vemmeistars

Not the same. Duke and North Carolina are coming off final 4 appearances and will have better teams than uva. Wouldn’t want to play them nearly as much if they weren’t projected to be top 10 teams. The brand name/history adds something extra to them just being a quality opponent.

You are right that UNC/Virginia/Duke are all probably going to be Q1 games. I do think playing marquee games against the most talented teams is best for the team/IU in the long term. I have concerns that IU's basketball brand and size of the fanbase are diminishing with an aging fanbase and lost generation from the mediocrity of the past 20 years. Ohio State and Kentucky probably have grown their fanbases with their team's recent success and IU's recent irrelevance. IU's opportunity to compete and finish at the top of the conference/nationally is more likely than not going to be tied to the fundraising/NIL capabilities than it is from a tactical advantage they had under Knight/McCracken/Dean/Sampson. Also, selfishly I already have an Airbnb booked with some of my IU/UNC alum friends coming down to Bloomington with the intent of seeing UNC or Duke.

I have the opposite opinion of you on both matters. Tony Bennett would go into the HOF if he retired today. Outside of the Natty he won he has: 2x National Coach of Year (3x Henry Iba Award) 7 ACC Titles (5 Regular Season and 2 Conference Tournament) Coach of USA Under 19 Gold Medal Team 72% career winning percentage and 69.8% conference winning percentage 10 NCAA Tournament Appearances, including two at Washington State, arguably the worst job in power 5 basketball IU being the most marketable and highest ranked preseason team in the Big Ten should give them the opportunity to host one of Duke/UNC, who are also the highest ranked/most marketable teams within the ACC.

Virginia should be a top 25 team and IU would kill to have their recent history. But the atmosphere/entertainment value of hosting a top 10 Duke or UNC will be so much better than hosting a more talented version of Wisconsin.

Haven’t hosted unc since 2016. Ideally iu would be the top program in big and play duke/unc every other year.

Rumor from retired columnist that Illini will host unc. Will be disappointed if iu has to host someone like uva or miami.

Revise what I predicted to snow me where you think they’ll finish.

I went through every game and the 1st time going through it I had: 1. Illinois 15-5 2. IU 14-6 3. Purdue 14-6 4. Iowa 13-7 5. OSU 13-7 6. Michigan 12-8 7. MSU 11-9 8. Wisconsin 11-9 9. Rutgers 10-10 10. Maryland 10-10 11. Penn State 6-14 12. Minnesota 6-14 13. Nebraska 3-17 14. Northwestern 2-18 Seeing Purdue tied with IU and Maryland finishing .500 with a new coach forced me to some make changes that lead to: 1. Illinois 15-5 2. IU 14-6 3. OSU 13-7 4. Iowa 13-7 5. Purdue 12-8 6. Michigan 12-8 7. MSU 12-8 8. Wisconsin 11-9 9. Rutgers 10-10 10. Maryland 9-11 11. Penn State 7-13 12. Minnesota 6-14 13. Nebraska 3-17 14. Northwestern 2-18

I come away with the opposite take. Fewer lower quality opponents to sweep and more games vs top half of Big Ten (outside of OSU on road). If Woodson gets IU a share of the BIG this year, he'll easily deserve BIG Coach of Year.

Illinois Home: Michigan, MSU, Rutgers Away: Iowa, Maryland, Purdue Home/Away: IU, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, OSU, PSU, Wisconsin Anybody have odds on Illinois winning the BIG in their sportsbook?

Is it clear that Painter's not on board with it? Purdue just might not be able to compete/raise the NIL $ that other Power 5 schools are able to.

If he played both sports, would they be able to not count his scholarship against hoops?

I think that’d be perfect: Cupps replaces X Kaiser replaces Kopp Page replaces TJD Carr replaces Race Newton replaces a transfer or a surprise professional development (Geronimo or Bates?)

Cupps did drop, but he's still considered a 4 star.

From what I’ve seen reading Michigan message boards, they believe it is unlikely that either returns. There’s speculation that houstan has a 1st rd promise from a team (Thunder?) and diabate tested well enough at combine to get a team to take a flier in him in the 2nd rd.

I read it as that he's going to visit IU and UCONN, but isn't sure which one he'll visit this summer or the fall.

Rabjohns reported it.

He's invited, so we'll see how he performs.

Why so secretive about a visit? It's not like Reneau's still committed to Florida.

100% agree. I get that a line up with both of them is better next year than without them. My focus is on what’s best for IU’s future/ceiling, which would be development of some combination of Geronimo/Bates/Duncomb/Galloway, and starting JHS and Reneau (hopefully). I’m hoping with JHS as an upperclassmen IU is able to make final 4 and win big ten. Next year the ceiling is top 4 in big ten and probably sweet 16.

I’d rather have 3 or 4 years of reneau than 1 more of tjd/race. Obviously would love both, but Georgia and other southern schools are going to push immediate playing time compared to IU pushing development going against TJD in practice and being a key cog next year. I think he ends up committing to Georgia with the same coaching staff he already committed to once before.

Kopps graduating in December and a good dude. If he’s a backup playing 10-15 minutes game and shooting mid to high 30s on 3’s, I think we’ll be happy.

Like what you've done. One minor change is that the open scholarship spot is used on Rich Rolf. 6'7 sharpshooter who's teammates with Gabe Cupps, who could be a nice developmental piece.

Injuries/health issues going back to IU

Thought most of the Murray st guys were going to follow their coach to lsu.