DChoosier

Below shows how much it stands out that we have multiple players on the list you forwarded......heady company. Colleges with the most players that rank inside the top 10 at their respective position Alabama: 9 Oklahoma: 6 Ohio State: 6 Clemson: 4 LSU: 4 Indiana: 4 Georgia: 3 Washington: 3 Iowa State: 3

Bates is the 11th top 30 player IU has landed since 2000 (using Scout rankings). 9/10 of the previous top 30 players (all but Lander) played a ton as freshman and I think we would agree that Lander came out a year too early as he was not physically ready. The top 30 players since 2000 are Gordon, Romeo, Noah, Zeller, DJ White, Blackmon, Yogi, Bryant, Lander, Bates and TJD. Nice lineup! Being highly ranked does not guarantee anything but I won’t be surprised if Bates plays top 3 minutes including working his way into the starting lineup. Aside from his ranking he seems to have a lot of traits we have been lacking (tenacity, 3 level scorer, can get his own shot etc.) We will see.

I agree. Don’t know who might leave but a few weeks ago, if you were an IU guard, Franklin probably told you he was leaving which meant a lot of available Durham/Franklin minutes for this upcoming season and then........here come Johnson and Bates to eat up a ton of those minutes. It would not be a shocker if a player that sincerely stated he was looking forward to playing for Woody next season is now wondering if he will see more than 5-8 minutes a game. Don’t think the roster is set yet.

I agree and have been thinking (with zero inside knowledge) that Hunter would be more likely to move on. I’m not saying that I want Hunter, or any of the other players, to leave but I would guess that towards the end of last year he assumed he would be a major minutes guy this season. Major minutes are no longer assured, to say the least, and he might not accept that (I say “might not” because I have no idea what his mindset is). One would think that Leal and Galloway have more of a “I’m not going to see a ton of minutes this year” mindset and, since they seem to really love IU, they might accept that. If they stay the unknown will be how long they remain happy if minutes continue to look bleak their junior and senior years. Who knows, but the portal will make things “interesting” every year.

Did Fred make him keep scholarships open? If so, that’s crazy/egregious.

It was going down but, as Josh stated, Archie still booted Gelon and he re-recruited the Crean recruits that had not enrolled (ie they would not have been an APR hit if they went elsewhere). I don’t know if Fred made him go after them but it seems odd since they did not impact the APR. And after the initial year let’s not forget the multiple years in which we needed shooting but he left open scholarships. It was an all-around bad tenure (with the exception that he seemed to land good kids).

Yep. I think the rankers actually do a pretty job job, when you consider there are literally tens of thousands of high school players every year, but view the rankings as assessing the odds of a player being good rather than any sort of guarantee. Ie....although Vic was 144th I think the odds of a team being good with top 25 guys is greater than a team with 144th type guys. Not a guarantee but better odds for success. Just look at Knight. We all agree he is one of the best ever, and did not need the very best talent, but he was in 3 final fours after burger boys were invented and 3/5 of the ‘81 starters were burger boys, the ‘87 team (the least talented in my opinion) had 1 while the ‘92 team had five burger boys. Talent helps....a lot.

I always thought Cockburns greatest move had nothing to do with how he moved his feet but rather how he convinced people that Cockburn was pronounced Coburn.

Probably my favorite Hoosier of all-time.

Wow. We are already downplaying his skills. You forgot Bird, Kareem, Magic and Kobe. Tough crowd.

I love that in the article, which was written on FRIDAY, Meyers said Bate’s recruitment was still a long way off but Woody signs him the very next business day....LOL!!! Wonder if he quickly puts in a crystal ball for IU?

I’m very enthused but agree with the wait and see comments. In regards to the transfers I think they are solid. You mention Josh and Evan as busts but we pretty much got exactly what we recruited and should have expected. Josh came from a major conference and his senior year IU stats were virtually identical to his Sophomore stats at Pitt (scoring average 7 vs 6, and an identical 38% from the field and 30% from 3 both years). Evan was nearly 7 foot and only scored 5 points a game at St Mary’s as a junior. Did we think he would turn into a 12-15 point guy in the much tougher BT? In retrospect he not surprisingly had trouble with more athletic, physical competition. The 2 guys coming in have proved themselves in major conferences so, although they are not a “sure thing”’ I think the odds are much greater that they succeed. Agree that a lot is hanging on us being more of a perimeter threat (open 3’s) this year.

Yes, much like last year we have a lot of if, if, if, if, scenarios (if “old Rob” shows up, if Hunter improves, if Geronimo and Lander make big leaps etc etc). Would like us to land another “no doubt about it” starter from the portal but there don’t seem to be many players of that type available to us, so far.

It’s kind of crazy that we really only have one “no question about it” starter in TJD. I really thought Rob might be the odd man out until I saw the Dane Fife interview. He was really positive about Rob and made it clear that one of his goals was getting Rob to maximize his potential as he sees him as one of the best defenders in the BT (when he plays up to his capabilities).

I don’t know much about Durant but then saw that his top 4, according to Rivals, are Mississippi, Penn State, Miami and IU. Would love to land a DE with those types of offers. Also good to see all the Florida guys coming to Bloomington. Hope we land 3-5+ as Floridians have been difference makers in the program.