Stromboli

His Cross Country title was in the Midget Division. I kid you not. And it wasn't 2 miles, it was 3k. Big difference.

Have you told Archie about his middle school cross country success? That, combined with the fact that he's in a large house, have completely won me over. It's too bad there's nobody out there stumping for this kid relentlessly.

Any word on where Gelon will land?

I wasn't particularly impressed by the Moretti highlight videos. Anytime the highlights are clips of catching a pass and hitting an open shot, that just means they left the other 63% of misses on the cutting room floor. And we really don't need guards now, and have higher options for 2018. I agree, CAM wants to fill this scholarship. The sooner he can fill the roster with players brought up in his system, the better for his team. There is no reason to bank a scholarship with the 5 coming next year.

Yes, but which one has the best pizza?

Ha! But you missed the assistant coaches, and the hype man we kept on the bench during games.

I thought about this, too. I'm guessing that would mean we'd be out of the running for Garland. Also Waters is getting a reputation as a tough case based on his dad's demands/involvement. I will say I was very high on Tremont 6 months ago.

Lol. Oh nooooo. How do we avoid this???

About this new source saying someone is going to transfer... Forgive me if I'm apprehensive. Why would this happen after the scholarship situation worked itself out? No one needs to leave, and the program is exciting now. Grant, as far as I can tell, loves being a Hoosier. Priller is a crowd favorite, living the best days of his life. And Freddie is tight with his teammates and likely doesn't want to sit out a year. The program is filled with hope right now. The only information which supports a transfer would be Gelon seeing our current roster and the guards we're currently recruiting. There won't be much playing time for a guy that deep. My feeling is that he understands this and accepts it. Of course I may be wrong. But the timing seems off.

It is what it is. I saw somewhere that the media exposure Gonzaga received for their run this year is valued at $406 million. It makes sense to invest in a winning program. Edit: Found it. http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/may/11/media-exposure-from-zags-tournament-run-valued-at-/

I think it will be DD, Hartman, Juwan, RoJo, and Newkirk. That's 3 seniors, a junior, and a sophomore. First guards off the bench are CuJo and Green. First bigs off the bench (this is the scary part) are Justin Smith, Freddie. Priller will get more time next year. With what we've seen of him, he isn't as bad as his playing time may suggest. And Clifton? Really, really hard to tell right now. I think he'll come in for short stretches, but not more than 8-9 minutes a game. I think you guys saying Green will start over Newkirk are bonkers. Green averages more turnovers than assists. I think he'll be better this year, for sure. And he did something to impress Archie, which is cool, too. But still, Newkirk is one of the assets we have left. There were some dark times last year when he was at least out there still playing the game. Newkirk has a good attitude, and he'll be a 5th year senior PG. That's the kind of guy you leave on the floor. RoJo will definitely start. And really, he should be our best player at this point. It would be nice if he would accept the role and all that entails. CuJo is, in my opinion, really underperforming at this point. I mean this in the nicest way possible. Go back and watch some of his highlight videos from high school. The dude had moves and swagger. Something interrupted that during the season, sometime after the Kansas game. I hope Archie has the key to unlock some of that, because the kid can really play. Finally. Justin Smith. I'm convinced he's ready for Big Ten ball. He plays so physical and confident. He's already strong. His demeanor is chill and a little angry. I think he'll average 9ish points a game, with a couple 25 point games this year. I really think he'll be a huge contributor for us, and a mainstay on the floor for many years.

Well, shucks. I really like JBJ. You know something interesting, the nice things CAM said about JBJ during the press conference. I'll assume he had some inkling of how JBJ was leaning, and he was complimentary anyway. Pretty obvious contrast to ignoring TB and others. I think JBJ is a great guy that makes a good impression on those around him. RoJo to be featured, with lots of minutes for the young guns to step up. It will be interesting to see who emerges.

Did this just become a pizza thread?

Yeah I'm with you. Devonte Green is the darling of the IU fanbase, and everyone is convinced he's ready to lead the team. I just don't see it. He made a couple flashy passes, but otherwise didn't show me that he's there yet. Of course he can improve and be an awesome player for us, he just wasn't there last year. A note about Darius from my the EYBL games last weekend (I was there). Darius had quite a few turnovers, but I saw multiple instances where he would make a pretty incredible entry pass or drive-and-dish under the basket, and the other guy just couldn't handle it or wasn't ready for it. Darius plays fast, and does some unexpected things out there. A combination of him making the passes ever-so-slightly more catchable, and his teammates expecting them, and those turnovers would have been assists.

Might I suggest you try the stromboli?

