RaceToTheTop

It's been there the last two days. Has to do with a lawsuit he is the defendant in for supposedly manipulating the value of dogecoin." " this is just meant to inform, not trying to venture into politics. To get back on track and discussion started, Maximus Nelson of Valparaiso is in the portal. He's not a good player but his name would be a great WWE name.

If there is one coach that will give freedom for Love to do whatever he wants to do, it's Howard. He certainly won't encumber him with well drawn up plays.

Big one entering, at least from an upside standpoint. Harrison Ingram, Stanford. 6'7" small forward, just completed his sophomore year. 19th rated recruit in the 2021 class. Averaged 10.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists last season.

@Chris007 is an incredibly knowledgeable poster. Prior to the NCAA tournament in the college bball thread, we were discussing how many 'true contenders' there were for the NCAA title this year and I believe he said something along the lines of 'what are there this year? Maybe five or six?'. And then we ended up with a tournament that saw a 4, 4, 5, and 9 seed in the final four. The best opinions is and always will be that....opinions. So I don't think I would ever go so far as to call an opinion a 'truth'. It's funny that the older I get the more I know that I don't know. I.e........Shedrick isn't a player I'm all that into. But one thing I do know: my opinion on him doesn't mean anything. Fun to talk about it on a message board and like spirited debate, but even if I'm correct that he's not that good of a player or fit currently that doesn't mean anything in terms of what happens in the future.

Re: "as it is".......there is zero chance that the team next season consists of the current roster as it is.

**** YOUR COCKTAILS....THIS TEAM NEEDS BEERS!!!

I am getting the sense that one gap the staff is looking at is the dreaded e word. Sparks and the recruitment of DeLoach would seem to say that. From the little we know it does seem like they are looking for team centered guys...from what Chris said about their thoughts on Love it doesn't seem like they want a talented but self centered player around.

I haven't followed the back and forth between the two of them -- trying to turn over a new leaf and avoid those things. But at the same time, I do think that the as a one-off that Wayne's comments on DeLoach could have been read as anything but looking for the negative. The 'gets pushed around in his own league' line....not sure where he is coming up with that only he's just looking at his weight and nothing else. It certainly isn't being said by the people who voted for the all-conference team nor is it being said by the people who watched him play a lot. Anyway, I have nothing but love for Wayne and know he was contributing here way before I had even signed up. Guy coached Ohio State to the PC Stellar league I ran here a couple of years ago.

I don't believe Arizona is currently on the schedule. The only games listed for sure so far at Inside The Hall are the Empire games and Kansas.

FWIW, On3 currently projects DeLoach to Indiana at 92%. Doesn't mean a whole lot -- Battle has been at 100% for a few days now and no word on it -- but it is certainly a possibility.

Maybe, but the criticism of DeLoach could be said twofold IMO for Shedrick, someone who he said he would take who is not someone I get the hype over. Criticism of DeLoach's fouling? Shedrick's foul rate is higher. Think DeLoach 'gets pushed around in his own league" ? DeLoach's rebounding numbers kill Shedrick's. And DeLoach I can see running the floor against an athletic team.....Shedrick not as much.

You could just as easily have said he was a the leading rebounder and shot blocker and third scorer and shot 56% on a team that went 27-8 and won the Atlantic 10 and was third team all conference as a sophomore. We all choose our outlooks.

Final WAR ratings for the year. U Conn ended at #6 but automatically gets bumped to #1 for winning the title. Connecticutt, 31-8 +9.84 Alabama, 30-7, +10.60 Kansas 27-8, +10.34 San Diego St, 30-7, +10.25 Texas 29-9, +9.94 UCLA 31-6, +9.92 Gonzaga 30-6, +9.48 Purdue 29-6, +8.95 Houston 33-4, +8.43 Marquette 29-7, +8.39 Kansas St 26-9, +7.12 Arizona 27-7, +6.77 Miami 29-10, +6.57 Florida Atlantic 33-4, +6.40 Xavier 27-10, +6.24 Baylor 23-11, +6.05 Duke 27-9, +5.10 Memphis 26-9, +4.92 St. Mary's 25-9, +4.90 Missouri 25-10, +4.77 Tennessee 25-11, +4.55 Utah State 25-9, +4.32 Indiana 23-12, +4.18 Michigan State 21-13, +4.15 Texas A&M 25-10, +4.05

Two teams on his list were in the final four. Would say if they are offering, he has something.

Here is what I have gathered from reading about him on VCU message boards: -- does not possess an outside shot but has a really good touch around the rim. Believe that posters that have said he's more of a slasher than post up player are correct. -- plays with an edge. They felt he really improved on harnessing that as his sophomore year went on -- went from being a hothead as a freshman to a guy who was very competitive and competed for every ball as a sophomore. I really didn't find anyone talking bad about him which is rare for a guy likely exiting the program. FWIW, he was a 13.5 mpg game player as a freshman and even without eye popping numbers as a sophomore was still third team A-10. Plus defender.

What a Cryer.

It was actually a few days ago on here and on the Twitterverse. He's a 6'9" PF/C who's a decent defender and rebounder but does not have have an outside shot at all. 57% shooter last season, 9.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg and 1.4 blocks in 24 1/2 minutes. My uneducated guess would be he ends up follows his coach to Penn State and might have played a part in Kebba Njibe's decision to transfer.

@Chris007indicated that it will be announced shortly.

Only one person has called X elite.

I think the positive thing about the 1:1 ratio is its frontloaded with wtf and backloaded with good to great.

Any player of X's level and above? :) Anyway, I wouldn't call him elite but I'll call him a very good one. I would say that currently he is the most important player to our success next season. FWIW, rostercast on Torvik has IU's roster current at #64. Adding X and no one else moves IU to #41.

As I said, it's not about the Butler kid. The point is dismissing a player solely on his team's record the previous year would exclude quite a few players. In terms of Terrance Shannon Jr was not an obvious one coming into the portal....he was ranked 14th by 247 on 2022 portal guys. Mayer was actually the higher rated portal player. It's easy to say in hindsight who were the top portal players, but Shannon, while highly regarded, was not at near the most sought after last year.

Houston, but they didn't play a tough schedule. There were 31-2 heading into the American conference tournament final.

This is not to suggest that we should be going after the Butler kid, but none of the top 12 ranked players by 247 in the portal played in the NCAA tournament this year. Jordan Epps is the 13th ranked player in the portal, Jamison Battle is the 15th ranked player....neiter were in the top 20 players in the Big Ten. The transfer portal is still mostly full of flawed players -- talented players in P5 conferences who you are hoping live up to expectations and players who put up good numbers at mid and low majors that you are hoping translates once they play against P5 competition regularly. The #1 player rated in the portal by 247 is a highly rated freshman who wasn't good enough to start on a mid level Pac 12 team who didn't make the tournament. Ultimately you have to hope you can judge the player's talent correctly and can sign guys that pan out, but it's a crap shoot. One of the most sought after portal guys last year was Sam Griesel and he was just okay at Nebraska, certainly not a program changer. So I don't think you can get too wrapped up on a player based on his team's record elsewhere. Too many moving parts to do so.