Honkyman

Schilling's one job this year was to land Keion Brooks, the son of a player Schiller coached. His failure to do that along with not really contributing meaningfully in any other way cost him his job. Archie recognizes that he needs a better staff and that's a good thing.

If the turn-around happens this 2019-20 season then he would be a year ahead of Crean. I'm in the "let's see what happens this year" mode. The team has talent and if it doesn't produce then it is time to think about what next.

The transformation of a basketball team from mediocre to very good can happen quickly and somewhat unexpectedly. It happened during Tom Crean's tenure when the team went from 12-20 in year three to 27-9 in year four (the year of the Watford shot against Kentucky). Of course, Crean wasn't able to sustain the success of that squad for more than two years. But the point is if the pieces are there to make a dramatic improvement--and in my opinion IU has the talent to have a good year--then it can happen quickly. It began to look like such a turn-around would happen last year until the bottom fell out during conference play. Obviously, if Coach Miller can't show improvement this coming season, he is in trouble (though he will get four years before he is pushed out).

IU doesn't deserve to be a 2019-20 pre-season top team based on its performance last season and the fact that the top two players are gone. That said, this team has the potential to surprise assuming key players stay healthy and certain players take a step forward in development.

Green is the only player currently on the IU squad who can shoot the 3 with any kind of reasonable accuracy. With the top two scorers (Langford & Morgan) gone, the team's success next year really depends on Green's ability to play with consistency. If we see the Green who played well at the end of the season, IU should make the tournament.

Brandon Newman led the Indiana All-Stars with 18 points including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Too bad he's going to Purdue. He is going to be a good ball player for them.

Damezi Anderson was listed as 6'7" on the IU roster this past season.

Reporters don't write the headlines, editors do.

Some people require more detailed explanation.

We definitely have not shown evidence that we can be a top 10 program in 2019-20. But even if Jerome isn't available next season, we are adding three pretty good new players who will likely contribute and some talented returning players. It is not a team that will contend for the national championship, but it is team with the talent to win enough games to make it to the tournament. That would be a step forward which I think is all most IU fans are asking for at this point.

Walking Boot of Doom--Your charge is patently false. Just yesterday I posted a defense against another poster who attacked Coach Miller for taking Damezi Anderson over Aaron Henry, an in-state player who wound up playing well this year at Michigan State. My recollection is that while IU made Henry an offer, it favored Jerome Hunter over Henry as Hunter was more highly rated and considered the better player at essentially the same position at that time. Henry would have gone to Michigan State even if Anderson had decided on Purdue over IU as many predicted. As a die-hard Hoosier fan since Lou Watson was coach, I don't hesitate to raise criticism nor provide praise for the team and coaches when I believe warranted. Sadly, there are some on this board who prefer to engage in personal attacks when someone raises a point with which they disagree. I am of the opinion that complaining about cheating is increasingly used as an excuse by some fans (not the coaching staff) when a recruiting target chooses to attend a different school. I have made the observation that our recruiting success under Coach Miller has stalled not because of cheating but because of last year's disappointing on-the-court performance and will not likely pick up to the level it was before last year's losing streak until the team starts to win consistently again and shows it is playing to potential. Walking Boot may call that whining. I consider it a legitimate point of view. One may agree or disagree. That is expected. But personal attacks surely are an unnecessary and unproductive response to any post.

Aaron Henry had planned on choosing IU until Jerome Hunter announced he had decided to go to IU. Damezi Anderson had nothing to do with Henry's decision.

Losers whine about cheaters. Let's start winning and stop worrying about what other schools are doing to land top players. We have the talent (though 3-point shooting could continue to be a liability). Win in 2019-20 (i.e., compete in the conference and go to the NCAA Tournament) and the rest won't matter.

You are right. Curtis Jones would be redundant. We don't need any more players who can't shoot.

Not everybody gets it apparently.

Unfortunately, Curtis Jones is the one of the better graduate transfer still available. If he hadn't already played and transferred from IU, the coaching staff would probably be interested in him.

