Stromboli

My in-laws are in town. Naturally I went to the gym for a break. I'm warming up on the basketball court and there's some 25 year old kid with man-**** on the free throw line practicing his behind the back pre-shot routine like Carsen. Nauseating.

I'm just going to chime in on Joey Brunk. I feel like I'm in the minority in that I prefer we bolster the 5 before we target a shooter. The first reason for this is that I think the high volume of poor shooting is leaving this year. I made this point elsewhere, but it was the Morgan/Langford/McRoberts/Fitzner that really killed our 3pt shooting percentages. Those guys took a ton of our attempts, and each of the 4 was under our average. Which means this will literally be addition by subtraction as to the 3pt shooting (maybe not as to the overall efficacy of our offense). Take those 4 guys out, and our 3pt percentage would at least put us at average, ideally opening the lane up for our offense to run better. I might be wrong, but the 3pt shooting still feels like something that will get better. Next, Juwan had to play most of our minutes at the 5 this year. He was out of position, and still handled most of those minutes. Trayce will not be a better post defender than Juwan next year. No one else is coming in. No one else showed me they are ready to defend opposing 5s. And shoot, De'Ron is decently effective there, but he might be injury prone, and is usually foul-prone. Simply put, I do not feel comfortable going into next year with no one else coming in to help us guard the 5. I think we need two legitimate 5s on the roster. Playing a 6'8" center just doesn't cut it. Now let's look at the actual player, and the effect he can have on our offense. I spend a lot of time looking at the barttorvik.com PORAPGATU! stat. That is, Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game At That Usage. It's an attempt to gauge an individual player's value over other players. For the full explanation, go here: https://www.bigtengeeks.com/new-stat-porpagatu/ The short story here is that after Romeo and Juwan, Indiana's roster was not good. Many subpar players soaking up minutes, if what we want is success in the B1G and tourney. Here's just a quick look. Look at the PRPG! stat, 3rd column after names. Notice that the good teams are 4-6 players deep with good players: Duke Virginia MSU Michigan Purdue (this one was eye-opening) Even Iowa Now here we are. We have Romeo and Juwan, very good (although not elite). And then we have bench players when comparing to teams above. And so people say they think a shooter will fix things or whatever, but to me we just need elevated play 1-5. For what it's worth, I wonder what, schematically, Archie could do (or do better) to put guys in a better position to succeed. That's not what I'm going after here, and I'm trying to avoid it. Evan Fitzner was supposed to come in and bring a threat. Last year at St. Mary's his PRPG! was just a 1.1. He was not an impact player or transfer. He was down to 0.8 this year, for some reason unable to maintain his 40% 3pt shooting. We all saw the open looks that didn't go down, so I don't blame that on Archie. De'Ron, as much as we love him, is still just a 1.3 PRPG!. Joey Brunk this year at Butler was a 2.5 PRPG!. Not a star, but that's at least the level of play that can keep up with other rosters' role players. If he were to come, that would be higher than anyone we have returning. He buys us two years of very good depth at a position that is difficult to fill. I think he'd be a huge get.

Props to Chris for using discretion with this information. Probably not easy not to share every piece of information he gets. But putting that info out there in December wouldn't have been a good decision on many levels. Both a gentleman and a scholar. I was with some Butler fans over the weekend. They are not happy with Jordan. They think they're basketball royalty now, and don't feel he is maintaining The Butler Way. They also have some weird hatred towards IU and call us rivals. I'll never get that. For the most part it feels like Indiana and Purdue fans cheer for Butler when we can. I have my thoughts on Brunk but I'll put them in the recruiting thread.

Kira Lewis will go to a very good program. He's already proven himself. Remember he reclassed, this was supposed to be his senior year in HS. USPS still makes fun of the mancrush I had on this kid. I'd be somewhat surprised if he comes here. But it would be awesome.

Just checking into my new favorite thread! Hope springs eternal or some $#!+.

