Class of '66 Old Fart

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.

He and others still have time. Key Dates: April 24: Deadline for early entry eligibility May 11-15: NBA Draft Combine May 17: NBA Draft Lottery May 25: Deadline for early entrants to withdraw from NBA Draft June 23: NBA Draft

Not good news at all. Jesse Rogers ‏@ESPNChiCubs 44s44 seconds ago Schwarber has a full torn ACL and LCL

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/15162263/ncaa-hits-former-southern-miss-golden-eagles-coach-donnie-tyndall-10-year-show-cause-penalty Donnie Tyndall given a 10-year show cause ban by the NCAA for his Mississippi State infractions. This was also not this first run-in with the NCAA. Three former assistant coaches also received severe penalties. One was hit with an eight-year show cause, one has a seven-year penalty and the other was six years. Southern Miss also must vacate all wins in which the ineligible athletes participated and will lose four additional scholarships over the next three seasons. Some, not all of the allegations, dealt with fraudulent course work. So, if you're the UNoClasses, did your sphincter muscle tighten just a bit?

Schwarber quote: "I have no regrets about playing hard & getting hurt......I was more worried 1st off how Dexter was doing." Now that's a true teammate!

My take as well. Saw the handwriting on the wall.

TB's announcement today really puts some stability to next year's roster even if Troy leaves (which I expect). The guard position is 'iffy' to the extent we simply don't know what the respective skill sets of Newkirk and JBJ will be in the aftermath of their major surgeries and lengthy rehabs - and in JBJ's case multiple surgeries. If either can't hold up, our true freshmen guards will be getting extended minutes.

Is this where we stand? 2015-2016 Scholarships Max JBJ Z OG RoJo Troy Yogi JM CH TB MSB Newkirk - ? 2016-2017 Scholarships (I'm assuming Troy leaves) JBJ OG RoJo JM CH TB MSB Newkirk CuJo Green Davis Gelon

Romeo Langford of New Albany (Ind.) shares MVP at Underclassmen All-American Game, awaits Duke visit It is looking like a good 24 hours for Romeo Langford. The star sophomore from New Albany (Ind.) was named the East Most Valuable Player at the Underclassmen All-American Game on Wednesday night in Indianapolis. On Thursday, he is scheduled to get a visit from Duke assistant coaches John Scheyer and Nolan Smith during an open gym at the school, according to 247Sports and Rivals among others. Langford finished with 16 points, including a pair of three-pointers, in the East’s 114-101 win in the National game. Langford was a star player for a New Albany team that went 27-1 to win the 4A title and was No. 18 in the Super 25. Marcedus Leech, a freshman from Poplar Bluff (Mo.), finished with a game-high 17 points as the East had six players in double figures. The teams were tied at 88-88 going into the fourth quarter and the East opened up a 105-101 lead with less than a minute and a half left in the game. It closed the game out from there, now allowing the West to score again. Nazreon Reid of Roselle Catholic (N.J.) was named the MVP for the West with 15 points. DJ Jeffries (Olive Branch, Miss.) added 14.

Devin Davis named 1st team NJCAA. http://www.jucorecruiting.com/news_article/show/634336-njcaa-all-american-teams-announced-

Valparaiso University junior forward Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) announced Thursday that he will declare for the 2016 NBA Draft. Peters will not hire an agent at this time, allowing him to withdraw from the draft process at any point prior to the May 25 NCAA deadline and return to school for his fourth season of collegiate eligibility.

Especially when the NCAA now seems to operate under a 'presumed to know' or 'it's your responsibility to know' philosophy with head.

PF Robert Carter Jr. of Maryland to enter the NBA Draft and will sign with an agent.

Dan Dakich: "IU now has the best young big man in college basketball returning.” I'm all black and blue from pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. Truly a wonderful Thursday in the Land of Candystripes.

Agree, everything I looked at indicated '17. If he were a '16, I'd be a little leery about his name popping up out of thin air at this relatively late date. Too reminiscent of a couple of our recruits from 2 years ago.

It's not like they had "big shoes" to fill on their roster!

Hopefully TB will return and spend next season improving his draft value. And hopefully, he won't look at JBJ's knee surgery and think what if that happens to me if I stay.

So with these additional self-imposed sanctions, are we to presume that's there is some fire and not just all smoke surrounding their recruiting practices?