Five star players and even some four star players are all about the NBA. For those players, college is just a necessary stepping stone (until they do away with 'one and done') to professional basketball. Memphis doesn't need to pay players to come because Penny Hardaway is promising them a path to professional ball just as John Calipari does. And, both Hardaway and Calipari are natural salesmen. Juwan Howard will do the same and Michigan will load up with top 100 players passing in the next couple of years passing most teams in the Big Ten talent wise. Patrick Ewing is old-school having been coached by John Thompson Jr. who is totally old-school. And, Ewing doesn't have the personality that Penny Hardaway does. I know a lot of people on this board love Archie Miller, believe he will bring Indiana basketball back, and don't want to hear anything negative about him or IU even if totally on target. But the honeymoon in recruiting is over for Archie as of the losing streak this past conference season and the feeling which is prevalent among many that he did not coach Romeo well. Until IU starts winning and players start playing up to their potential, we will continue to struggle in the recruiting department. Personally, I think there is sufficient talent on this team currently to win. It is up to the coaching staff and players to make it happen because there is no help on the way until they do.

I didn't say it was a fair assessment. Nothing is fair when it comes to recruiting. Hardaway is getting a pass for now because some are bowled by his association with the NBA. Same will be true with Juwan Howard. Howard will land some top players before he needs to prove anything. But at some point Hardaway and Howard will have to deliver or people will say the same thing about them--that they can't coach at this level (or any level). But for now the talk among many top players about IU's Coach Miller is not good while the talk about Hardaway and Howard is.

Miller is not going to land any top 100 players who come from outside of Indiana--including Hassan Diarra-- until the team starts winning. The impression of players and coaches outside of Indiana--and perhaps inside Indiana as well--is that Miller has yet to demonstrate he can coach at this level. The view on Miller changed as a result of this past season's play. That's why there are still two open scholarships. As for Jake Windham, no offer was made--apparently because Miller wanted to focus on trying to land Anthony Harris and Lester Quinones. Now there are no players left of Windham's quality (ranked 284 by 247 Sports). If Miller wants to fill the 12th scholarship for the 2019-20 season, he is going to end up taking the same route that Crean took and bringing in someone no one has heard of.

Too bad Michael Lewis isn't headed home to IU.

IUs recruiting will continue to drop off if we don't win. That has to be the lesson of our inability to land shooters and ball handlers this 2019 spring. If the 2019-2020 season is a success (i.e., IU wins enough to make it to the NCAA tournament) recruiting will pick up. Until then, we are not likely to do any better than Anthony Leal, a four-star hometown player (who is a shooter).

I agree that Trendon Watford was holding out for a school like Duke. Many of the top 20 players want to be courted by Duke, Kentucky and Kansas and Watford never really was. He was almost surely going to Alabama and then Alabama had a year like Indiana and fired the coach. The situation is like Keion Brooks who would have signed with Indiana in the fall but then saw the school play poorly pushing him to Kentucky. When Alabama crashed, Watford was hoping for Duke but it didn't happen. All of his fallback choices--Memphis, LSU, and Indiana--had more arguments against than for. In the end, he will probably go to Alabama because that's the easiest of no great choices.

Juwan Howard would recruit well because Michigan has a great recruiting base. Michigan coaches even before Beilein have been especially successful recruiting in Detroit and throughout Michigan which have produced many very good players. They have also had success in Ohio, Chicago, and Northern Indiana. Michigan is a great brand. It is one of the few schools where the football and basketball programs are highly successful and respected.The question for Howard is the same as any former NBA player. Do they really want the lifestyle of a college coach? NBA coaches get some time off in the summer. College coaches rarely get any time off. The lifestyle is awful though you are the king of a small kingdom.

I wouldn't count on Michigan dropping down much. They have a great tradition and I suspect they will hire a good coach--maybe not as good as Beilein but someone who can recruit. Izzo isn't going anywhere for at least another five years. Meanwhile, IU can't even find suitable players to fill their available scholarships.

IU-Virginia at Assembly Hall would be a better game for IU than playing some 2nd division ACC team.