RaceToTheTop

If you want to compare last year's incoming roster to next year's, good luck with that.

Tyme/Ngw posted here until people weren't buying what he was selling and he was posting during games I believe, so I doubt it was a staff member. Someone connected or being fed information, sure, but not someone on staff. FWIW, Tyme has not tweeted since May 16th, so it was obvious just an account that used to prop up the coaching staff. Once portal season was over, nothing has been said. Doesn't exactly sound like someone who is just an Indiana Hoosier fan....they had an MO of pushing an agenda and once that was completed, they exited.

Did HH’s special access to IU basketball start before or after Woodson was hired?

Not sure if you are wandering around in the dark unattached if you are opening up threads on IU men’s basketball and posting in it.

My one regret is that bill Walton died before he did some late night Rutgers at ucla game this year and called the big ten the conference of champions.

TSJ was off the board when Furphy was picked, so it’s not like it was an either/or. Furphy is 19 and will be a three level scorer. Will need some time to mature, but he’ll get there. Comparison I’ve seen is Trey Murphy which I think is a fair comparison.

Yeah, I don't get why people ever thought that Ballo and Reneau wouldn't be on the court together. The key is what you said -- need them to kick accurately and on time. Ballo isn't a high touch player anyway -- gets quite a few of his points on put backs. What I do really like about the team is the options that are available. While Reneau and Ballo will start, they are going to have to be staggered some so that both aren't on the court sometimes. Mgbako can man the 4 in those situations and there are certainly some pretty damn good options at the 1, 2, and 3.

Give it time....Pacers got a steal in Johny Furphy. Bronny James' agent calling other teams than the Lakers and telling them that he would 'go to Australia and play in the NBL' if they took him is hilarious.....I think the only two teams that worked out James were Phoenix and Los Angeles. And LA doesn't really want him, they just want LeBron to stay.

This tweet wins. https://x.com/LostHebrew_Dre/status/1806130875337195813

Don't like defending Woodson, but he did basically suspend the whole team for the game against Northwestern in a season where their tournament life was in the balance. I don't see Painter doing that (and yes, I know it could be argued that he wouldn't have to since he 'recruits and teaches higher behavior standards). One thing I do know is that Painter has suspended players for 'two games' in the past due to off the court behavior issues and the games he 'suspended' them for were exhibition games.

Agree. Except Izzo. Lot of shady **** and player behavior swept under the rug. Here's one you might not be aware of -- one where he came dangerously close to going into Steve Alford at Iowa territory. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/28982980/michigan-state-basketball-coach-tom-izzo-sought-witness-2017-criminal-investigation-player

As a governor appointed member, is there reason to believe that he is going to just be given the rubber stamped into an appointment again? He's been there 9 years now.

Drill being the operative word. The funny thing to me is you use 'other teams didn't see it' in terms of Collier's draft position, but Clingan was drafted before Edey -- and Edey's draft position was well above any mock. In terms of fit with Memphis, I don't see it -- especially if they are planning to play Jackson alongside Edey. Teams will push pace against that duo to death and force Jackson to guard the perimeter where he can be exposed. Maybe it works for Edey when he is on the floor and Jackson isn't. The Grizzlies have a conundrum with Jackson -- he can score and can shoot some but when they've had to play him at center he's probably the worst rebounding center in the league. I'm just not sure having a lumbering center in Edey, pushing Jackson to the 4 where he would be taken off the bounce by tons of NBA 4's is going to work. In terms of Clingan, one thing I will also say: I'm not convinced he won't be an NBA bust either. He is two years younger than Edey, though, and that means something.

Thing is, Memphis was trying to move up to get Clingon and weren’t able to….seems the team that overvalued Edey the most weren’t convinced enough in him to think that he was better than Clingon

Not as bad of a pick as Edey at 9. Your "Edey is less plodding' than Clingan is laughable.

It's a really bad draft class. But if you want to rank bad draft selections, Edey at 9 takes the cake.

Let me clarify by saying 10-10 with the way the roster was constructed wasn't bad. Even with a healthy X it was a subpar backcourt -- without him, it was the worst in the Big Ten. Combine that with the fact that Mgbako, Reneau, and Ware were really full time starters for the first time and it didn't bode well. So my point was just that 10-10 given the poor roster construction was okay. The problem, though, is that was the roster that Woodson constructed and had no one but himself to blame.

Just saw the post count go up and stopped by to see what the blow-up was. I mean, it's not anything that surprised me. It's exactly what Woodson's personality says he would do and it sounds par for the course for HH to suck in general as well. Just looking forward to actual games being played, although I think every loss will just build this thread and infiltrate game threads as well. My take at this point is that Woodson's three years in terms of winning have had okay -- not good, but okay -- results. 10-10 in conference last year wasn't bad, the non-conference results weren't not good. And I think he would have been given more of a pass for missing the tournament if he just wasn't such a spiteful guy. HH puts out an often self-centered product and given the circumstances, they weren't going to keep the access they had. But overall, I do like the roster for next year and while you can say it's all about the NIL, there are a lot of schools with NIL that weren't able to bring in the guys they wanted and others spending $2 million on a single player because they whiffed on so many. But because Woodson's behavior has been so abrasive, the measuring stick for a good majority of fans in terms of wins and losses is going to be such that it will be hard to achieve.

There hasn't been a single waiver handed out for a guy playing multiple games in the second half of the season.

Bingo. Sounds like Underwood wasn't looking out for his player. He didn't play a game until February 11th. Redshirt rule is very clear that a player can only receive a redshirt if they play less than 30% of the games, are actively rehabilitating, AND none of the games are in the second half of the year. The fact that he played 10 games became irrelevant since they were all in the second half of the season -- the moment he stepped on the court February 11th, his redshirt was void even if that was the only game he played in.

Umm....okay, cool. I was giving information about Barker and how his receiving numbers were good despite being low because the offense that they run is very run centric.

Kokomo only threw the ball 84 times all season....ran the ball 524 times. While Barker's receiving numbers look modest (23 catches for 324 yards and 4 touchdowns), in the system they ran those were very good -- no other receiver had more than 6 receptions and he had over half the team's receiving TDs.

Ty Rodgers sucks. Illinois has some high ceiling guys, but Rodgers isn't one. He's only 6'6" and can't shoot a lick, can't make free throws, is an okay but not great rebounder. I don't know what Underwood saw in him that screamed starter last year.

Illinois' war chest didn't keep Coleman Hawkins around. Lots of programs have a war chests. I just don't see the fit from his viewpoint. IMO, Illinois' major need is for guards and this didn't help that. I think they are counting on the incoming shooting guard from Lithuania to hold down the shooting guard spot but if he can't I could see happening to them what happened to IU last year -- solid frontcourt but lacking in depth and scoring from the backcourt.

They needed to build an internal war storyline with Roman gone. Tomo Tonga is totally wasted now. Could have built a story on whether Jimmy Uso was going to stay in the bloodline or join Jey.