Maedhros

We all want guys who can shoot from deep. But judging a freshman off just his three points percentage, as though that's all he'll ever be, is a mistake. Ryan Conwell shot just 30% from three as a freshman and you wouldn't have wanted him a year ago.

I always appreciate your work on this. If you have the information readily available, can you share those targets we have on the EYBL circuit (and the team they're with)? I love going to Grand Park for this event, though I don't yet know who to scout.

Yes, I would say judging a player's worth off just one statistic over a seven game stretch is being a hater. He was 33% the rest of the season, and that's as a freshman coming off chemotherapy. He's also a point guard that can affect the game in many ways other than just shooting, such as an assist percentage over 22%. He was first team All PAC 12 and conference ROY after all. And the great thing about freshmen is they get better.

Quoting this post, for being the most concisely stated, lol. I generally agree with your larger point, that fans have become quick to find fault in damn near everything. Something must be done. Landing a top guard like Sanon is certainly something. Therefore, it must be done. This isn't a smart approach for every individual recruit. But there's a larger trend that's not nothing. With Sanon, and Davis, I think you're begging the question. We don't know if they're too interested in money, guarantees, or are just bad eggs. Sanon could be asking for the moon, but that didn't scare off Kansas, recent national champion, preseason number one, and the most consistent program of the last 40 years. Davis visited Shrewsberry at Notre Dame before committing to Kim English at Providence. He's still ranked outside the top 100. Doesn't seem like he's one to be asking for a bundle. Maybe his is an attitude thing, but that's something I can't know. What I do know is we backed off Coen Carr, only for him to be snatched up by Michigan State and Tom Izzo, the most accomplished coach in the Big Ten. We backed off Jaeden Mustaf, whose weakness is admittedly shooting, but a 6'5" CG who does everything else well sounds awfully useful. It's not that Sanon, and Davis, are make or break for Woodson. It's that I have no idea what the plan is at the position. We (ostensibly) went all in on Fland, missed that one too, but had no other targets left on the board. Now two names have surfaced, yet we've backed off both of them as well. What's the strategy here? I could trust that Woodson is sagely avoiding potential headaches if I could see the vision, but right now I just don't.

This is perhaps what you risk with this coaching hire. Mike Woodson: is 65, having spent a lifetime in a world where college players can't receive payment for their services played under Bob Knight, who was famously outspoken against schools that violated this norm was a star player himself who presumably did not receive compensation for his talent while still in school still made millions in his career as an NBA player and coach None of this suggests a coach who is going to be forward thinking about the new realities of college sports. There was talk early that Woodson would be comfortable in this environment having dealt with free agency in the NBA. But in that world nobody bats an eye if a player's camp asks for as much money as they think they can get. Why balk when the Sanon family does the same? Zion Williamson's family is well-known to have received a new house. Duke got a NPOY in the exchange. And that was before NIL was even a thing. If you're going to keep targeting Top 15 kids, almost to a fault, these are the waters in which you might have to swim. Matt Painter gets to talk about recruiting guys to his system, who want to be there and are willing to work. Purdue also does most of their recruiting outside of the top 80. Perhaps the pause in the Sanon recruitment is just a negotiating tactic. I hope so. Because I can't imagine prioritizing instant impact guys, then backing off when their camp asks for money, is going to be an effective strategy on the recruiting trail.

We thought Phinisee was going to be good because of what he did before a concussion derailed his season, and ultimately his career. In those first twelve games, Rob shot over 44% from both 2 and 3. After the concussion, through the rest of that year, those numbers dropped to 32% and 24% respectively. That's how you end up will the full season stats you quoted. Fletcher Loyer was healthy all year, and played with the gravitiational force of the NPOY.

No Indianapolis weekend? That's unusual.

I've checked in on a RI message board too, and it's all remarkably familiar. It's the exact same posts I read for years. Optimists saying Archie was absolutely the right his, but needs time to up the talent on the roster, put his system in place, bring in shooters. Others are seeing warning signs that the offense doesn't move, shots are just thrown up at the rim, and the defense gets beat too often. I've briefly thought of making an account, just to let them know what they're in for in the years ahead, but I think some Indiana fans have already done that.