Guys I stopped by for a bit tonight again. Watched some of the Redding/King game, both guys were very impressive. But again the best player I saw out there was Garland. He can pretty much always dribble into a defense and put up a soft floater that arcs straight in. Then ices the game, absorbing the fouls and putting the game away at the free throw line. Amongst a bunch of very good players, he is the star out there. Very unassuming demeanor, somewhat gracious if that makes sense. When the game was over, all the kids in the stands were waiting to take pics with him. I saw Archie walking out at the end, too. He was with his brother, Sean, and they were in good spirits. The pictures here all show a serious guy, but Archie was very jovial when I saw him, horsing around with some other younger guys that I assume were scouts/assistants he knows. Stark contrast to K, who mostly looked disinterested and uncomfortable, Ewing, who found a chair in a corner and didn't seem too interested in evaluating talent, or Shaka Smart, who is in the middle of stuff but not really friendly with the others around. Sean and Archie looked like they owned the place.

Hey guys, I live 5 minutes from Grand Park so I stopped in. Very cool event. Big time coaches everywhere. As soon as I walked in I saw Sean Miller sitting with Beilein, Shaka Smart right next to them. There were major coaches everywhere. Izzo and Fife, Ewing, Collins, Gregg Marshall, etc The players were playing hard. Easy to see who the best guys were. Watch for 5 minutes and you could pick out the 5* kids. It's weird because they all look like superstars, but some just kinda ran around but not really keeping up, and some we're just always making plays. I'm no talent scout, but coming away my favorite was Darius Garland. Before tipoff he seemed timid maybe. But when the game started he played hard, always seemed to know what to do, and could score at will.

Yeah help us out, CuJo, and throw in some emojis!

Hmmmmm

I see. Will Treesh Investigatory Services, International have a surveillance crew on site to see who picks him up?

Probably not a troll. More likely hoping to hit a shot in the dark and slide into Andy Katz's job for 2% the cost. JBJ did just fly to Houston for some undisclosed reason. I've already said, an objective view of the information available says that TB and JBJ are gone. Good for them, they have worked hard to make a career of this, and someone may be willing to pay them.

RoJo is coming back, presumably. JBJ, I really have no idea. I really like him, and almost hope that he gets his best opportunity to play professionally, be it NBA, D league, or overseas. I don't think anyone else can match his production (duh), but I wouldn't hate to see some of the young guns get some time. Remember, CuJo is one smooth operator out there, and was a very high recruit. He lost his mojo after Kansas, but there's some untapped potential there. I really hope that he plans on coming back, because I could see him having a great career at IU still. Obviously RoJo can play SG well, too, and we'd all like to see AD headfake his way to the hoop a couple times. So while I'd miss JBJ, I don't think losing him would be disastrous for the team. Thomas is a different story. He wants to play at the next level, and I'm assuming that he missed the banquet and other team events because he is off training with some specialist for the pre-draft stuff. Huge chance we lose him, and he will leave a huge hole on the roster. Given CAM's full court press to keep all three recruits, I think the only logical conclusion is that TB and JBJ have indicated that they intend to leave. Remember, prior to Clifton reaffirming his commitment, he said he just wanted to talk with Archie to make sure Archie didn't intend to red-shirt him. We all recognize that even a redshirt takes a scholly, but given the subsequent affirmation of the commitment, Archie must have informed Clifton that there's a place on the team for Clifton next year. Using the best information available now, that's my guess. On one hand, we are losing all of our current stars. On the other hand, no one is leaving the team for a different NCAA team. And the fan in me sees a team with no stars on it, and a new coach, with a decently balanced roster full of guys that want to play together. And this is certainly not a team bereft of talent, either. A top seven of Deron, Juwan, Collin, RoJo, Newkirk, Justin Smith, and whichever guard emerges will be good enough, and better than any roster Archie has had before.

Buttheads.

I could definitely see this happening. Bryant stood up for Crean more than anyone else. "He's my guy." Obviously that iconic picture after the loss to UNC last year. So maybe Crean's firing hit him more than others. He also came in with a pedigree and expectations that he would not be here long. He was almost gone last year, and this year was supposed to be his victory tour before getting the big contract to play professionally. Instead the team sucked, his unheralded classmate OG stole all the draft thunder (with somewhat pedestrian numbers), the fanbase turned on Thomas the way we're prone to do, and the season was flat awful. It makes sense that Thomas wants to leave. Next year, without him, is going to be rough. DD is a very talented player, but he's on borrowed time each game until he's in foul trouble. Clifton isn't ready (IMO), and doesn't want to be in the paint anyway. So it's going to be putting Juwan and Collin on the opposing team's big, and likely some brand of small ball on offense. Not the end of the world, but we are going to have a lot of points to make up, especially if JBJ goes too.

He's #1 in my heart.