hoosierbgh

His cousin Harry is still in the portal. He's a bit more raw, a bit less vocal and his guardian, Mr. Henderson, is looking for a big payday.

Leal certainly makes for a good Rorschach Test. Some look at his career and see an average to above player that was used poorly. Others have a much firmer connection to reality. All joking aside, I can't recall any other IU player that was so acclaimed by so many and has generated so much debate with so little apparent accomplishment to base it on. Every year it seems fans have a player or two we misunderstand, its been kind of nice to have Leal as one we misunderstand in a positive way for once.

Can't be, it has too many teeth remaining to be affiliated with Kentucky.

If he can hold up guarding the 5 spot in the BIG without picking up a ton of fouls, he has the potential to be a heck of a weapon on offense IMO.

Bailey may play the 5 on defense but he's not a traditional 5 on offense and will likely be used more like a big slasher/wing.

The days of really skilled bigs at IU are likely in the past for the foreseeable future. The 5's role in this offense are to 1. defend, 2. rebound, 3. set screens, and 4. catch the ball and dunk it on rare occasions. Being able to make any kind of post move is largely irrelevant. Opurum doesn't appear to be as stiff and lumbering as a lot of inexperienced kids his size. He also has a good frame, good timing on blocks, and appears to be able to catch the ball. He probably won't contribute much his first year but is worth a shot as a backup on the bench and a developmental piece.

I think there's a little Charlie Brown in most of us where IU basketball is concerned... and for good reason. Still, there's not much value in assuming failure, there will be plenty of time for negativity if the ball gets pulled out from in front of us again.

I think there are relatively few that are negative for the sake of being negative, although those few do really stand out. Unfortunately, there are more that are simply desperate for attention and have found that being outraged and throwing tantrums is a reliable way to get it. Still others use negativity as a defense mechanism. Sustained winning will eventually cure a lot of the problems. Until then, no news is bad news, good news is not good enough news, and bad news will be the end of the world.

And when they are found by the coach, fans will still b**** until the kids actually show out, if they ever do. Even ignoring the reward vs. effort expended component of things its damned if you do, damned if you don't for coaches. It makes a lot more sense for coaches to pursue kids after they show out at lower levels, than to simply pursue hidden players in the hope that they will someday show out.

How quickly we forget the fan reaction when a coach goes prospecting for one of those hidden gems. In the ancient history of late last week, fans were complaining about the possibility of getting a 3 year veteran D1 player that contributed to two different teams.

They seem to be getting better every game too!

Come on now, the three positive comments in a row probably caused him intense pain as it was. If he had waited until the end to say something negative, he may not have had the strength to hit submit.

Is it too early yet to re-name Memorial Stadium Cig's Woodshed... where BIG teams go for their beatings?

IMO, Painter without Edey is a poor man's version of Wooden without Sam Gilbert. He's still a good coach, maybe even a very good coach but he is not the myth and legend some make him out to be.

Purdue may have caught lightning in a bottle with Edey and the way he was allowed to play but at the end of the day, Purdue is still just Purdue. Top rated recruits understand this, whether from Indiana or not.