Class of '66 Old Fart

Reports starting to come out regarding the 2016 Gavitt Games Northwestern at Butler Villanova at PUke Rutgers at DePaul

CuJo and De'Ron address the Derby Classic media: http://www.insidethehall.com/2016/04/13/video-deron-davis-curtis-jones-address-media-derby-festival-practice/

De'Ron and CuJo address the media at the Derby Classic: http://www.insidethehall.com/2016/04/13/video-deron-davis-curtis-jones-address-media-derby-festival-practice/

Alex Bozich ‏@insidethehall 59m59 minutes ago De'Ron Davis has a sprained right wrist but says he will try to play in Friday's @DerbyBBClassic in Louisville. #iubb Alex McCarthy ‏@akmccarthy 9m9 minutes ago Alex McCarthy Retweeted Brett Cauble Davis said he's at 6-10, 240 right now. Bryant was listed at 6-10, 220 at the Derby Classic last year. #iubb

Gelon named to the Indiana All-Star squad that will play its Kentucky counterpart June 11, at Banker's Life and June 12, at Bellarmine U. in Louisville. http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2016/04/12/boys-basketball-2016-indystar-indiana-all-stars-revealed/82933480/

Don't you always save the best for last? Yes, it was a mistake, but every team has a 'last guy' maybe not on scholly, but someone has to fill that role. If you watch him during games, I'm not sure there's a bigger bench cheer leader than MSB. I don't know how it will play out, but maybe he'll graduate next year and leave or go the grad route. Let's be honest. If it got to the point in the season that we absolutely had to go to MSB for major playing time then our team has a lot bigger problem than MSB being on scholarship.

Let's not be overly naive that Dukie is the only school that over recruits. Part of the reason this year is nearly a record, if not a record, for kids who have announced intentions to transfer. With social media, ESPN, etc., it gets so much more publicity. And the damn NBA doesn't help with the insistent on the 1 and done crap. As a coach, you really don't know who might be coming back so you have to keep recruiting. Also, after having coached a kid for a year, maybe you realize you missed and he's simply not going to be the contributor you need or expected. As of this date, we have no scholly's available yet CTC has several offers on the table. Isn't that an example of over recruiting? Go all the way back to the tenure of RMK and look at the roster changes from year to year and don't tell me that he didn't over recruit which led to annual departures. I don't like it; it's a crappy system, but it is what it is in college basketball.

Maybe late first round to a team that doesn't have an immediate need and a GM for a team that already has a pretty solid roster and willing to take a flyer that Troy can develop into a legitimate NBA player.

Can't they make some of these gowns in candystripes?

As I recall, Stefanovic's game by game stats for this past season were fairly consistent.

Latest Scout rankings place Garland as #7.

Alex Bozich ‏@insidethehall 15m15 minutes ago New Scout rankings have Romeo Langford @yeahyeah_22 as the No. 4 player nationally in the 2018 class. #iubb

Michigan fans apparently not to optimistic about next season. Lev Facher ‏@levfacher 3h3 hours ago Michigan basketball apparently having trouble selling student seats for next year. Sent this to student STHs today:

HAPPY NATIONAL SIBLING DAY!

Pretty impressive slashing his TO's the way he has plus reducing his PF's all the while basically getting the same number of rebounds and steals. Show's how much smarter he's gotten with the NBA game. He's going to have a very long and productive NBA career.

