Honkyman

I could be wrong, but I can't imagine either Al Durham or Joey Brunk returning for another year of college ball. Both could make a living playing overseas. For Joey, it would mean six years of college. Unless he is working on a PhD, that is too much college life for anyone but Bluto from Animal House. The way Race Thompson is playing, he'll also be ready for professional basketball by next year.

Walton wasn't a homer for Stanford. He raved about TJD (especially after he realized he was son of Dale Davis). Walton also was very complimentary of Archie Miller.

Justin Smith was the team's 3rd highest scorer last year virtually tied for 2nd (10.4 for JS and 10.8 for DG). He was 2nd in rebounds. If he was so bad, blame it on the coach for playing him so much. Frankly, every player on the team except for TJD disappeared last year in that offense.

However, when we played power 5 opponents and his athleticism wasn't as prominent, he consistently slid into the abyss. Like the time Justin Smith scored 24 points against Michigan State?

While I agree that could be an issue, I don't think this team is built to be a three-point shooting team. We are built to drive the ball and play through contact. Plus, we were missing arguably our best 3 point shooter with Al. The IU team isn't built to be a three-point shooting team because the players are poor shooters. A college team that can't hit 3s isn't going very far. When up against an athletic team like Texas (or Michigan State), the guards have to be able to hit the 3s because TJD and Race Thompson won't be able to score as much.

Guard play on the offensive end remains a problem. Franklin 0-3 from 3-point range. Lander 1-5 from 3-point range. Galloway, 1-1 and Phinisee 2-3 from 3-point is decent but guards making just four 3-point shots is not a recipe for success.

Terrible shooting by everyone by TJD and Race Thompson. And, TJD seems to be able to make only uncontested dunks. It is hard to imagine any team with worse shooting guards than this team's guards.

To paraphrase Casey Stengel, "can't anyone here play this game!" Out-coached, out-hustled, out-played. The IU team that showed up today will be lucky to place 8th in the conference. 23.9% from the field? Unbelievably awful.

What a pathetic display. This is on coaching. Seth Greenberg got it right during one of the breaks. There is plenty of motion but nobody is being put in a position to score. Sorry Archie Miller fans, but IU will not succeed with this offense.

Isiah Thomas is the single most impactful IU player over the past 50 years.

Ray wrote: "Historically, Archie's teams have been rather atrocious at free throw shooting..." Does Archie deliberately recruit poor free throw shooters? As it has over the past three years, poor free throw shooting will bite us--as will poor three point shooting. Judging from the Tennessee Tech game, IU has one really good player and a bunch of role players who can't shoot.

Jerome Hunter should start ahead of Race Thompson. Trey Galloway is a smart player who hustles. He might be a better starter than Armaan Franklin.

Except for the last 10 minutes of the first half, an unimpressive performance. Tennessee Tech played them even in the 2nd half. If IU plays like this against real competition, it will be a long season. Free throw shooting stinks. Defense was weak. Outside shooting is no better than last season. They could go 0-3 in Maui (Asheville).

In spite of the score, this does not look like a very good team. Tennessee Tech is dreadful yet IU looked lost the first 10 minutes. We'll see. Yes, Galloway and Lander look good. Galloway should start ahead of Franklin.

If Mohammed announces sometime in 2021, he will still have made "his college decision on or after December 15th."

We are past the point of having to win on the court in order to win some of these recruiting battles. Most top high school players want to go to a college with a dynamic offense and IU's offense under Archie has been anything but dynamic. So Indiana has to do better than place 7th or 8th in the conference and they have to do it with an offense that attracts the top high school players.

Miller is not just a front court player, he is also a shooter. The current IU team doesn't have any natural shooters. There are a couple of players who may develop into good college shoots (e.g., Leal) but nobody, certain nobody who is 6'8'' or 6'9',' who can shoot 3s like Miller can. It remains a weakness for this team.

Creighton convinced Miller he would be another Doug McDermott.

It will be no more difficult--arguably less difficult--for Aminu Mohammed to skip his graduation than it was Kristian Lander. Lander gave up the chance to be Indiana's Mr. Basketball. Graduation is often a bigger deal for parents than for the kids many of whom can't wait to move on (That was true with me). Most of Mohammed's family don't even live in the US.

Some on this board are making it seem like Archie pushed Kaufman away from IU. That is ridiculous. Kaufman was Archie's top priority in this recruiting class. Archie undoubtedly did everything possible to land Kaufman, his top priority but didn't succeed. It is disappointing but it is the world of recruiting.

If Archie refused to "promise" Kaufman a 3-spot. it wouldn't have been because he is confident of his current roster. Coaches recruit the best players available (who they think they get) irrespective of who they already have on roster which is why Archie is recruiting 6'-4" guard Aminu Mohammed even though IU has guards Franklin, Galloway, Leal, Lander, and Phinisee.

I can't imagine Joey Brunk hangs around for a 6th year of college..

Trey Kaufman: "Based on the roster they're going to have when I'm there, that's a big key." Kaufman apparently believes Purdue will be better than IU next year and/or that he fits in better with their roster. Perhaps, he is correct, perhaps not. One has to think, however, that IU's performance on the court under Archie had an impact on Kaufman's decision . Archie's IU teams to-date have underachieved and his record at IU has been underwhelming--certainly less successful than fans expected when he was hired. Losing out on a player in recruitment by itself is not a big deal. But the reality is unless the team this season performs better than IU teams have the past three seasons, recruiting disappointments will continue.

According to Trey Kaufman himself, the four factors in his decision are: 1) Relationship with the coaches & players; 2) Their ability to develop him into being an NBA player; 3) How much playing time he would get; 4) How much they are going to win. Trey gets the same amount of playing time at either school. But if he chooses Purdue, then Trey believes Purdue is better for one or more of the other reasons.

If Leal hits his shots he'll get some playing time. But as the profile indicates, there is a lot of competition for his position. Even if Leal shoots well, will he play ahead of the more experienced Durham and Franklin? Maybe not much if Durham's and Franklin's 3-point shooting improve.