I sure hope the team is amped for this game tonight. I'm more excited about this game than even the OSU game. The guys are playing looser, and playing to win. And having Wichita State come to town is awesome. They are a major program in the last decade, and another great non-conference game. They are playing winning basketball, too, going 13-3 over their last 16 games. And Greggggg knows how to coach in March. That's a reputation Archie used to enjoy as well. Maybe this will be a step in that direction? Will Romeo play? Will Justin get benched again? Will Devonte continue his ascension as de facto lead scorer going into next season? Will we see Rob shut down another star guard? Will I get a seat close to Ms. Marshall? I sure hope so. Go Hoosiers.

Sorry to hear about that. What county? Do you have an attorney? This pizza sandwich might have some advice for you. (I don't represent you, by the way.) PM me. And have fun at the game. Perfect time for parents and kids to go. And plenty of daylight to show her around campus. Get a picture of her at Sample Gates. Who knows? She might frame it some day.

I only filled out one bracket, and its 98th percentile right now. I know Purdue will probably win, but I'm still thrilled to have picked them to lose tonight. Love seeing Ja Morant seize the moment. Really too bad MSU, Minny, and Maryland are grouped so close.

MSU down by 1 at half. Maryland down by 6 at almost half. I think both will pull out the wins. Man if Izzo goes down early again, I don't know that he could shake the early choke reputation.

A fun reminder: But just in case you were dismayed by these impossible odds, Jay Bilas has shared his expertise to get the right teams for the Elite 8:

I agree Old Friend took it a step too far there. Old Friend, you've stated your position time after time. Everyone knows how you feel. There might be some that disagree with you. You need to learn to deal with it. Repeating yourself, and trashing this kid, won't make people suddenly agree with you.

I was having this conversation with someone in PM. Here's part of what we were saying: Romeo and Juwan basically lead the team in 3 attempts, and they're some of the worst shooters on the team. So that has really skewed the percentage and effectiveness. I like to think that getting guys shooting just 34% from 3 would be enough to make this offense tick. Just checked. Romeo attempted 125 on the year at 27.2% (most attempts by far). Juwan attempted 84 at 29%. Fitzner and McRoberts combined took 69 attempts at 28.9%. So with a team percentage of 31%, I think the volume of poor shooters are leaving and that team percentage will get better.

Looks great USPS. Nice arena!

Easy, now. We don't have any scholarships open. With Romeo's expected departure, we'll have one. That was intended for Keion, who we invested a lot into, but chose against us just a few days ago. Archie and staff did everything they could to land a second incredible class. Just 2.5 months ago, we were likely favored. Three Indiana kids, two of them 5* guys, is perhaps too much to ask/expect at this point. Even without Keion, we still have a McDAA 5* and a guard that is ranked higher than any guard on our roster that Crean left behind. I'm quite certain Archie is trying. As I mentioned earlier, Harlond Beverly has been targeted by the staff since last summer, with pretty constant contact all year. His visit came before Keion's decision, so he's not some desperate attempt at what's left. (Tre Mitchell and Lester Quinones might be.) Also the Transfer Portal is just starting to take shape. Also, keep in mind that Jerome Hunter is a red shirt. So for roster balance, next year's class will really be Trayce Jackson-Davis, Armaan Franklin, and Jerome Hunter. With a scholarship banked to throw at a transfer or accept a late commitment. Isn't this kind of an ideal situation? Hard to argue that Archie hasn't significantly elevated our recruiting.

Eric Hunter? He played plenty of minutes for Purdue, but I wouldn't call them valuable. He was the worst player on the team. I do think Painter played him just to give him experience. Maybe Damezi could have benefitted from more minutes for the same reason, but we were in so many close games that I can understand why he didn't. I didn't think there was ever much interest in Eric Hunter. An aside: There are 11 guys left uncommitted in the 2019 Top 100. Lots of familiar names. Some we've tracked for a couple years, a couple look like desperation attempts at what's left. I don't know that there is anyone outside the top 100 we're talking to: 4. Cole Anthony 5. Jaden McDaniels 8. Matthew Hurt 13. Precious Achiuwa 27. Trendon Watford 29. Cassius Stanley 65. Lester Quinones 75. Carl Lewis 79. Tristan Enaruna 81. Tre Mitchell 82. Harlond Beverly Beverly we've been on the longest, and seemingly have the best chance with. He just attended the MSU game. He got to see us beat a top 10 team at SSAH. I've never seen him play, but his highlight videos are really good. The kid is a major athlete, good left and right, plays fast, above the rim stuff. People call him focused on defense. He's another 6'4" combo guard, much in the mold of Al and Armaan. But he seems to fit what Archie's wanting: length, athleticism, defense, versatility. It seems he looks to get the ball to the rim (either himself or a pass in), rather than settle for a 3. His 3-ball looks okay when he gets the puppies organized. I'll also say, I follow him (as well as most other recruits) on Twitter and Instagram, and he seems to have a good attitude. The rumor is that people in his camp don't like BigTen style of play. It seems like we don't have enough excitement about him now.

