Home Jersey

Cig is a smart guy with a dry sense of humor. I always expect coaches to push for more resources/investment, especially in this era, and with football even more so. Seems like the right venue for a lighthearted joke about that sort of thing. While it doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzies, I don’t think it amounts to cause for concern yet. That said, Cig will obviously advocate for his program and use whatever leverage necessary to do so - up to and including going elsewhere. Though, we’re nowhere near that IMO and think he simply seized an opportunity to be funny while raising a real point he’s trying to make (and that you’d expect any coach to make) in a room full of donors, media, etc. Dolson will definitely have his work cut out for him to keep the money flowing between football and basketball. But IU is one of the few schools with the potential / capability to do that for both sports. Like Stu said, good problem category.

SIAP, seen NCAA president Charlie Baker wants to expand March Madness to 72 or 76 teams and supposedly trying to do that this coming season. The NCAA sucks and has awful leadership lol

Speaking of 22 Euro bigs... Filip Jovic from the team we'll be playing in PR, just committed to Auburn. That team seems very talented and I think has 8 guys 6'8+ guys with a few that are 6'10+. Seems highly unlikely, but I'd love to get one of them. Lots of productivity in international play on their team. I think when we play them in August, it will be way too late to add anyone this year though. Was sort of wondering if we'd see any of the '26 guys reclass. Also seems doubtful. But ya never know... still actively recruiting.

This was the most composed / in his element I've seen DDV, that's my main takeaway. So refreshing / reinvigorating to have a HC that gushes when he talks about basketball. Says he has the same expectations as the fans and will do everything to live up to them. Lol at the reporter who couldn't get a question in edgewise. Must be a rookie Other notes for people who can't watch: Likes depth and ability to shoot, said "for the most part" good positional size, acknowledges short at C. DDV said nicest part of taking the trip is 10 extra practices, might do 1 a week to do film study / install stuff. Still actively recruiting, can go in a lot of different directions with those two extra spots. See how it plays out. Says the advantage to building a roster from scratch is everyone is bought in all the way from day 1. Said that matters in terms of connectivity and playing your role, the trip will help build chemistry. Everyone is figuring each other out, fun process to see play out from where we start in June to finish in March Q: What was the biggest challenge putting the roster together, 10 commitments in 27 days, things moved quickly. A: Wanted to be sure everyone we brought in fit who we want to be, not just this year but long term. Same thing with the staff. Trying to do it right from Day 1, if it takes a little longer it takes a little longer, but trying to do it as quickly as we could and be smart and calculated about it. HS recruiting will continue to be a big emphasis. Considered regional connections, experience, youthfulness, lots of things when it came to building the staff. Important to have complimentary skill sets. Potential for one more staff member. Thinks we have guys who are about winning, and that tends to shine through quickly Doesn't anticipate we'll have a lot of rim protection but it's not always blocking shots and there's other ways to protect the rim. Says he feels really good about the 5, like our guys and how they fit offensively. Have the ability to have the ball in their hand and be playmakers, have good depth there, will be nights we're undersized but lots of ways to offset that. On paper likes the balance of shooters and bigs, but have to take it from paper to the floor. That process starts next week.

Feel like the bold is a more than fair take that I agree with to a large extent. I don’t think you are as negative as others seem to. It’s fair to be skeptical at this point but I don’t think our NIL means we could have done better. I think it’s a coach with a blueprint that we have to see in action. Last several coaches haven’t worked out so hard to trust that in the offseason, I get it. People are way underrating Maryland though. It’s a great campus, good school, nice area, etc. Has a lot going for it that makes it easy to recruit to. And they’re more successful than IU has been in these kids lifetimes. As for NC state, we will see. Personalities aside… Wade and McCollum have won at crazy rates. If they can do it in P5 will be interesting to follow. 74 days til we see them in Puerto Rico

You watch them play much last year? Or you’re saying mid major automatically = low talent?

You don't need to apologize, I thought you were genuinely curious about the team lol

It's a Serbian team in the Adriatic Basketball Association, which is a pretty good league

I'm building the NJ --> IUBB pipeline and nobody can stop me.

Looked a little more closely. This roster is as of 4/15/25. Would assume the guys committed to college teams won't be with them in August... but this seems like a pretty good club. In addition to the guys below, they've got about 4 or 5 guys with really solid performance in international games. Timotej Malovec: Committed to Miami (FL) Mikhail Petrovic: Committed to Illinois Filip Jovic: Being recruited by Wisconsin Andrija Jelavic: Committed to Kentucky Bogoliijub Markovic: Top prospect in Adriatic League

We should enter a non-conference tournament with Iowa, Ole Miss and NC State just to watch the infighting around here about our preferred coaching candidates last cycle lol

Looks like we will see how we handle height early. This looks like very solid competition. Their C was in last year's NBA draft but withdrew. Of note, Jokic played for them before coming to the NBA. Haven't dug too deep but their current roster seems plenty talented. PR All-Star team I imagine will be pretty good comp too. 2 months 14 days until our first look. Eager is an understatement.

I am rooting for them both. Mgbako was definitely pitched/sold on the Carmelo Anthony development path. I am surprised that Woodson, having spent so much time with Melo, apparently could not develop wings but could with big men… didn’t he say TJD was the first time he had a big man that he ran an offense through? Idk… the whole era with Mike was a sh!t show that I’m very pleased we’ve flushed.

CJ Gunn's dad's account is private but he posted a video of them having fun dunking... Nice to see these guys being tight even if they're in different places. Guess IU wasn't all bad for them, even if Woody was (except for JHS I guess). Lol

After shining at last weekend's G-League Elite Camp, Mgbako and Bates were among five of 4 players called up for the upcoming NBA Draft Combine. The other three to get called up for the NBA Draft Combine are Gonzaga guard Ryan Nembhard, Penn State center Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Australian forward Lachlan Olbrich. Across two scrimmages at the G-League Elite Camp, Mgbako tallied 41 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and two steals in 41 minutes, shooting 48.0 percent (12-for-25) from the field, 53.8 percent (7-for-13) from 3-point range and 10-of-11 at the free throw line. Mgbako recorded a +31 plus/minus to help lead his team to a pair of wins. Bates posted 28 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 36 minutes, shooting 47.6 percent (10-for-21) from the field, 2-of-10 from 3-point range and 6-of-6 at the free throw line. Bates started both games which resulted in victories. Mgbako transferred to Texas A&M this offseason after spending his first two years at Indiana. Bates played his first two seasons at Indiana before finishing his final two years at Missouri. The full G-League Elite Camp roster is here: https://gleague.nba.com/news/2025-g-league-elite-camp#