Honkyman

I said Juwan Morgan and D'Ron Davis predicted before the 2019-2020 season that Damezi Anderson would be the "breakout player" of the year. I didn't write that they said he would be a "star." The implication intended was that Anderson's play would be so improved as to make him a regular contributing member of the rotation rather than someone who only played when the game was decided, if he played at all. I added that even Archie suggested Anderson would be playing more this past season. All three praised Anderson's work ethic.

Aminu Mohammed is similar to Armaan Franklin except Mohammed is way better.

There are plenty of players who blossom in their junior and senior years--plenty of players who didn't look great in games until they did. Anderson is 6'7" and was an excellent shooter in high school. Several players and the coach have predicted based on his play in practice and his work ethic that he will be a real contributor at IU. Now they could be completely wrong. But I have to think they probably know more about his potential than his detractors on this board.

Lander is a good student. I doubt there will be a problem.

Interesting thing about Damezi Anderson. Both Juwan Morgan and D'Ron Davis predicted Anderson would be IU's "breakout" player during the 2019-2020 season. Even Archie Miller suggested Anderson would be more of a contributor going into last season. Obviously, there was no "breakout" for Anderson last season. But Morgan's and Davis' prediction suggests there is untapped talent and a work ethic there. If there isn't reasonable interest in Anderson as a transfer he might as well stay at IU. Maybe the predictions of Anderson contributing were premature rather than simply off base?

I don't know about a Final Four--I think there still needs to be more of an upgrade to the roster before IU is able to go deep into the tournament. And, I don't think Anthony Leal is on the same level talent-wise as previous Indiana Mr. Basketballs. But Leal is very impressive in this interview--he carries himself very well.

I don't know why a shooting guard or a small forward would even consider transferring to IU. We will have four shooting guards on the roster next year (Al Durham, Armaan Franklin, Anthony Leal, Trey Galloway). Plus assuming Kristian Lander re-classifies, we will two more guards who might on occasion play in the shooting guard slot (Phinisee & Lander). At the small forward slot we have three players--Jerome Hunter, Justin Smith and Damezi Anderson. Even were Anderson to transfer--as has been speculated (somebody would have to leave if we gain a grad transfer assuming Lander re-classifies)--that's still 8 players for 3 positions already on the roster. The grad transfer would have to be a truly great shooter to warrant it--either by IU or the player. If we're going to get a grad transfer, it needs to be a big to replace D'ron Davis or a really good 3-point shooter. Minlend shot 37% from 3-point range last year which is slightly less than what Durham shot (38.3%). Decent but not great.

Old Friend has an uncanny ability to start an argument when none is necessary. I was simply describing who Pat Graham was as an IU player--a very good shooter who hit 48% of his 3-point attempts but whose production was hampered by injuries. I added that IU fans will be very happy if Anthony Leal's 3-point percentage is anywhere near 48%. That I said Graham wasn't a star at IU wasn't intended to be a knock on anyone. It was simply a fact. Yes, I know who Graham played with--I've been an avid IU fan (as well as a close observer of Indiana high school ball) since I was a student there in the 1960s. It is too bad Old Friend is so quick to assign bad motives when none are intended.

Leal seems reasonably athletic. He apparently can shoot and seems to have high basketball IQ. But the opposition in these clips appears weak. We'll see how his talent translates at the next level. He kind of reminds me of Pat Graham who was also an Indiana Mr. Basketball and played at IU. Graham was 6'5" and was a very good shooter. He was never a star at IU but usually played off the bench averaging 8.6 points a game. He battled some injuries so that may have affected his production. He hit 48% from three-point range. If Leal can approach that percentage he will be beloved by IU fans after the poor shooting we've suffered through over the past three years.

Everything turned out well for Bryant. He signed a $25 million contract with the Washington Wizards last year.

IU lands its 3rd in a row Indiana Mr. Basketball. And, yet IU's play over the past three years has been pretty mediocre. I hope play improves with two Mr. Basketball players on the team next season.

Yogi Farrell stayed for his 4th year and still made his way onto an NBA team. Maybe Garza doesn't want to leave Iowa until after setting records like Yogi did at Indiana.

You are both right. The problem with IU's teams the last couple of years is outside shooting from both bigs and guards. Smith, Brunk and TJD together clog the middle while with no true threat from 3-point range by any of the guards allowed the defense to sag and also prevent penetration. This team was indisputably terrible shooting from outside. If Kristian Lander can hit from outside with any regularity to go along with his speed and passing talent he should get considerable playing time.