Nice background article on Phinisee from the Lafayette Journal and Courier. Big School Player of the Year: McCutcheon's Robert Phinisee The really good ones, they don’t let pressure get to them. It doesn’t get to Robert Phinisee. Not when Matt Painter or Tom Crean intensely tried to seize a verbal commitment out of the McCutcheon point guard. Not when defenses pressed. Not when coach Rick Peckinpaugh told the sophomore he would have to be the leader of the Mavericks. Almost every night, Phinisee pulled off something that made you shake your head in disbelief. The Journal & Courier Big School Player of the Year averaged 19.2 points and 6.2 assists, shot better than 50 percent from the field, improved tremendously from 3-point range and intercepted passes that translated to easy layups on the norm. “Coach told me I was going to be one of the leaders,” Phinisee said. “”I had a big role with Tre’Shon (Heard) leaving. I feel like I did a good job and we had a great season.” Phinisee undersold that last sentence. The Mavericks advanced to the Class 4A state championship and his stats were silly for a sophomore point guard. And how he got his points, there was a point in time where Peckinpaugh wouldn’t have allowed players he coached to attempt some of the shots Phinisee pulled off. “He is really good on the drive and being able to finish, doing the loopty-do or whatever,” Peckinpaugh said, motioning with his arms circularly swinging. “He can hang in the air and decide last minute he’s going to change and flip it up with this hand. It’s not like he’s just throwing it up there, he’s got the angles. That’s something you can’t really coach or practice. He’s just got the instincts.” Phinisee broke the pinky finger on his right hand as a fourth grader during AAU season. A gym rat to the fullest, he dribbled and practiced taking shots left handed while recovering. He became so good with either hand that a number of McCutcheon’s plays are drawn up with Phinisee driving to the left. An unselfish star player, he was just as apt to kick the ball to the perimeter or thread the needle with a pass into the post as he was to drill a jumper or drive all the way to the basket. Off the court, Phinisee is as humble as they come. Every day at school, someone will try to persuade him to accept Purdue’s scholarship offer and play college basketball just down the road. He’ll laugh it off. In all honesty, he’s a long way from telling anyone where he’ll go to college. “You’ve got to credit some of that to his mom,” Peckinpaugh said. “His mom keeps him well grounded and knowing that this is all really nice and great, but you’ve still got to be a nice, humble and kind person and not act like you are better than anybody else. He listens to his mom pretty well. I think you see a product of his mother in him.” That’s a compliment to his mother. After putting together one of the finest individual seasons in McCutcheon history with still two years of high school basketball remaining, his takeaways are the journey he had with his “brothers,” as he calls his teammates. “Everybody was so close, all of us,” Phinisee said. “We got to go to the state championship. We played in the largest high school gym in America (at the Hall of Fame Classic in New Castle). Those were great experiences. We really bonded during those times.” Peckinpaugh, in four decades of coaching high school basketball, has rarely seen kids this grounded. But when the lights are on, his competitive spirit takes over. “When you throw the ball up on a Friday or Saturday night, he’d just as soon knock you over as look at you,” Peckinpaugh said.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25546027/-17-lookahead-top-five-transfers-that-will-have-the-biggest-impact CBS Sports 2016-2017 Lookahead: Top Five Transfers That Will Have the Greatest Impact. "Josh Newkirk, PG, Indiana: Like a cheetah in an open field, Newkirk has blazing quickness for a point guard. A former floor general at Pitt, the Raleigh native will be responsible for replacing Yogi Ferrell at the most important position on the floor. Newkirk should be a menace in the open court and get his teammates high percentage looks thanks to his ability to blow by defenders at will. He averaged 5.9 points and 2.7 assists in 20.8 minutes two years ago for the Panthers." Hope the blazing quickness / menace in open court / high percentage looks all come true. Could make for a very exciting year of IU basketball.

Could the fact he hasn't already announced indicate he's not getting overwhelming positive feedback from NBA sources? Surely if Momma had her way, he'd already have his bags packed.

Vic is a warrior on the court. Many thanks for the fine job you've done at keeping us updated on Vic's performance throughout the season. You've earned a renewal of your 'reporting scholarship' for another year. :-)

Absolutely wish her the best. There is the one troubling quote from the article: "But Walter told the Midland Daily News that her decision had nothing to do with playing time. She declined to offer a specific reason to the Daily News." So the obvious question becomes what is the real reason for the transfer? Issues with CTM; issues with other players on the team? Inquiring minds want to know just because we're curious and nosy.

Former Indiana guard Jess Walter will transfer to Northern Kentucky. Walter’s mother, D’Andra, confirmed the transfer shortly after the sophomore guard posted “Norse up” on Twitter late Friday afternoon. D’Andra Walter said more than 30 schools contacted Walter once she announced her intent to transfer. Dawn Plitzuweit, the head coach at Northern Kentucky, recruited Walter when she was an assistant at Michigan. The day after IU was eliminated from the NCAA tournament by Notre Dame, Walter announced on Twitter that she was leaving the program. She averaged 2.8 points in 16.4 minutes per game. She is the second recruit from the class of 2014 to leave, following 6-foot wing Maura Muensterman’s transfer to Belmont after last season. Walter showed promise her freshman year, hitting 41 percent of her 3s, which was a Big Ten best among freshmen. But following a concussion in the preseason, she went on to hit 28.1 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from 3 in 2015-16. She would have had to compete for playing time in next year’s backcourt, with transfer Tia Elbert becoming eligible and the arrival of incoming freshman Ria Gulley from San Antonio, Texas. Alexis Gassion, Towner and McBride will be seniors next season, as well. But Walter told the Midland Daily News that her decision had nothing to do with playing time. She declined to offer a specific reason to the Daily News. Northern Kentucky plays in the Horizon League, and was 19-14 with a 9-9 record in conference play. The Norse lost in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) to USC Upstate, 71-69.

Niego to transfer hoping to land a full scholarship offer. Don't blame him in the least and wish him the very best. Even with limited minutes, he made contributions that were important to our season's success. http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2016/04/08/iu-freshman-walk--harrison-niego-transfer/82817456/

Maybe there's a lot of stuff in Goodluck's personal life that's an issue. Haven't heard anything whatsoever, but that's the type of thing that could/would make him a less than desirable commodity.