AKHoosier

Pretty good assessment. So the question is - do we root for Purdue to beat Villanova on Tuesday so we can leap-frog them too after next week's rankings? I probably won't be able to bring myself to do that.

Our last 2 wins have come against Kentucky and Kansas. If we go ahead and beat North Carolina and Louisville this year, that's a big step in becoming a "sexy" program for recruits again.

Keep in mind this is Newkirk's first game in like 2 years. It's also against a pretty good team.

Anyone want to call an Illinois loss? Screw it, I'm calling it.

Hey Kris Wilkes, it's not too late to change your mind. From the ESPN article currently front and center on their main page, Ultimate Guide to the Return of College Basketball: 8. Because you're going to love UCLA It's about to go down at Pauley Pavilion. Freshman stars Lonzo Ball and TJ Leaf join a UCLA team as stacked as any program on the West Coast. They could reverse all the drama from last year. 9. Because you're going to be annoyed by UCLA Steve Alford's track record of molding promising young talent is lukewarm right now.

We've got the talent and coaching to win this game, but my main worry is how many turnovers we'll have. We usually have a lot of turnovers in our first game of the year anyway, but this year it's against a top 5 team instead of some sub-250 RPI team. Could be trouble.

And yet KenPom has them ahead of us. I don't get it either.

It would be nice to have an early season resume-building win on our resume. Ideally we win 2 of 3 against Kansas, North Carolina, and Louisville. All 3 would be fine too, I wouldn't complain.

I'll be amazed if we keep our number of turnovers under 15. If we do, I think we'll have a pretty good shot. Really, I don't think Kansas is that much better than us. But if we do get the win, we'd probably jump into the top 5, which would be nice.

Between him and Cliff Alexander, heck throw in Andrew Wiggins, I can't figure out why 5 star guys keep flocking to Kansas like they do. I mean of course it's a good program and Bill Self is a good coach, but still. None of those guys seemed to develop at all, and I'm probably missing one or two too.

Swanigan hates playing the 5 though, it's why he went to Purdue so he didn't have to slug it out with bigs in the B1G. Haas is ok but when he gets winded or in foul trouble, they'll definitely take a step back when he goes out. The luxury of having two massive 7 footers isn't there to fall back on anymore.

I'm so excited to watch OG this year. I don't think he missed a shot the entire practice.

So I guess the two of them make quite a coach. Haha.

"Bold strategy there Cotton, let's see if it pays off."

As long as the poll has nothing to do with politics, I'm in.

Yeah they are panicking over there in Purdue-land after missing out on another of their top prospects. Painter banked a decent number of scholarships for 2017 in the hopes he'd be able to fill them with quality players, but they are striking out left and right. Highest ranked guy left on their board is Eastern I think, a guard from Chicago who also is a lean to Michigan State. Painter has to be so frustrated being Purdue's coach, he just can't catch a break sometimes no matter how hard he tries.

He seems like a good kid, gave a nice interview. So is the consensus that we want him? Tell me what to think haha. It'd be nice to have a 6'10" kid committed so Wilkes would be assured he wouldn't be playing the 4, and I don't think we have much of a chance we have with any of the other bigs we're going after like Billy Preston and Deng Gak.

I know what you're saying but think about it like this: Tom Crean has been recruiting Kris Wilkes since 8th grade. He's not going to turn away Kris Wilkes because Collin Hartman can take an additional year, which means he may not even be given an additional year to begin with. Just sucks all around.

Both parents are Illini graduates. That makes this sweeter.

Wilkes doesn't even want to be a stretch 4? Is Smith ok with being one?

I definitely am, but all that would (should) get cleared up this weekend during his official visit. If Smith commits, the timing is good in that regard, because I'm sure he'll have questions for the staff on their ability to play together.

Slightly off tangent but not really - I think Fred Glass is really helping IU athletics make strides where he can. He may not be able to directly produce wins on the court, field, etc., but he's making sure our athletic teams have what it takes to compete and keep up with the joneses. You really can't take that for granted.

This is long overdue, I've always felt this would be a great documentary.

I really hope he stays at Riley, as there were rumors he was looking at LaLumiere or other prep schools. Being from South Bend area originally, I'd like to see us land a top player from there.

^^I'd definitely take that class as long as one of those "two others" includes a big guy.