I agree that recruiting a shooting guard makes little sense at this point in time. If I am a recruit and saw that IU's team next season already has four shooting guards and six guards total (included Phinisee and Lander) I wouldn't choose to join the IU team.

Charles Minlend shot 30% from 3-point range last season and 28% the year before. That's better than Armaan Franklin but not as good as Al Durham and Rob Phinisee. Archie apparently does not think either Leal or Galloway are ready for significant playing time next season if he is recruiting another shooting guard. It could also mean that there are indications that Lander won't be able to re-classify or that another IU player has told Archie he plans to transfer.

Joe Hillman was highly recruited. He was the top scorer in California his senior year of high school. Knight recruited him because he wasn't getting a sufficient number of good enough players at that time out of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio where he usually recruited. That's also why he started bringing in Junior College transfers like Keith Smart and Dean Garrett.

Cal likely promised Keion more playing time next season. Keion wasn't going to get drafted but he has talent and might have transferred if he wasn't told his playing time would increase. I wouldn't take what he says publicly about postponing a move to the NBA. He's only a kid and these kids say things even if they aren't terribly credible even to themselves.

I started this out several pages ago by saying Duncomb is ranked about where Joey Brunk was ranked coming out of high school so we can expect that Duncomb will be roughly the kind of player Brunk is. After all, he was recruited to replace Brunk who completes his eligibility in a year. Some took offense at that but I think Brunk is a good player who plays hard and has shown some important leadership qualities. Brunk may not start all of next year as Race Thompson develops but he will still get decent playing time and will likely contribute important minutes. If that's what we get out of Duncomb, that's a solid recruit and as LCS says it probably also means we have recruited a 5-star at Trayce Jackson Davis' level to replace TJD when he leaves. I think everyone is sort of agreeing although some predict starting numbers by Duncomb's 3rd or 4th year. It could happen. We'll see. There is good reason to be pleased either way.

Obviously player development matters. Juwan Morgan was ranked in the low 100s and ended up being one of IU's better players. But most--not all by any means--wind up having roughly the kind of impact other players similarly ranked have. It is not inaccurate to say the odds are Duncomb will have the kind of impact other players similarly ranked will have. He's top 100 and that's solid. If Duncomb wasn't a top 100 player, IU would probably not have recruited him.

Some players, like Juwan Morgan and Yogi Farrell, who aren't projected to be drafted stick around for 4 years. Others, like James Blackmon, who don't think they will get anything more out of college leave after 2 or 3 years. Not sure why some think this is a big deal. Schools usually know what they are getting when they recruit these players.

Logan Dunomb is ranked about where Joey Brunk was ranked. So that is roughly the kind of player we are getting.

The three greatest, most talented players to put an IU uniform are Isiah Thomas, George McGinnis, and Walt Bellamy. There are many players who played 3 or four years who are rated higher because of the overall contribution that a longer career allowed--e.g., Scott May, Calbert Cheaney, Steve Alford. But the talent level of Thomas, McGinnis, and Bellamy was head and shoulders above all the other great IU players.

IU was terrible Archie's first season. We couldn't beat anyone who was any good and we lost to several teams that we should have beaten. There is no way one can conclude that IU overachieved Archie's first year. BTW, Robert Johnson was a top 100 4-star player coming out of high school who was a good college player, especially during his first three years.

"The first year for Archie and Holtman I think both IU and OSU overachieved;" OSU definitely overachieved. But how did IU overachieve during Archie's first year? They were 16-15. They had several good and well rated players back including senior Robert Johnson, junior Juwan Morgan, and sophomore D'ron Davis (who got hurt half way through the season), as well as Collin Hartman. They didn't beat anyone who was any good and they lost to several teams with weaker personnel. IU lost to Indiana State and IUFP. They lost in the Big Ten Tournament to lowly Rutgers. IU didn't even make the NIT much less the NCAA. It is hard to make the argument they overachieved during Archie's first season. The only thing one can conclude about the first season was that it was Archie's first season and his recruits were not playing yet.

Obviously, the coach will decide whether Lander and Leal deserve to start over Durham. Lander is a point guard and there is only one other point guard on the team. So presumably Phinisee and Lander will share point guard duties, though there may be occasions when both are on the floor. Durham, Franklin and Leal will fight it out for the other guard spot. Any one of those three could end up starting although all three are likely to see playing time. I think it is premature to conclude that Leal is already better than Durham or Franklin.