Aaron

Don't look now but IU's RPI is suddenly in top-70. Still work to do to get into top 50 to really be in contention for at-large NCAA Bid but it is within reach now with a halfway decent finish. Pitching as it always does is coming together to be decent to close season. As I said Glant's pitching will figure it out halfway through season as it always does. The issue is this is a team that should be safely in tourney and borderline host last few seasons given talent and instead is having to make furious rallies to get into tourney contention. Glant's spin ball program is effective once grasped but way to hard for players to get the hang of and why it takes half a season for pitching to get going. Can't keep going through this each season.

You are not wrong. However, "pickup" is relative in this case given she was already on team. I do think Shay, Lenee, and Stotijn can all start in backcourt and feel good about it. However, still really need a starting level big and another wing to feel good about next year unless one of the two freshman is ready to be like Garzon was and contribute right away. That would fill a fourth spot, but neither is a big which no matter what is a must in portal, particularly in a Moren system. Faith is not ready yet to be featured big if team is going to be good again. However, love her development trajectory to be a starting level big in the league down the road in a couple of years. Would make a grad transfer starting level center ideal.

Agreed.

I would caution there may be a surprise and IU has a top player in fold they are chasing and we will have no idea about until athletic department press release about the commitment. This happened with Scalia and her name in the release amongst Parrish and Geary (who everyone knew team was going after) was a complete shock and like the ultimate Christmas present under the tree no one had even thought about or knew was there. Hoping for something similar here but have no insight or idea if this is case.

My guess is when you didn't finish until almost 6 pm last night and played three games in two days, IU was willing to trade playing in the cold tonight for a couple of extra hours of rest.

Moren trying to get bigger and more athletic as she said in final presser and the other players likely parted mutually to play at lower level for more playing time.

Glad I was wrong and IU actually beat up bad pitching today. Team has talent for big run now at postseason as performance on the mound starts to come together as it always does with Glant era in second half of season. Problem is it cannot take this talented of a team half a season to figure out Glant's pitching program as it always does. As I keep saying I expect them to go on another big run and potentially squeak into postseason as they always do. However, the status quo of this is not acceptable and cannot continue.

Good to see them beat up on a mediocre pitcher early which has been struggle in Mercer era at times as I talked about above.

And that has worked perfectly for Moren until now. However, her willingness to see light with NIL and getting bigger and more athletic was a must to make what she did keep ticking and it sounds like things could well be headed that way. Proof will need to be in pudding though.

Makes perfect sense for her as title contender and one of few schools with larger Jewish and Israeli Community then IU. Also, could be a nonstop flight away to Dulles on United from Israel if they end up resuming that service soon as has been talked about making it even easier for her family to come see her play a few times. I am very sorry to see her go, but from a standpoint for her, this is everything she wanted with ability to chase a title, an NIL bump (which IU could have likely matched if she were willing to return) and an even larger Jewish community then IU. I wish her nothing but the best as IU goes through rebuild as they try to obtain more NIL and Moren is finally willing to work towards.

I know she thinks her system works better with next level talent similar to Painter and will only go after the top level players who she thinks fit. I don't think this will change based on her final presser. However, trying to find bigger and more athletic players and raising more NIL does seem to be an area she wants to change to fit current time. My guess is we still will not see the very top players unless she thinks they fit. However, like Painter did a decade ago, the necessary changes to NIL should hopefully keep IU very competitive going forward. Even the players she has identified and wanted at next level were not gettable without NIL bump they are now working towards.

Its the perfect situation for her in everyway as I described. This is directly on Moren for letting talent erode and hopefully she is ready to change as she claims. As I said we will either look back on this as beginning of end of Moren's success or the catalyst for proper adjustments for NIL and modern game.

Nope. Yarden was gone regardless. The Merkle and Yarden situations were not related. Merkle going there may have swayed her to join Terps, but if Merkle chose IU, Yarden may have headed elsewhere besides Maryland, but it would not have been back to Bloomington. Where Yarden was headed in a different world I cannot say for sure, and had no heads up as to where she was going now. However, it was not going to be IU regardless of what Hoosiers' brought in. That I am sure about. See last few threads with explanations for more details.

Yarden situation could end up being best thing to ever happen to Moren if it causes her to change as she says she wants to. Supposedly Yarden wanting to leave was wake up call to Moren to finally get with the program with NIL as I described recently. Her choosing Maryland as much as it sucks for IU makes perfect sense and matches her wanting to chase a title and no amount of money keeping her. As I told everyone, IU could have raised more money than anyone else for her from Jewish community who wanted to help, but she was not gettable with way everything went down. Maryland makes perfect sense as they are ready to chase a title and also is one of few campuses with larger Jewish and Israeli community than IU. As I have stated, Moren thought culture she had built overrode NIL and was unnecessary. Whole Yarden situation was wake up call and now NIL is being raised for future and Moren is finally embracing it but fairly behind. For this year, just going for decent players like Stotijn to see what they can pull together. However, if all goes well, should have competitive NIL for future seasons. If Moren is really ready to change as she seems to want to, Yarden situation will be best thing for program. Ironically Brenda Frese a couple of years ago had Moren's attitude, and lost a ton of players over it and now has adjusted and killing it again. Moren needs to follow same path and hopefully will as she promises to do. Proof will be in the pudding. Either she will be like Frese and adjust to be a top program again or she will be next Coquese Washington at Penn State and Rutgers who refuses to change at all and went from being a winning coach for about as long as Moren did, to being completely unsuccessful. This is biggest test of Moren's career and if she is willing to change with modern NIL game as she claims she wants to, everything will be fine. We are either going to look back at Yarden situation in a few years and say "Fortunately this really woke her up to adapt to modern game and NIL just as Angel Reese and Ashley Owusu situation did at Maryland for Frese" or it will be "This was the beginning of the end of Moren being an effective coach as she was to stuck in her old ways." From everything I hear, it should be the former. However, we will see in the next few years when proof is in pudding. Either way though this Yarden situation will be program defining moment for better or worse. See further back in thread for other info that has been whispered to me about what is going on.

It has for a long time thanks to Moren but that sounds like it is about to change. See below in a few min.