Sounds like an exciting investment opportunity!

Yeah, that's how I remember it, too. Except you missed that Race Thompson committed within that 24 hour period, too. So 3 forwards in a row, and the staff still told Henry he had a spot (I think Chris reported that?). Let's cheer for Damezi to keep improving. He was a baller in high school.

Chinese proverb: You are the room you're standing in. We're standing in a room with a bunch of NIT teams. It's what we are. Doesn't matter that we beat MSU twice or any of the other junk. I want to see these guys fight and trade blows the whole game. So these guys start 4 guards, and have a statistically terrible defense. There's a chance that our offense will work better than it did in the B1G. We should find plenty of opportunities inside, where our PPP should be very high. The danger in this game is no surprise: they've got two guards averaging over 15 ppg, both around 36% from 3. Let's get them locked down. I'm already over the disappointment of the NCAA snub. We are right where we deserve. Waiting to see if these guys compete with honor from here out. Would honestly love a crack at NCState, their bellyaching is over the top.

I hope he hates it.

I have the same order. Mitchell for roster construction. I like Beverly better than Quinones.

Do you guys want to talk about what Keion would bring if he were to commit? First thing. He's not as good as Romeo. He's not going to step in and go 16ppg. He's not as big as Romeo (Romeo and Rob are both thick kids, wider like college athletes are, if that makes sense). He's not as athletic. Keion is not a PF, and he's not a SG, either. He's a SF, but with very good court vision and passing. He absolutely wants to be running, playing in transition. He's looking to make something happen out there. Remember when we played Duke, and they kind of played over us? Keion has that kind of game. I think Keion looks better playing with other good players than he does being the star. Keion is a smart kid. His interviews are polished, better than probably all of our guys aside from Juwan and sometimes DeRon. I've seen Keion messing around with teammates pre-game, and he seems like a good influence there, too. Kind of looking to be loose and have fun. I think Keion succeeds because he's a basketball player to the core. He is tall and decently athletic, but he doesn't have Romeo's speed and ups or TJD's smooth, explosive power. I think Keion may adapt to the college game well because he seems to play a team-oriented kind of basketball. I'd say he prefers to make a play in the paint, but still shot almost 36% from 3 at EYBL last year.

What's up, dudes! Just checking in. Hoping we can get Keion. Contemplating what even is Indiana basketball, from a philosophical perspective. I think it might be pain. This case has been taken over by people arguing with Brass Cannon. I have no idea why, but the guy has become a troll tonight. So just don't feed the troll. I think Chris and Pap already told us that they won't have access to information on this one, based on who their respective sources are. So don't act like they're letting us down for not coming in with a definitive answer. While you wait:

What a goober.

At EYBL I found a guy from IMG to ask him about Jahmius Ramsey. Skeezy AF. The nature of his questions back was trying to find out if I was somebody, so to speak. Connected but not connected, if you will. I asked about Ramsey's interest in Indiana at one point and the answer was something along the lines of "he could be interested in Indiana..." It was gross. The guy pretty quickly realized I'm a nobody, lol. I know we still poke around at IMG, but for me, it raises some red flags. In this recruitment, where the schools being considered include LSU, Memphis, and Maryland, I just dont see this one going anywhere. As to IMG possibly falsifying test scores? Um duh. Something like 10% of revenue producing college athletes read at a 4th grade level. Of course many are college level, and some are exceptional students. But there's a system in place to make sure these young entertainers are on the field or court, earning the revenue, college admission requirements be damned.