LamarCheeks

If you're going to start defending folks who get roasted here, you will have an awfully long list.

Might not agree with what was written -- and that's fine. But this is a pretty childish and sophomoric comment, IMO.

Then why not do what OG did and say immediately that he wasn't coming back? Seems kinda silly to me to keep everybody waiting if he already knew what his decision was.

OK. Now that I've read a boatload on Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, etc., does anybody know what's going on with Robert Johnson -- the IU guy who may or may not be back in B-Town next season?

I'm a huge Stephen King fan, but am ashamed to say, I haven't dived into the Dark Tower series. I just finished the Bill Hodges trilogy, so I might start doing so.

There already isn't room on the roster for Blackmon, let alone a grad transfer. If Blackmon comes back, somebody else loses a scholarship or transfers. If Blackmon comes back and they add a grad transfer, two fellas lose scholarships or would have to transfer.

I think he may have gotten at least 6 inches off the ground!

Couple things: For one, if true, would this surprise anybody? I would think not. Second, sorry to admit -- I'm not familiar with Brennan Champion. Is he a legitimate/reliable reporter? Or just another Justin Albers?

Even Yogi had a tussle with the law one of those years -- think it was underage drinking.

Can't help but wonder if CAM's comments about DeRon Davis yesterday -- "“He’s going to be a major, major league player for us next year. The opportunity is there.” -- were, in part, a foreshadowing of TB's departure.

I don't disagree. I've thought all along that JBJ and TB likely would leave. And I think Archie had some indication of that. Otherwise, he could've just let any of the three signees out of their LOIs. I don't think he wants to get his IU career started by telling two players they'd have to give up their scholarships, so he had to have a really, really good idea of what would happen. As far as losing stars -- those stars got us to 18-16, 7-11 last season. So I say let's get the roster set, and let's get going on 2017-18. Archie's still got some good material to work with and almost certainly can do better than 18-16 and 7-11.

http://iuhoosiers.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1767&path=mbball

According to IU's website, Fraschilla is currently on staff as a "graduate manager" -- whatever that is. But he is listed as a member of the 2017-18 staff. Perhaps that was Blackmon's way of biding adieu to IU.

Geez, I'd been offline for a few hours and came here to see if there were any updates/inside poop on Robert Johnson, James Blackmon Jr., and/or Thomas Bryant and I'm seeing a couple pages about quarters vs. halves, resetting fouls, free throws, commercials and officiating. How'd it get this far off track??? LOL!

In slight defense of Crean (and I don't necessarily like to defend him), the NCAA does coaches no favors with the time element of guys being able to pull out of the draft. It can't be easy trying to sign a class when you don't know who's going and who's staying -- May 24 is awfully late to be trying to determine that. Granted, you should have a decent idea, but you can't always be 100 percent positive. Say, for instance Archie lets Durham and Moore out of their LOIs, figuring Blackman and Bryant will come back. Then, the latter two hire agents and stay in the draft. You've lost two pretty decent recruits. I think guys should be able to get evaluated before deciding to stay or go, but the time frame needs to be revisited -- perhaps tightened up a bit or something.

Yep. Had we not been oversigned by one, he would've been admitted.

I think so, too. If he didn't have an idea what he was planning to do or was extremely worried about the situation, he could've just given any of the three new recruits the release from the LOIs they asked for -- no harm, no foul. I don't put any stock into the fact that Blackmon and Bryant haven't hired agents. Troy Williams didn't hire an agent last year and there was zero chance he was coming back.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: Archie knows. ... He has to know who's staying and who's going or have a very, very good indication of such. Otherwise, he would've just let Moore or Durham go. They wanted out of their LOIs and if we were to remain oversigned, the easy thing would be to just release them. But he worked hard to keep them. That tells me he's pretty hip to the scholly situation and knows how it will play out.

If JBJ and TB leave, along with OG -- and Moore, Smith and Durham come in, that puts us at the limit. There wouldn't be room for a grad transfer.

Moore had asked to be released from his LOI. If CAM were concerned about being oversigned, I would think he would just grant him the release. I have a feeling CAM has a pretty good idea of who's staying and who's going. Otherwise, he would just forget Moore. Unless he knows something (which he must), there would be no reason to continue to pursue Moore.

Don't we have to assume Archie has a pretty good idea that among the 12 current players on roster, at least two more will be leaving? Otherwise, why continue to go after Moore? If he knew, or had a really good guess, that only one more were leaving, wouldn't he just grant Moore his release? Because right now, Smith and Durham are coming in and OG is leaving. That leaves us over by one. And if Moore sticks, we'll be over by two (that's assuming RoJo, JBJ and TB come back, although it seems unlikely all three will). I'm guessing he doesn't want to, in his first few months on the job, have to go up to a current player (or two) and say, "Sorry. We won't have a scholarship for you next season."

This is kinda amusing if you check out the reader comments. Most of them are saying "Why couldn't IU take Alford and leave Schilling!" ... I get the impression that it wouldn't have broken many hearts in Westwood if we had hired Alford. http://www.bruinsnation.com/ucla_basketball/2017/4/13/15296378/ucla-basketball-coach-takes-indiana-job

But it does crack me up. It really, really does.

I know every player has a right to test his draft status -- and I'm cool with that. But I can't help but chuckle when I see that four dudes from an 18-16 team that finished 10th in its conference and lost its only NIT game have declared for the NBA. Cracks me up!

Let's face it, though. If an athletic program isn't gonna get the death penalty for enabling a child rapist, it's never gonna happen. The "death penalty" -- with respect to major programs -- died with SMU football, methinks.