Woodson was also there at last night's game, per Rakease's Twitter.

This argument doesn't hold up now that NIL is permitted and open. The market has already demonstrated that these athletes are worth well more than what the NCAA previously permitted. On a recent podcast, the CBS guys said estimates of Drew Timme's earnings are at $2 million. Sure, he's a multiple AA and possible preseason NPOY, but it's now impossible to claim that he was receiving a fair deal before NIL.

Yasir and Kenya both watching Arrinten Page in the third game of the morning session

I'm excited for the weekend, it's been a few years and will be good to be back at Grand Park. Found the schedule for EYBL, time to plan who I want to see: https://nikeeyb.com/eybl-schedule-2/

Is there a roundup posted of our recruits/targets and for which AAU teams they are playing?

Spring basketball is here, and apparently there's an AAU event in Indianapolis right now of which I was not aware. Does anyone know if EYBL will be returning to Westfield this year? I went up the road to Grand Park the past couple years, until COVID ruined everything.

Love this team. Love this season. Thought they would be contenders on Opening Day. Gave them up for dead in July when Acuna went down. Everything changed at the trade deadline. They've been the best team in baseball ever since. What an incredible ride. So happy for Freddie, Dansby, Ozzie, Maximum Fried and everyone else who has contributed to this organization. What a ride.

Bates, Hood-Schifino and Newton are why I'm excited for the Woodson era. We need those guys ranked 20-80, high end recruits that will stick around for more than a year. Trayce was that dude. Romeo was not, gone after one season. Khristian might have been and could still be, but was brought to campus too soon in an effort to save Archie's job. We relied too much on fringe four stars the last four years. I couldn't be happier to see Woodson upping that to fringe five stars.

One more.

Go Braves. Great result in Game 1. Hate losing Charlie Morton like that, but I feel much better needing just three more wins instead of four.

Using his platform to punch down at a high school kid? Stay classy, Dan.

No more than inexplicably beating Michigan St in East Lansing changed my mind about losing 12 of 13.

Thanks so much!

Got a source? I'm trying and failing to find confirmation online. I've been to Westfield the last two years, it'll be neat if that falls during an evaluation period again.

Zach McRoberts was a DI scholarship caliber player, holding down 20 minutes per game as a freshman for a Vermont team that finished 123 on KenPom that year. Archie's first team opened that season getting run at home by the team ranked 199, got run at home again a month later by the team ranked 153, and closed the season with a loss to the team ranked 135. They were never going to be world beaters, but it's okay to think Archie's first team had enough talent to be better than they were.

This is getting silly. De'Ron isn't the reason we're struggling this season. I don't care what his attitude might be, he's played the fewest minutes of anyone with a scholarship. It's the players on the court who aren't producing. De'Ron played just three minutes against Northwestern. He only played one minute in that Notre Dame game where we gave up a big lead. He only played two minutes in our loss to Arkansas. Against Maryland he played a season high 17 minutes and not the minutes when we completely fell apart. He actually finished +3 on the night, one of only three players to have a positive +/-. This amateur detective work taking place in several places across the internet is just looking for a scapegoat.

Tom Crean dealt with the same Indiana administration for nine years. I don't believe he was allowed to operate in ways that are now forbidden to Archie. Nothing would surprise me in college recruiting anymore, but I don't believe Tom was out there offering impermissible benefits. If he were, Tremont Waters is almost certainly a member of the 2017 class. If anything, Archie is in a better spot with the benefit of the many facility upgrades completed by the Glass administration. Yet we're not seeing Tom Crean results from Archie, either on the court or on the recruiting trail. Claims that the administration is what's holding Archie back ring false to me, when just making the tournament has become our goal three years in, and looks to be the stretch goal next season as well. We brought in five straight McDonald's All-Americans under Crean. We immediately started recruiting the state again under Archie. I need something specific before I believe it's the administration keeping any coach from accomplishing both.