LamarCheeks

OSU 37 IU 22

I grew up in The Region and initially, was excited to see that Gelon was gonna be a Hoosier. But it became pretty clear he just didn't have the skill set to be a B1G player. Crean reached just a little too far on this one. Yes, he found some good under-the-radar talent in guys like Oladipo and Sheehey, but when he took flyers on those guys, we were still working our way back into national prominence after a couple really dark years. And they had abilities that Gelon just doesn't. He offered Gelon at a time when really, we needed to be aiming higher. I have a feeling that despite what his coach said, the D-1 options are few and far between. I hope he does well, but it just seemed that clearly, he was not a Power 5-conference type player.

Half my family went to Purdue, so I'm stoked that Archie went into their backyard and got this kid. Can't wait to see him run the team.

Hey Wilson, ready for another loss at Memorial Stadium? (OK, so OSU will probably win by 2-3 TDs, but somebody's gotta take a little shot at the dude!)

I guess he's not announcing a decision tonight!

Man, how sweet would it be to snag this kid from the backyard of the Toiletmakers!

Why doesn't the B1G have more respect for the IU-Toiletmaker rivalry! We should play twice every year. It's the best basketball rivalry in the conference. The ACC wouldn't ask Duke and UNC to play just once.

OK. Makes sense. I wonder if my high school has changed its policies, because when I was there, you couldn't graduate early. And the senior courses that were required for graduation could only be taken by seniors. I'm guessing by now, they've relaxed that policy, but would have no idea.

I don't get how the whole "reclassifying" deal works. At my high school -- granted, that was 30 years ago -- you had all kinds credit and course requirements you needed to satisfy before you could graduate. And you couldn't take a handful of those courses until you were a senior; hence, there was no way you could graduate early or "reclassify" or move up a class. I could've dropped out any time I wanted, I suppose, but I still wouldn't have satisfied the school's requirements to get my diploma. I hope someone more intelligent than me -- that won't take much -- can enlighten me.

Don't know if I'd call it poaching. It's just recruiting. And having spent a handful of years in Indiana, he certainly knows the state.

You just hope that Archie is as happy to be at IU as we are to have him. I hope that deep down in the back of his mind, he's not thinking, "Damn. I wish I had waited for that Ohio State gig." ... I'm guessing (hoping) he is happy in B-town, though. ... Because many automatically assumed that since he went to N.C. State, he'd want that job when it opened. He didn't. And since he was a Matta assistant, many automatically assumed that he'd want to coach at OSU. And it's possible he didn't want a return there.

Here's my scenario -- which I totally made up and upon which there is no basis of fact: Brad Brownell to Butler. He's from Indiana (was a high school teammate of Calbert Cheaney) and went to DePauw. He's stuck at a football school that only pretends to be interested in basketball. There was even some question about whether he'd be back next season. Perhaps he wants to get Back Home Again and be top banana at a basketball school. The only thing: I don't know how much Butler was paying Holtmann, so I don't know what they'd be willing to pay. Brownell is making somewhere between $1.2 and $2 million a year (he signed an extension a couple years back that takes him to $2 mil -- just don't know when). ... Then Crean goes to Clemson, where they don't care about basketball and he doesn't have to worry about being top dog. He can make the NCAAs once every four or five seasons and everybody's happy. LOL!

Really sad story. I didn't necessarily think he would be an NFL star, but I thought he had all the tools to be a good receiver for a good while. I remember one game at IU, the QB way underthrew the ball. The eyes of the DB just lit up -- he was sure he was gonna get the pick. Hardy, right behind him, just reached over the top of him and snagged the ball for a TD -- an amazing play by an amazing talent. RIP, James.

So, why is this happening?

According to the OSU website, Matta is finished as of now. He won't even coach next season.

Hmmm. I thought deadline was 5 p.m. Eastern. I could be wrong, though.

Swanigan's down to his final 35 minutes. Crazy there's been no announcement yet.

Yep. Pretty much spot on. Since I'm originally from the Region, I was excited to see IU finally get a kid from that area again -- I believe Nover was the last one -- but then I saw who else was in the mix: UIC, Iona, IUPUI and Western Michigan. Seriously, we should not be recruiting kids who are getting that level of interest. Give Crean credit for finding diamonds in the rough in Oladipo and Sheehey, but this was a HUGE reach. I think Crean's arrogance got the best of him this time. ... Hope Grant finds a place where he can play and contribute.

The deadline is 5 p.m. today and Swanigan STILL hasn't made up his mind? Or has he made up his mind and just hasn't made it public? I don't recall many players actually waiting until the final hours. (I did see that Edwards will be back with the Toiletmakers -- no surprise there).

Can bank it or perhaps see if there's a capable grad transfer -- that's only for a year anyway. It's not likely at this point, but we could end up with another Max Bielfeldt.

Was there a tweet or report something that I'm missing? I thought with RoJo coming back, we were right where we needed to be -- at 13 schollys.

The last thing heard from RoJo was the non-denial denial of all the reports, right? Wonder if he's ever planning to actually say that he's coming back?

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.