to shake everyone's hand. Who is your favorite basketball player of all time? -Mike Woodson What is your favorite IU Football memory? -beating Michigan in 87. Who is your favorite IU Football player? -Anthony Thompson Best sporting event ever attended? -Colts-Pats AFCC game Best IU sporting event ever attended? -IU-Illinois game in, I believe, 86. Awesome crowd. largest lead by either team was 3. Just competitive as hell. Might be off on the year. What brings you to this board? - love finding a board with a breadth of opinion, and yet pretty civil about it. Haven't found a lot of those. How long have you visited/followed BtownBanners? Late '13

Currently watching Smith against DeSmet, which is a pretty mediocre team. Has 16pts, 5 assists and 2 steals at the half. 3 of the assists were just great looks. No longer worried in any way if he's a PG. Completely sold. Forget stars or ratings, this kid has a higher ceiling than any guard on our roster. The game is just incredibly easy for him. If work ethic matches talent he's a pro. Hova, if you're seeing him next week, feel free to tell me I'm nuts.

Well then, forget CTC and Jud. I'm taking this recruitment over. Am going to check him out again on Tuesday night against DeSmet, which will be a beating. Going to have to make sure the kid understands that my reputation with my favorite board is at stake.

This is going to be a really interesting recruitment. No long term relationships with coaches. No shoe company relationships. From a school that hasn't been a pipeline to any schools or conference. And he's only got 2 OA's left with probably zero chance that he goes to any school that he's previously visited. Yeah, he says not going to prioritize recruitment until his season's over. But once it starts it's going to be over in no time. We have GOT to get him on campus.

Also surprised it took this long. Edwardsville is playing at E St Louis Friday night. Would love to check it out to validate what I've seen. But struggling with balancing getting to see Smith and Tillmon play vs getting knifed in the parking lot. Tough call.

And the countdown to the offer is "T" minus 3 days, 2 days, 1 day........

Saw Chaminade several times last year and the kid didn't stand out in any way, though with Tatum and Cook on the floor no one else did. He looked like the kind of dime a dozen 6'5" kid that there are literally dozens of at every AAU tournament. Haven't seen them this year, but if he's improved enough to put 47 on a pretty good team, then I have to get a look.

He's really explosive downhill, so no problem straight ahead. The way he was used made it hard to gauge his lateral quickness. At no point was he pressuring a dribbler, so not a lot of change of direction. But the kid is such a specimen and so strong that I can see him just bodying up smaller pg's and cutting off their initial angles.

Smith is a very good player. I assume he's this far under the radar because he was playing baseball in the summer instead of AAU. Full 6'4", pushing 200. Probably play at 210-215 in college. Great frame. Avg length. Really strong and very physical. Created a ton of contact. Good athlete, but not elite. Close to Rojo athletically. Quick off the floor, very little gather. Good body control, finished through contact easily. Good lift, extension and balance on his jump shot and has effortless deep range. Made a couple from NBA 3pt range. Took the ball to the rim with complete abandon and finished with either hand. Also had 2 charges. Went down on the block and punished a couple of smaller kids, but also made a couple of terrific passes when doubled. Has point guard vision, passed the ball well and took care of the ball, but their offense made it hard to tell if he has point guard instincts. He initiated a lot of stuff, but didn't really orchestrate much, if that makes sense. They also played at just a glacial pace, literally turning down fast break chances, so no clue what he's like in the open floor. Hard to tell much about him defensively. He was always matched up with the weakest offensive player on the floor and was constantly sagging, doubling and generally free lancing. Lateral movement looked fine. Emotionally, seemed like kind of a flatliner. Didn't change expression much, but played hard. He's not Hollowell, he looked like he wanted to be playing. Overall he's a lot like Paul Scruggs. Maybe not quite that good, but not far off either. Smith is taller and a better shooter, but not quite as good athletically and not as intense a competitor. If CTC watches this kid and thinks he's a PG, I'd be shocked if he doesn't offer. If he thinks he's a CG, maybe not. If we don't offer, I really hope he doesn't end up at Illinois. On 1 viewing only, I think he has a chance to be really good.

I have been known to have the occasional irrational moment.

It's some kind of invitational. Edwardsville is playing Centralia(?) in the finals a little later. Watching the 3rd place game now. Place is jammed. Crowd is awesome. Teams are terrible.

While basking in the afterglow of today's win, and with absolutely nothing to do tonight, I have driven almost 2hrs to a few miles north of B.F.E., otherwise known as Salem, IL, to check out Mark Smith. Even if the kid can't play, it's probably worth it for the Salem HS gym, which is awesome. I'll let y'all know.

Edwardsviile is good enough to have beaten Jordan Goodwin's Althoff twice and Jeremiah Tillmon's East St Louis team. Combine that with his numbers and I am really intrigued. Only live about an hour from there, so I'll find a game to check out.

I agree with you, but I thought the conversation was about Bryant's future.

i guess it depends on how you and I are defining where his game is from a draft standpoint. Does his game extrapolated out over the length of a career translate to the NBA game? Sure it does. If you want to see his floor, Imo, this is it: http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3460/marreese-speights That's 9 years as a rotational 4/5, the last 3 with really good teams. Is that a star? Of course not. But I'm pretty sure if you told GM's picking in the 20's that they are going to get that production, they aren't all going to pass it up. And I think his ceiling is good bit higher than that.

Pretty sure neither of us are going to be gm's any time soon, but if you're saying that a kid who's going to measure 6'11" in shoes with a 7'5" wingspan, who can make perimeter shots, who can make the correct pass both out of the post and on the perimeter, who flashes the ability to make plays off the dribble, who can run the floor and has a motor, who works at his game and is coachable, is a good teammate and competitor, and will be 19 years old on draft night, is a 40-50 player in June, yeah, no. That tool kit won't get out of the top 25. Bryant absolutely needs to improve his game. I agree with your view of some, though not all, of his flaws. But when that kid decides to go, he's going to have as long a career as he wants.

Wheeler is playing on ESPNU on Feb 3rd. Sounds like a halftime announcement to me.

Would love to see him live, but his clips look a lot like Justin Smith to me.

Fox is really good. But if you haven't had a chance yet, check out Markelle Fultz.

Watching this kid right now. Good athlete. Nice player. Kind of a 3 and D type. Steve Prohm from Iowa St is here and seems to be watching him. Looks more like a mid-major kid to me.