Stromboli

Maybe this was already discussed. Dre Davis played AAU with Indy Heat, same team as Ivey, Pack and Furst. Ivey of course has committed to Purdue and in my view projects to be a very good player for them (he was over 43% from 3 at EYBL, averaged over 14 ppg). There has been some rumbling that he would decommit, but that could just be speculative chatter. I went to watch some of the games at EYBL. Watching the game, Davis was the guy that got your attention. Just the most active and aggressive out there, making things happen. And then you'd look up who this kid is, and you'd see that he's got a (then) low rank and committed to Nebraska of all things. It really didn't fit. I think with that early commitment to a basic nobody team, nobody paid too much attention to him. But he absolutely showed out. Averaged 17.9 points, and 6.1 rebounds. Only 41% shooting, but still a guy making plays. Plays more like a small forward than a SG. Maybe Ivey got in his ear to go to Purdue? The Louisville offers to Dre and his little brother is an interesting wrinkle. Purdue fans seem to want to bank the scholarship, or find another big to keep the pipeline going there. With his now open recruitment, I'd bet there are some programs that would have liked to watch him play. I would not say that I got the impression that he's a star in the making. But he is a productive player, and effort alone can go a long way. As an aside... I'm pretty pro-player in all things. That said I really hope de-commitments don't become a common thing in CBB.

A good omen, dudes. This abomination finally broke. Poor past decisions are coming to an end. I'm taking my 5 and (almost) 2 year old. Gonna cheer for Jerome and his return. Take some obligatory pics at Sample Gates. Ogle coeds. And hang on to a hope that Bobby makes an appearance today, waves, and takes a seat in Assembly. Hoping for a good show!

Welp, I logged on and gave it a like.

This was not a coach decision. The players voted. I'm all for it. Frankly I'm more surprised by Al than Devonte, I'd never really pegged him as a leader. Devonte is a senior guard, and highest returning scorer. Exactly what we need. Whatever attitude he has is an asset. Most successful people have an edge. I know we Hoosiers love us some humility and all, but this team needs a little F-U swagger. As far as Archie believing in him, he always has. Remember Archie was intrigued by Green's play and attitude from the beginning. And his comments just a couple days ago showed that he intends to give Devonte more slack this year and just accept some bad with the good. In my opinion, this shows growth by Archie as well. My own diagnosis of the extremely poor shooting (like 311th? Last in the B1G?) was that the whole team had the yips. Archie was maybe uptight with all the expectations, and it rubbed off on the team. If a guy had an open 3, he still didnt want to take the shot. Btw, Devonte posted this last night.

Archie:

30% from 3 is losing basketball. At that rate don't guard him. Same with 40% from a long 2. This anecdotal junk completely ignores the trends and patterns that increase scoring efficiency, which helps IU reach this NCAA tournament fantasy. I've posted it before, but there's an article by ITH showing how Holtmann just left Smith unguarded, and it worked like a charm. This is not Justin's audition for the NBA. He needs to focus on rebounds, dump-offs, putbacks, and defense. He can get 12+ points a game like this, and help the team. Indiana fans aren't dopes. If he recreates himself like this and gives us some highlight dunks and jaw-dropping blocks, he'll be a fan favorite. https://www.insidethehall.com/2019/02/12/film-session-ohio-state-6/

His introduction at Hoosier Hysteria will be insane. Excited to see how he looks.

Now wait right there, Mr. Loaded Chicken Sandwich. This here forum's already got itself a sandwich, and yer lookin at him.

Trey in Bloomington this weekend

Indiana picked to finish 11th by Street & Smiths Ouch. That felt personal.

