LamarCheeks

I like a draft-eligible player being able to "test the waters," but always thought it put coaches in a very awkward position with trying to juggle who's coming back and who's coming in. I'm guessing coaches and programs have a pretty good idea what each player will do, but unless they changed the rules this year, the deadline for returning to school/entering the draft is awfully late. What if you have a high school kid who wants to commit, but also have a player "testing the waters." Do you sign the kid, then tell your player you don't have a scholarship for him any longer? Or do you tell the recruit "sorry" because the player MIGHT return. But what happens if he doesn't?. Then you've possibly missed out on a potential talent. That happened last year with Williams. I think it was about 99 percent sure he was leaving, but what if during the evaluation camps, he had an epiphany and thought, "Hey, I'm not ready. I want to stay at IU." Crean had already given out his scholarship. Maybe this won't be an issue at IU since Archie said he's likely to keep a scholarship or two open, but still -- it always has the potential to make things very uncomfortable.

Not doubting your source about Crean, but I would've bet a paycheck that Kent Sterling would be anti-Crean on this. Tom Crean could cure cancer and Sterling would say he did it just to get attention.

Listened to the Crean interview. He's a classy guy. I always thought if you want to criticize him, criticize the turnovers, criticize the at-times porous defense, criticize the fact that the best Indiana kids seemed to get away from IU, criticize the way he handled the off-court problems a couple years back. That's all fair game, as far as I was concerned. But I always annoyed by the criticism of his pacing up and down the sidelines, the clapping, the gum chewing, the Diet Coke obsession, the tan. I always thought that was kinda sophomoric. And for the record, I did think it was time for a change, so I'm not a Crean apologist. But I think sometimes we lose sight of the big picture here.

Doesn't bother me that Crean didn't meet with Glass. His agent called him the night before and essentially told him he was gonna be fired. Crean and family were headed to Florida for a vacation that next morning when Glass texted him, asking him to come to the office. Crean took a pass. I don't get the vitriol toward him in this regard. Like him or not, it seems to me that so far, he's handled things in a pretty classy matter.

He also could be one of the top candidates to replace Archie at Dayton.

I've always been curious about something. When Crean signed Cody, Patterson, Hollowell, Yogi, Devin Davis, Hanner -- he had a decent run of getting Indiana kids. (Of course, except for Cody and Yogi, none of those worked out.) Still, I wonder: How did he develop such a disconnect with the state? I grew up in Indiana, attended IU and now live in Virginia. When I watch Kyle Guy, I think, "Damn! He should be a Hoosier." ... I have faith that Archie can get things back on the right track, but still, I wonder: What the hell happened?

Perhaps my favorite quote from the presser: "I don't think you come to Indiana if you don't want to live in the neighborhood."

Here's a thought: Maybe he did call Boston and said "Any chance you're interested?" And Stevens says: "Thanks, but no thanks." ... That way, you gauge his interest without technically making an offer. ... How uncomfortable would it have been for him -- and Archie -- to stand up there and say, "Yeah, baby! We got our No. 2 guy! And here he is!"

The irony is that just a few years after Davis was hired, IU made the same mistake with the football program. Bill Lynch took over after Coach Hep passed, and we went to a bowl. But that was largely because of the pieces Hep had put into place. Lynch was virtually the same guy as Davis -- a nice, good, decent man who just wasn't equipped to handle running a Big Ten program.

It annoys me that Kitchel is so dismissive of the Pierre Pierce incident. "That happened, what, 15 years ago?" ... It doesn't matter if it happened five, 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Alford tried to bully the victim and in the end, helped enable Pierce to attack another women. That's pretty despicable. It doesn't matter that Alford was hired twice after that. He only tried to fully apologize for it after UCLA hired him, when the school finally got a full understanding of the sleaziness of what went on. And only then because the AD forced him to. Let's say Alford did get the IU job, Kitchel should've then been disappointed for the SAME EXACT reasons he was when Sampson was hired: "That guy is absolutely what we don't want at IU."

His name actually has been thrown out there as a possible replacement for Archie at UD.

Fred Glass: I couldn't get Donovan. I couldn't get Stevens. Didn't want anything to do with Alford. I was lukewarm about Bennett. Guess I'm gonna have to take a Flyer on this one.

My bad. I didn't read it close enough.

Looks like he hasn't signed, so no. And if he has signed, he would need Dayton to release him from his LOI if he wanted to come to IU.

I've seen a couple people say that Dayton fans are pissed they're losing their coach -- which is a good sign. I've also seen comments from Ohio State fans who are pissed because they were hoping to get him in Columbus once Matta called it quits.

No basketball coach in their right mind would accept a three-year deal and no AD in their right mind would offer one. A new coach needs at least a five- or six-year deal. For recruiting purposes, you need to be able to tell kids you'll be here four years from now.

We agree on this one. I never saw that happening, either.

Anybody who plays defense. haha

Might have won 5 or 6 more without him for all we know.

Don't know what this means. ... I think Blackmon's gone, regardless. And I can't say I know the dynamic of this team, but I think there's a reason we were champs in 16 and chumps in 17. Recall how much better we got without JBJ last season?

I like this hire. Let's face it: Donovan and Stevens weren't happening. Wanted no part of Alford. I thought Bennett and Miller were the next best "candidates," and I don't think Bennett was gonna happen, either. I think he's still pissed IU fired his sister all those years ago. Welcome aboard, Arch.

I think Bryce Drew is a good coach -- an Xs ad Os guy. But at IU, you need to be so much more than a good coach. You have to be the face of the program, you have to press the flesh, you have to take a ton of heat. I'm not saying Bryce doesn't have a thick skin, but I wonder if he has the temperament to run a program with as high a profile as IU's.

Yes, hiring Donovan would be outstanding. But if he's not interested, he's not interested. And no offense to IU, but why would he be? He's making $6 mil a year and doesn't have to try to persuade spoiled, arrogant teenagers to attend his school. I love IU -- am from Indiana, have an IU degree and have been a fan for 30-plus years -- but this just ain't happening.

Gotcha. Thanks. I was confused by the reference to Bennett and Romeo.