AKHoosier

Wow that's actually what they put up on their Facebook. It sounds like it's more of a bold prediction than insider information, but who knows. As I said before, I'll believe it when I see it.

Cue the "It's Happening" gifs. Wow. Although, I refuse to get my hope up just yet. I'll believe it when I see it.

Man, and that's the type of hire we need. We NEED the rest of the B1G to be terrified. I love the quote that stuck out to me: "Donovan at IU would be absolutely terrifying"

Has anyone seen this Billy Donovan rumor post over on the Illini board? Sounds intriguing to me. http://www.scout.com/college/illinois/forums/2616-hoops-fan-forum/15394233-billy-donovan

I keep hearing people say this, but pretty much insider on every board I follow says they're already negotiating a "soft landing spot" for Crean after this season. He won't be back next year, I'd put it at 85% confidence.

I see a lot of equivalents here to Tim Miles a few years ago at Nebraska. He caught fire and took Nebraska to the tournament for the first time in a while, but has not been able to maintain any semblance of success since then. A lot of IU fans got caught up in the moment and wanted us to give Tim Miles a look because of that, but lo and behold, water has found its level again out there. Obviously no two situations are the same, but making the tournament one time at Northwestern shouldn't be enough to qualify someone for the IU job.

Would we really need to increase Donovan's salary that much to appeal to him? He's making $6M/year now. Does a job paying $5M/year appeal to him less? I guess what I'm trying to say is what can't you afford at 4-5M per year as opposed to $6M?

The only think that would worry me about hiring Donovan is: not a damn thing.

I'm pretty sure that would have to be a violation on Tad Boyle's part if that's true.

Dang it, I did not know that. For some reason I thought OKC got him for cheap. He just moved down the "likelihood' list, as I really doubt we're going to go higher than that. He'd have to REALLY want to return to college if we couldn't increase his salary.

Be still my beating heart! I would love Donovan at IU. The rest of the B1G would not.

Well that about answers the question for me. Once the national guys start picking up info, usually there's smoke to the fire. Up until now, all the chatter has pretty much on the message boards. But between this and the Metcalf story today, I'd say the writing is on the wall.

Another thing to consider is this is the first year of our newly-renovated Assembly Hall courtesy of Cindy Simon-Skodjt. She's obviously an important booster and IU fan, is she just going to be cool with the product on the floor after her $40M gift?

But what if he goes through back channels to gauge interest in the IU job with guys like Stevens, Self, etc., finds out there isn't a home-run hire available this year, extends Crean another year for recruiting purposes without adding to the buyout, and then re-assesses at the end of next year? Sometimes the right decision isn't the most popular one. Look, Fred Glass isn't dumb. He likes Tom Crean and wants him to succeed, but he isn't hitching his wagon to Tom Crean's star. And reading through the tea leaves on various boards, he has already started reaching to find out who would be interested if there was a vacancy at IU.

He wasn't asked to leave KSU. He left because he didn't like the AD. From what I remember, fans were pissed that he left. I'm not going to judge him by what he's done at South Carolina. They're a terrible basketball school, and athletics program overall, but he'll still get them to the tournament this year. Frank Martin is a good coach. His defensive efficiency numbers are awfully good too.

I would support Frank Martin if our other obvious options don't work out. That said, Martin doesn't seem like a guy who Glass would like to work with. If Glass didn't get along with Kevin Wilson very well, something tells me he wouldn't get along with Frank Martin either. That's important to remember.

Per another board, starting to look like you'll have to wait until next season. I don't know whose sources to believe anymore.

17-14 is pretty much our ceiling now, even before this game I thought we'd be lucky to get to 18 wins.

I agree, even though I feel like our next coach will come from the group of Dana Altman-Chris Holtmann-Archie Miller type of guys we hope have a high ceiling that we can get for cheap.

While not completely untrue, half of our team is practically dead. We had McRoberts and McSwain on the floor a ton at the same time.

Interesting. I do think he does deserve some credit for coaching them up into better talent though, I'm sure you know what I mean. And remember, that UK team went on to beat Louisville in the Sweet 16, Michigan in the Elite 8, Wisconsin in the Final 4, and advanced to the championship game against UConn. So they took care of the two best teams in the B1G after Louisville, it's no wonder a MVC team got "upset" by a team full of 5 stars at every position who got hot in the tournament. (I was wrong earlier that WSU got beat by UK in the Sweet 16, it was the Round of 32.)

Ok yeah, the team had talent. But what were they ranked coming out of high school? I really have no clue. I'd be very surprised if more than 1 of those guys was in the top 100. I'm not really sure what you mean by "have a chance to play in the NBA." Did they get drafted? I would argue that pretty much anyone who plays NCAA basketball "has a chance to play in the NBA," if you count D-league opportunities and camp invites as a "chance". They were also a missed 3-pt shot at the buzzer away from beating the Julius Randle Kentucky in the Sweet 16 the year WSU went undefeated.

Is your friend Las Vegas? Haha. I think that line is about right honestly, although it honestly wouldn't surprise me if we win by 15. Stuff happens in rivalry games.

So he's gotten to a Final 4 and a Sweet 16 at Wichita State. He got Winthrop to the NCAA tournament consistently. How far would you expect a team in the Missouri Valley or Big South Conference to regularly get in the NCAA tournament? Eventually, the talent gap is going to catch up with you, superior coaching can only get you so far. It seems odd you would penalize a coach for "only" getting to a team full of mid-major talent to a Final 4 one time.

Exactly. I wonder what other objective fans who follow college basketball think of our program the last 10-20 years. They probably look at IU basketball the way that I look at University of Texas football. They've got all the resources, fan support, recruiting hotbed, money, tradition..so what is their problem? Why can't they put it together? There's no excuse.