I have thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Jordan Geronimo. Our first out-of-stater in a few years. Fast riser. Funny the stress we had over Ethan Morton and even guys like Lester Quinones. This dude gets an offer 6 weeks ago, and now gives us all these great sound-bites and enthusiasm. The prototypical wing frame. 6'6", 7' wingspan, large hands. And athleticism. It feels like this guy is just now becoming self-aware, something that will happen over the years. A good opportunity for Archie to make a star. Now. Let's not go crazy. He had two great games in AAU, just put them together at the right time. Take a good look. Everyone talks about scoring over 20 points, but it happened twice over 17 games. He scored 3 pts or less 5 times within that same span. On the same circuit (different division) as Trey and Anthony, he averaged 3 fewer points per game than Anthony, and 7 fewer ppg than Trey. And Trey was shooting over 60%. My point being everyone needs to temper expectations here. Clifton Moore was supposed to be in the NBA by now. Jordan has shown much more actual good play than Clifton ever did, so it's definitely not the same. Just don't act like he's a failure if he isn't the next Vic. We have access to about 3 little highlight videos. The good news to me is that he is only just getting moved out to the wing, and so he's just now figuring out the position and how good he can be. The Inside The Hall article speaking to his HS coach spelled out what he really is, at this point: “He looks so much like many of the kids who were selected in this last NBA Draft. He’s long, athletic and he has a great stroke from behind the arc,” Pastore said. “He’s not only athletic up and down, but he’s athletic laterally. He’s an elite defender, he can cover at least four positions on the basketball court.” With St. Paul’s Gordon has taken note of Geronimo’s help-side defense and impeccable timing, which helped Geronimo become a strong presence around the basket. “I know our high school team doesn’t play in the Big Ten, but he has averaged 3 blocks a game for the last two years, which over 45 or 50 games, that’s a pretty impressive statistic,” Gordon said. To that effect, Pastore said most of Geronimo’s on-court time has been spent under the basket due to his size and wingspan. Only recently has the recruit made the long-term switch to the wing. The transition came in part last season with St. Paul’s. Gordon said Geronimo was slotted at the 3 or 4 spot for the Pelicans, but that position was always housed around the perimeter. His time playing on the outside increased this summer on the adidas Gauntlet circuit with Mass Rivals. As he started taking over more games with his scoring, the recruiting attention followed. “He can play the wing and be a ball mover, but he’s learning how to be really aggressive from the wing,” Gordon said. “How to shoot when he’s open, how to attack the hoop.” Geronimo’s on-court progression seems natural. Pastore views him as a positionless basketball player with the ability to be effective both inside battling for rebounds or outside contesting and shooting perimeter shots. “When you can cover multiple positions in college basketball, you’re going to find your way on the floor,” Pastore said. “I think that’s going to happen for him.” Those looking for Geronimo’s calling cards on the court can focus on two things, his defensive versatility and reliable 3-point shooting, according to Pastore. He's a 3-and-D guy, apparently. With the ability to be more. Some of these breathless scouting reports need to take about 15-20% off. I do think it's true that if he brings tenacity on defense, he'll see the floor. A couple words about the recruitment. You likely have seen the TDH article. Romeo spent a lot of time with Jordan, and even told him Archie and staff got him to the NBA. I also saw on reddit, young Jordan attended 3 different fraternity parties, lol. Awesome. Let him know what kind of celebrity he can be. Bloomington can get down. It's an fun place to spend college. Edit: Link at EB's request. Just a comment in the post about the commitment: A word about the team. We have something good here. A collection of likable guys investing in the program. Brunk is raising the workout intensity. Armaan hosted Jordan last weekend, and Romeo spent a lot of time with him. TJD has been very vocal in his support of guys we recruit. It feels like the team is growing, and some of the attitude stuff won't have a place anymore. I love it. About Matt Cross. I see we're in the stage where we trash the recruit we didn't get. Fine. I would have loved to have had him. I understand that Rabjohns reported that he was being recruited as a 4. I think we all put too much into that. He's a basketball player, and a good one. He is 6'7", which means he has very good size to be a versatile player. Calling him a "4" makes it sound like he was supposed to play Power Forward. He was not that. I've said elsewhere, if you actually watch him, he plays like a big guard. And he put up elite stats in AAU all season, stuff that top 5 guys do. Anyway, with my own opinion that he's a big guard, not a "4," it makes the loss not so bad. We have 3 good 4* wings committed for 2020. I'm not a fan of the oversign. So let's focus on a true big. Best of luck to Matt Cross. About Dakich. The text of his dumb tweet was Possibly something interesting happening w #iubb 65 replies14 retweets128 likes 1.) I've read a few hundred comments based on that tweet. The only purpose of the tweet was attention for Dan, and it worked tremendously. 2.) I really don't need anyone else to tell me whether or not I should like Dan. I have experiences and opinions, and I can use them to make up my own mind. I think he's trash. He's not a gentleman. We should aspire to be better. Recruiting, I'm pleased with what we have, but it's not enough to make us a top 10 team. We need more talent. At least one top 50 guy. Obviously Garcia would be ideal here. And frankly banking Loveday would be incredible, also. Hard to have experienced bigs if we don't get them on the roster now. And an hour ago Inside the Hall has posted a new highlight video of Jordan. Check it out. https://www.insidethehall.com/2019/09/04/video-jordan-geronimo-adidas-gauntlet-highlights/

