LamarCheeks

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.

Pardon my ignorance, but I'm not getting this: Who or what is Romeo?

Funny how in less than 2-3 hours, we went from having Billy Donovan in the bag, to being a team nobody wants to coach! Just saw an interview with ESPN's Jeff Goodman in which he said he believes Alford when he says he's not coming to B-town. When asked about candidates, he said there's a faction at IU that wants MIke Woodson. I guess that could be accurate. I'm guessing Woodson and his family and maybe some IU players from his era would want that, so I suppose that is a "faction." But I'm not sure anybody wants that. And now, it's being made to look as if Alford is spurning IU when as far as I know, a huge portion of the fan base had serious reservations about him -- and we're not sure if Glass even considered him a candidate in the first place. Goodman also said Archie Miller and Chris Mack might be in the mix, but he's not sure they would take the job. He sure did a good job of making us look bad.

I remember a few years back, hearing Tim Kurkjian (ESPN baseball guy) talk about how he once got burned by an anonymous source. He said that after that, his rule was this: I will grant you anonymity, but if you're wrong, I will reveal that you were the source of my reporting. ... I definitely wouldn't consider ESPN the bastion for good, ethical, accurate reporting, but in this case, I think Kurkjian has it right. ... I did not see one credible, legitimate source saying Donovan had been in Bloomington. That's why I wasn't buying into it. Once the Thunder beat writer and Andy Katz (though I am not a big fan of his) refuted it, I had a pretty good inkling it was false.

While I was all for it, I always had trouble grasping the Donovan-to-Indiana thing. Maybe it'll still happen, but I still just don't see it. I have to admit, I drank the Kool-Aid for a while there. ... But Andy Katz and the Thunder beat writer from the Oklahoma City paper refuted it. To me, those are more credible sources than just about anybody who said Donovan was in B-town (and I'm not a fan of Katz). ... Somehow, we all got hoodwinked!

Alford vs. Cal: Greasy dudes with greasy 'dos.

Playing the part of Orson Welles, Justin Albers (and whomever else tweeted about Donovan being in B-town).

If you're in the process of hiring a coach, would you really tell someone they are or aren't the top candidate? I would think you'd just tell them they're one of many candidates. However, I have never hired a coach, so I don't know.