Old Friend

They do?????????????????? It never would have occurred to me to order clam chowder there.

No one has ever gone to Nick's for the food. (Have they?) But I gotta' say....the pizza's not awful. And the IU-ness of the place is cool. Who else here has at least one of their mason jars in his home? I have two of them.

I'd argue we have 4. Smith is really a 3 and much better in the open floor. I'd like to see him in the high post/FT line; but I wouldn't consider him a big. Davis is capable of 15-20 minutes tops; Thompson is still just 6'8". I think there are plenty of minutes to go around. Not sure I agree with your comment that good teams don't have 2 players who can only score on the block. Purdue was pretty good and they had 2-3 guys who fit that description. (Every kid can make a 10-15 foot jumper, so it's a gray-area argument, anyway)

Guy scores 34.5 PPG in Banker's Life Fieldhouse. Pacers have to take a good look, right? What can Draymond Green do that Morgan eventually can't? I'm serious about that.... Pacers could do a lot worse, and have many times.

This will do nothing but help. I love it.

A great senior season would do wonders. I know I have been very hard on the kid, and in my mind...deservedly so. None of that matters now; but I will say this. Carsen Edwards had an incredible run in the NCAA tournament and completely elevated his stock and made himself a ton of money. DeVonte Green has a similar skill set. He brings the work and discipline and then executes as Edwards did? You never know. I would bet anything I have he hears Carsen Edwards' name many times through this exploration process; and he didn't need to declare to do it. =)

Kind of a "spirit of the rule" thing for me which is why I said something. Your point is valid, and on the surface, I agree with it. But.... There are 3500 kids who could "declare" every year and take advantage of the system. But...3500 kids don't. If a kid's close...or really wants to know specifically what needs to improve so he can increase his chances or his "draft stock," I get it. I don't think DeVonte is close or even HAS an NBA draft stock. He's on nobody's watch list.. You mentioned he shows NBA ability at times; and I don't mean to be trite but there are a few hundred players in the G League; at least 1000 players in college, and countless kids on playgrounds all over the place who flash NBA ability at times. He's not a combo guard in the NBA. He's too short. He's an NBA "1," and he HAS to know he has to improve ball handling, on ball defense, shooting, and especially decision making. No NBA team wants a point guard who's a poor decision maker, and DeVonte is. He is a volume shooter and streaky scorer with average at best ball handling skills and pretty elementary numbers. His numbers under Archie have improved slightly which tells me a little discipline has done him some good, especially toward the end of last season. Long answer...there is no downside to declaring, and I know he's just testing the waters, but the spirit of the "declare without an agent" rule exists for kids who are far closer than he is. Sort of like that little kid who wants to play ball with the big kids. Yeah...it's fine, and they should let him fool around just to be nice guys, but he's not yet really ready to play with them. That's how I see it.

That's a fair point. I would counter that there are ~4500 kids playing D1 basketball right now and I would imagine close to half have the dream of playing in the NBA. At some point, a kid has to have the self awareness to know what he has to work on before any NBA team will take him seriously. I suppose my point is right now, he will likely go get information from them which any knowledgeable basketball person could tell him. Old Fart said it perfectly above.....I don't think he needs to declare to hear what he needs to hear. I'll even edit above and make that point. Yours is well taken. Thank you.

I don't know why I'm surprised, but I am. He has zero chance as an NBA player right now. He has the ability in some areas, but not the brain; and nowhere near the ball handling. I know he's investigating; but wow... Not all college players are NBA players. College players who shoot less than 40% for their career and have basically a 1:1 A/TO ratio do not make it in the NBA. But....good for him. I don't think I'd hire an agent. http://amicohoops.net/nba-draft-nba-rumors-devonte-green-indiana-basketball/ Edit : Credit to Old Fart and Stromboli for making me aware that I need to explain : My point is I think he;ll hear from NBA scouts and anyone he asks the same things he is hearing from Archie and anyone who objectively evaluates his game. I would like to see a player like him have enough self awareness to work on his own rather than having to "declare." I think he'll be back, but it surprised me he took this step. Lots of players a lot closer than he is don't take this step. It just surprised me....but then, it didn't.

I was referring to Romeo and Jake. No idea whether Cliff was part of the mess or not. Green and Smith are still around; and I know this is a dead horse from me, but Green just doesn't feel right to me in any way. I know he has some ability and I know he can get hot. He played great late last season. No question. But he makes bad decisions on and off the court, and I don't believe he's a great team mate. I would love to be proven wrong and will be first in line to say so if I am.

