LamarCheeks

The past five or six posts in this thread have some really fascinating information about Justin Smith. If you haven't yet -- go back and give 'em a read!

In Fox Sports 1's celebration of Justin Smith's time in B-town, they're showing what probably was his best game as a Hoosier right now.

I guess Race was almost hit by that tanker that was barreling down I-35 in Minneapolis. Love this message ...

According to this story, he even tried to talk the young men out of committing the crime. Instead, they shot him. Don't think there are words to describe the senselessness of this ... https://www.si.com/college/indiana/football/chris-beaty-died-helping-others-final-moments?fbclid=IwAR1aPL5T8amDR370Xg-24Pfg5u_lPaf-Ou4J1p2kYjfJAi60s8sC8yGfX2A

This world gets more and more fuc**d up by the minute. Chris was shot and killed during protests/riots last night in Indy. This sh*t does not need to happen.

To me, most discussions about Justin Smith are now pretty much irrelevant. Because ...

Hey @Uspshoosier, @Hovadipo @Stuhoo -- I think we have someone trying to perhaps spread a virus (the computer kind) or something. Someone calling themselves mhatun487 is dropping a link on just about every thread.

It's also Kelley -- guess IU didn't have that big of an impact on him! Regardless, to get a business degree there in three years is no small feat. There's no question he's a bright dude.

Agreed. But a funny thing -- I essentially wrote this on another thread and had a couple dudes pretty much tell me I was an idiot for making the post. That if there were a grad transfer to be had, we'd have had him by now. But -- our very own Justin Smith just became available. Somebody will want him. ... You never know what might happen or who could enter the portal. I figure there's got to be somebody somewhere who can help us -- and it's only a one-year commitment, so even if it doesn't work out all that great, there's really no harm done.

Smith is from Buffalo Grove -- that's only about 20-25 miles from Evanston. Wonder if he'd join Peyton Ramsey at Northwestern? I have no idea if he'd fit their roster or if they have a scholly available, however.

That class was Justin, Al Durham and Clifton Moore. Al is the last one standing.

RIP, Jerry Sloan -- aka Brian Sloan's dad. When I was at IU, Jerry was in his first season with the Jazz and visited Bloomington for Brian's Senior Day. When Brian thanked his parents and pointed out where there, just about everyone stood to get a glimpse of Jerry. A basketball legend. Dementia/Alzheimer's sucks ...

Guess this got cut from the Jordan documentary ...

You are right. I don't know what I'm talking about. You are the smartest person on this board.

Gee, that thought had never entered my mind ...

With Damezi leaving and Lander reclassifying, we're still one below the scholarship limit. Certainly, there has to be a grad transfer with a year of eligibility remaining worth looking at -- maybe a big since TJD and Brunk are pretty much all we have there? I hope we just don't leave it open again. Seems such a waste -- particularly when you can easily add a guy for a year. If he doesn't work out -- no harm, no foul. Fitzner turned out to be something of a bust, but it was for one year, so it wasn't as if he was keeping a scholarship from a possible recruit. Current roster (8): Durham, Smith, Jackson-Davis, Brunk, Franklin, Phinisee, Thompson, Hunter On the way in (4): Geronimo, Lander, Leal, Galloway

I know injuries are part of the game, and about every program has been affected by them, but three things I would have loved to see at IU: 1974-75 team with a healthy Scott May (and with Larry Bird) 1992-93 team with a healthy Alan Henderson heading into the tournament 2012-13 team with a healthy Maurice Creek (I suppose technically, he was healthy -- but he was never the same after those injuries) We could be easily be looking at eight banners.

After hearing about Cam Wilson's family, I couldn't help but remember when Pete Stoyanovich was our kicker and a star soccer player. His father killed his mother and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. I was an IU student at the time and just remember how sad and horrible of a situation that was. I worked at a bar downtown a couple years after that -- one of the waitresses was Pete's girlfriend. Here's an ironic twist: Pete was the starter in 1986. Because of that tragedy, he left the team for a weekend to be with his family. That Saturday, we lost by two points to Ohio State. A walk-on kicker -- named Jay Tuttle -- missed two FGs. His son? Jack -- our current backup QB. Really feel for Cam Wilson -- can't even begin to imagine what he's going through.

Man, he has Steph Curry-like range. As soon as he crosses the half-court line, he's in scoring position!

Thanks for sharing. Nice story -- doesn't blame Damezi and doesn't blame IU. Just says that things didn't work out. And it even acknowledges that when he got PT, for whatever reason, Damezi simply didn't perform. I remember late in the season, seeing him brick wide-open 3s and thinking that he had lost any confidence he might have had and the harsh reality was, we couldn't afford that in a B1G game. At that point, I started thinking that he just wasn't gonna get any better -- at IU -- and probably could use a change of scenery, especially with all the wings coming in. When Gelon left, I recall seeing a story that kinda railed on Archie -- and I didn't necessarily think that was fair. No offense to Gelon (like many others, I don't like trashing players), but he just wasn't a Power 5-caliber player, and should have never been recruited to IU in the first place. That was Crean's mistake. Hope Damezi does well at Loyola. Would love to see him get more playing time and maybe even score 10-12 points a game. He seems like a good kid.

The 18th anniversary of Allen Iverson's famous rant was a couple days ago, so I modified it to reflect the absurdity of the NCAA slamming us while letting UNC, others get off scot-free ... "We in here talkin' 'bout phone calls. I mean, listen ... we talkin' 'bout phone calls. Not academic fraud. Not paying recruits. Not stripper parties. We talkin' 'bout phone calls. Not hookers. Not setting up illegal payments. Phone calls. We talkin' 'bout phone calls. We talkin' 'bout phone calls. I mean, how silly is that, man! ... What are we talkin' about? Phone calls. We talkin' 'bout phone calls. We talkin' 'bout phone calls. ... It's strange to me, too, but we here talkin' 'bout phone calls!"

TBH, I'm not all that familiar with Titus and Tate. But if one of them claims to be "an Indiana guy," why the hell is he wearing an Ohio State hat?

Interesting. He essentially calls out the seniors when he was a freshman, but the only significant senior that year was Sheehey. I'm wondering if Will felt sorta abandoned because Watford, Hulls and Elston all graduated and Vic and Cody went pro. He kinda got left behind by all his buddies. It probably was a tough pill to swallow. He went from being the sixth man on a team that was No. 1 most of the season to being the top dog on a team that likely wasn't gonna be very good. He may have basically thought: "I just want to play this final season and get it over with."

To PSU, these guys are a dime a dozen. But to us, it's a really good get. That's what is frustrating -- at least to me. He could go to IU, be a real contributor and maybe be a three-year starter. Or he could go to PSU and never be heard from again.

Realistically, I wonder what he expects to learn from this process? He really hasn't even proven he's good enough for the Big Ten, let alone the NBA. What does he need to get better at? How about everything. He's a phenomenal athlete, but just doesn't seem to be a very good basketball player. Can't tell you how many times I've seen him make a nice move to the bucket, only to miss (mostly short-arm) an easy 8-footer. Or brick a wide-open 3. And if you believe one of the few people on this board who really does seem to have inside info -- he's been an absolute cancer to the team. I'm really surprised he hasn't entered the transfer portal -- especially because it seems as if he's clashed with Archie so much. Maybe if he wants to make a few bucks right away, he can go to Europe or South America, but no NBA team will draft him -- or even sign him to a free-agent deal. He just isn't good enough.