Honkyman

Love his shot. Very natural. He won't get virtually uncontested drives to hoop in college as he does here.

Something happened to the Cubs after they won a World Series. GM Theo Epstein seemingly lost interest after 2016. The Cubs pitching peaked in 2016 and so did Kris Bryant in his 2nd season although he continued to play well enough to make several All Star teams. The Cubs screwed up with him and he was never going to sign long term with them anyway. Baez is a flashy player and home run hitter who strikes out too much. Rizzo is solid but on the back side of his career. Kyle Schwarber never found the groove after his initial splash until June of this year playing for Washington. Addison Russell should have been really good for a long time but his career collapsed after he was accused of domestic violence. None of the players they expected to develop turned out well. The chemistry was all wrong by 2021. It is sad what happened to the Cubs and they aren't likely to win another World Series in my lifetime. But at least they won one.

Meanwhile, Rizzo homers in his first game with the Yankees going 2-3 and scoring 2 runs.

The tournament was actually good to IU with, as the article points out, some exciting memorable wins. I don't mind ending the Crossroads Classic if it means IU playing in better tournaments with wider national audiences. But I would rather see IU play Notre Dame or Butler every year than some of the cupcake teams they always seem to schedule in the pre-conference.

Durr looks to be a serviceable backup at center and if he develops a shooting touch a starter in his 2nd year at IU.

Hoosierfan2017 said: "I’m just ready for new blood at the guard spots." I'm ready for quality guard play. The new players should be quite good. So if they are the starters, that's great. But, as I said, if Phinisee starts, it means he has earned it. Nobody gets playing time under Mike Woodson unless they have earned it.

Hoiosierfan2017: If he’s still starting then our new guys probably aren’t anywhere near as good as we think. Of, Phinisee is as good as he seemed when he first got here. At that time he moved the offense and hit clutch shots. That Phinisee could be a real asset under Woodson's offense.

Phinisee looked good early in his IU career. It could be that Archie Miller's offense just didn't work well for him overall during those three years just as it didn't work well for most IU players. Fife seems high on him. If Rob starts it will be because he earned it. Woodson is not giving playing time to anyone who doesn't earn it.

It all depends upon who shows up ready to shoot. If Race Thompson, Leal or Phinisee find their 3-point shots they could see more time. The only one we know will get the most time is TDJ.

Jerome may be a summer session or two away from getting a degree in which case he can stay at IU for the summer, get his degree and move on as a graduate transfer without worrying about the Transfer Portal deadline.

Knight--Quinn Buckner--total team player, coach-on-the-floor, helped lead IU to two Final Fours and a 63-1 record over his final two years. Knight sought perfection and with Buckner as team captain he found it. Davis--Jared Jeffries--Davis' best players were recruited when Knight was the coach. Sampson--Eric Gordon--Gordon's IU career was brief and so was Sampson's coaching tenure at IU. Promising but could have been more. Crean--Victor Oladipo--Crean was always searching for diamond in the rough players. A few, like Oladipo and OG Anunoby, actually were. Miller--Romeo Langford--Romeo like Archie Miller came in with much fanfare but he didn't end up bringing the great team success for IU that many predicted he would. Woodson--Too early to tell. Woodson as a recruit was undervalued. As a player, he displayed great shooting skill and high motor. As an NBA coach, his teams showed cohesion and great energy. We shall what player exhibits these qualities.

Bruce's was the best breakfast place in town, especially convenient after a very late night.

ap2345 said: "That rumor has been going around so it might have legs. Even if he hasn’t officially entered it yet." Like the rumor that Keion Brooks was entering there Portal and transferring to IU.

Geronimo's free throw form is not very pretty--5 for 18 including several air balls. He has great raw talent but needs more work than just about any player on the squad. Sorry, but he isn't close to being a reliable 3-point shooter. He hit a couple early in the season when the opposing teams left all alone but then missed most of the 3-point shots he took during conference play. Right now he is best suited for shooting lay ups and playing defense (which he is quite good at). Of course, if he works at his shooting touch like Victor Oladipo did, maybe he can improve enough to see serious playing time.

Jerome Hunter. Hunter has shown he has the ability to score both outside and at the rim. Consistency has been one of his problems. If he make himself a consistent scoring threat he has a good shot at considerable playing time.

Cohesion is a key. A talented team without cohesion is not a winning team. Brooks is a talent, no doubt. But would Brooks' presence compliment or detract from what now looks like a talented and cohesive team? It's not clear that he would, imo. He would not be the primary scoring on next year's squad. Would Brooks be any more happy playing a complimentary role to TJD, Xavier Johnson and maybe others than he has been at Kentucky?

8Bucks said: "Parker probably should be on the newbie squad since he hasn’t played here yet." Parker Stewart was brought in when Archie Miller was coach and was at IU for a semester before Woodson came on. Even so, there is nobody among the new players who can stop Trayce Jackson Davis. TJD only had difficulty scoring when guarded by bigger NBA size players. As long as the returning players don't have to win it on the free throw line, they would win. But obviously there is some real talent coming in with skills that the IU team lacked last season. It will be fun to see how they mesh with the returning players, especially TJD.

Crazy about IU said: If the five new players scrimmaged the returning players that would be a good game to watch. Who would you pick to win? I am going with the newbies. I would pay to see it give the new players a couple walk ons for subs. ________ I don't think the new players would win. The returning players have an All American (maybe the Big Ten player of the year next season) plus possibly the team's best 3-point shooter in Parker Stewart. Who is going to guard TJD? The newbies have Logan Duncomb and nobody else. Jackson Davis and Race Thompson would score easily almost every possession.

Brooks has loads of talent but he is very undisciplined. My sense is that he would undermine potential team unity. In any event, it doesn't seem he would want to come to IU even if there was an opening and Woodson was interested in him.

Brooks had plenty of time to enter the transfer portal when IU had openings on their roster. If he does announce he is transferring, he waited until the IU roster was filled. That suggests he doesn't want to play for IU, that he is looking to play somewhere else.

Dave from Dayton said: "And the in-state recruiting is not broken like Crean left it." _____________ "In-state recruiting is not broken..."? IU did not receive a commitment from a single member of Indiana's 2021 high school class, considered to be the best in several years. The two best 2021 players--Trey Kaufman and Caleb Furst--are headed to Purdue. The in-state recruiting, if not broken, was in steep decline under Archie Miller as many players had realized that the program was a mess.

Why a redshirt for Leal and Galloway? They both have 4 years of eligibility remaining. Most students don't want to hang around the same college campus for 6 years.

Rob Johnson was a good four year player at IU. Hopefully, Tamar Bates turns out to be as good as Robert Johnson.

Ranked, top 4 in conference, Sweet Sixteen.

It is a very good pickup but it isn't like Tamar Bates is ranked in the top ten of high school players. He is a 4-star which means he has talent and potential. He is ranked #56. By comparison, Robert Johnson was ranked #53. So we can expect Bates will earn considerable playing time but it doesn't mean he will start. We'll see.