I skimmed the thread...didn't read all of it. This season, we had one senior who mattered much, one junior who is slow and still coming back from a torn achilles, and another who was inconsistent at best, and for 3/4 of the season was bad more than he was good. Is someone arguing with you that we're not young, or that our inexperience doesn't matter? Chemistry issues are real on every team. Only when these knuckleheads were flat told their petty garbage was affecting the entire program did it stop. This season and this team were exceptionally poor. Two of the major culprits are gone but two are back as far as I know. That scares me a bit because one bad apple can spoil the bunch. Year 2 for Archie is really coming up. In year 1, not a single of his recruits played a second. His system could not be more opposite than Crean's. This is also inarguable. We all want better results; but it's hardly time to begin negative judgement of Archie given what any objective eye saw on the floor this season. There was very obvious growth in the way the team played, in the way they came out after halftime, shot selection, assertion, and other things. Was it perfect? Hell no. Was there progress? Anyone who says no has zero clue what he/she's watching. We're a long way from "national contender," but we're a couple of pieces away from being top 15-20. Don't mean to jump on a battle I'm not fighting, but I wonder what the opposition is?

Laughable. No. Show me the comparisons.

Good riddance. Indiana doesn't need (as Dakich said today and worded it well) an attention seeking "me" guy. Give me winners. Give me people who can play the game and are tough as hell. Thicker skin than some dude addicted to the attention he gets on Twitter. Good Lord.

I get it and I'm with you. I'm talking about the history of this board. I've made the same argument for years...rankings mean nothing unless you get a few top 30-40 kids on the same roster. I'd rather have basketball players. Happy to see others beginning to agree.

It just has to be "improved." Franklin will help. Hunter will really help. Jackson-Davis is really solid. Phinisee will be healthy. Thompson will be healthy. Sounds like Green is working hard and I know Durham will. Davis will be another year healthier and a senior. One of the most experienced bigs in the conference. We'll already be deeper as far as talent is concerned. We have lost all dead weight save Anderson and really will only miss Morgan. Everyone else save Romeo we lost is just a body, and he played hurt and limited all year. I firmly believe Franklin can give us 10-12 of his points. I'll start with those 8 kids and feel like we're a better team than we were this past season....especially if Green can just get rid of the poor decisions. That by itself makes us 4-5 points better every single night.

People here would go crazy. Kid's a 2* recruit (we're talking Jalen Windham from Ben Davis, right?) who has offers from North Dakota State, Georgia State, IUPUI, and Ohio. People are saying we shouldn't offer Luke Brown. What will they say about Windham?

I would really hope so. Archie would be really dumb not to look at it hard.

Define "win?" Indiana needs to show significant progress next season, and they need to continue setting themselves up for longer term success; but what "has" to happen next season? I'm not sure I think next season is the end all, be all with his first recruiting class being sophomores.

** Carsen Edwards has declared for the NBA draft WITH an agent. ** His stock will never be higher. Probably the best move for him.

Yep. He was and is a strong guy mentally and he's tough minded. He is the epitome of "son of a coach." To me (and I do agree with the poster above who said this conversation should be about Michael Lewis who is actually available), Fife understands the culture and expectations of Indiana. Has been through the consistent fishbowl, has heard the fans and opposing fans, knows Indiana will always get the best shot from opponents, and wouldn't be intimidated by the scope or size of the job here. Nor would Lewis.

This is true. Discussion should probably be about Lewis rather than Fife.

Again....his record as a head coach has absolutely nothing to do...zero.....with why many want him on IU's bench. He was a kid then, too.. What was he, 27 years old?

Then I'll tell you the same thing because you clearly don't get it either. Fife's record has zero to do with it

I'm not telling you my diploma means anything at all. But my experience does. And again, if you think what I'm telling you is Indiana ties have something to do with "being a basketball coach," you still don't get it and still have no idea where you are or what the point is for having an Indiana guy as a primary person on the bench and in the program. It's WAY beyond "being a basketball coach." Brusier Flint was at best a mediocre coach at a small school. How does that qualify him to help Archie make decisions or recruit or succeed at a high level at Indiana (think outside the low beams)? Brusier Flint stands with his hands in his pockets during timeouts. He was hired because he's known Archie and the Millers for a long time. He was hired because he has east coast ties. I have answered all of that. You are a wonderful parrot.