Whaaaaaaat this is awesome! Big fan of this kid. Big fan of the team Archie is building! Let's goooooo!!!!

Thanks USPS. Beautiful weather today. Sending good vibes. I've been a little attached to the idea of Matt Cross, partly because I've seen him play. I've never seen Jordan play, so I'm more hesitant. This article by IndianaHQ lays out a pretty good argument. Frankly it has me convinced that he'd be a great add. https://indianahq.com/indiana-offers-2020-jordan-geronimo/

You have no excuse not to talk to him and report back. We need this.

SIAP Tommy Coverdale with some insight on former teammate and roommate Mike Roberts. Also some interesting comments on Romeo... https://twitter.com/jimcoyleISB/status/1164600653899022336

Aaron, your recaps and game primers, along with CCGeneral's updates, have really made it enjoyable to follow the IU Soccer program. I hope you'll keep it up this year. I think there are a bunch of us who appreciate learning more about the game and the college soccer landscape, even though we have little background. I'll try to get to the game on Wednesday, just 10 minutes away for me.

Awesome article, USPS. So much of last year's issues came down to our inability to make shots. It's so simple that it's stupid to say. I do think there's a lot of data that was left out from that methodology. How old was the PG on the better teams? What was the average composite ranking of the starting 5? Don't kenpom and torvik have a luck component? How did that compare? Is the strength of schedule factored in? Also, I thought it was going to go into the actual pieces of the team. Like, playing a small-ball line-up, or playing two bigs. The value of a senior guard. The value of having a OAD or two or 3 on a team. I think there's much more to unpack.

Alright. You're all being very un-dude. Let's keep it to 19-20 Predictions. Recapping last year's losses is not that. The requested format: 1. Overall record, B1G record, post-season results, if any (Edit: I went with 30 total games just based on what has been announced, Stuhoo points out we had 35 last year. Do what your heart says is right) 2. Starting 5 for first game of BigTen season 3. Average PPG for top 5 scorers 4. A hot take 5. Another hot take (Or whatever, just make a prediction)

Boom

Beat me to it while I was off making a meme

A tidbit on Hunter. Two days ago he was looking for buddies to play open gym with him in Ohio. Surely he'd have to be cleared by the staff to do that, right? Aside from Archie pumping the brakes about his availability at the Huber thing, do we have any indication he's not GTG?

Friday? You and me are having a nooner, I'd imagine. Here's a memory. Day drinking on Kirkwood on that deck next to Upstairs. One of the games was "yellow Mustang." Every time someone in a yellow Mustang drove by, you finish your beer. Of course plenty of other unique vehicles earned just a drink ("Minivan with wood panels; drink.")

Don't be too surprised if the certain poster lets the kid have his moment, one way or the other. I know in the past he has kept back info he had, even if the board would love it.