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We don't but one can make an educated guess based on a few things, considering that it's more expensive to acquire talent in the portal than retain it, the market went up again this cycle even compared to last cycle, Dorn is probably deeper on the bench for Miami than Harris is for IU, and (I could be mistaken) we locked up Harris before he went on his UVA visit, so the number must've been good enough that the trip was no longer worthwhile

And we shall see if Harris is any better at those things than Dorn. Or Jasai Miles for that matter. Hopefully the staff knew what they were doing this time. Then we will all be happy.

Duke fans said he likely couldn't get on the court because he is not good at moving laterally and struggled on defense because of it

I am not even saying one is better than the other. It's just a fact one is more proven at their primary skillset of shooting right now. I'm simply saying, it's a valid question at this point and we will have to see if the staff did better scouting this year than last

Is it gawking to post stats and say the name of the coach at another P5 conference school that took him out of the portal? Lolol People want to discount the 3 game hot streak Dorn had yet we don't win those games without him. Just another fact. Sorry for "gawking" with facts you don't like lol

Jai Lucas must have seen something about Dorn that he thought he could work with. He saw Duke plenty too. Dorn and Harris are pretty much both athletically limited with one primary skillset of shooting. Dorn is more proven than Harris at that skill. Maybe he can show more with more PT though

Are they better than Cam Boozer and Patrick Ngongba? Because that's who Harris played with when he shot 33% from 3 in 9.7mpg last year.

I have not seen anybody not acknowledge that this team is significantly better than last year, which is good, and we had to have it. Do some guys just want to nitpick and criticize? Maybe. Are some reflexively defensive? Maybe. Most likely we all are just posting opinions in good faith and differ on how we view some things. As you acknowledge, it's not like the roster is ironclad perfect, so of course there will be offseason message board fodder about personnel, budget, etc.

Dorn at Indiana: .380 3FG% on 5.3 attempts per game (2 makes) Luke Goode at Indiana: .392 3FG% on 4.9 attempts per game (1.9 makes) Goode on Illinois's E8 team: .389 3FG% on 4.1 attempts per game (making 1.6) Harris will need to make about 2 3s a game for us if he is expected to be a shooter. On 1.9 attempts last year, he made .6 per game in 9.7mpg. Hopefully the extra playing time helps him.

Commits to Purdue

Based on where we are, with the $500k we assume is left, I'd spend it on a Euro that can play the 4/5 and be an 8th or 9th man next year. Hoping that's what we do with the final spot. Having two "practice players" is totally fine with me. If we do get that playable front court depth, my concern about roster construction largely fades, although everyone could nitpick if they really wanted to. Shooting doesn't look like the strength it was last year but the offense should be more balanced and defense should be better with more athleticism and rim protection. In terms of where we've spent so far, I'm curious about a few things. 1) The process with Lindsay came together very quickly and seemed straightforward transactional, do we get the ROI we need from him? I like Lindsay and hope so. Not sure what we spent on him to seal the deal within like 48 hours. How much leg work had been done beforehand? We'll never know, can only judge based on results on the court 2) We prioritized Harris early. Did we nail that scout? What did we see in his very limited action at Duke that made us confident he'd be productive here? And how much did it cost to get him vs how much did Nick Dorn want? Will Dorn prove to be a more productive ACC player for Lucas? 3) Sherrell has been described by Alabama fans as not really a guy you throw the ball into and count on to get a bucket. I'm least concerned about this, but we spent a pretty penny here and need him to play like it. When it comes to your hypothetical, those are the questions that stand out to me in terms of how we could've spent differently to build a different roster. It's not easy when you're filling 12 spots but I'd say the staff has done pretty well overall. We were never going to have a truly elite roster. Need to earn the investment this year though.

It'd be nice for our 6th and 7th guys to be more proven than 10mpg each. It'd be nice to have a back up 5 as 8th or 9th man. Moody as 8th or 9th and Karvala as 10th would be fine with me. Overall the staff deserves kudos for pulling a top portal haul. That doesn't mean we have no holes on the roster or are ensured any type of success. But why bother trying to understand what others are saying when you can just misrepresent their point of view and argue with yourself? Lol

The kids ranked around our incoming freshmen are largely either going to be fringe rotation guys at P5 like Sisley last year or play more at schools like VCU and Dayton. Basketball is played with 5 guys on the court and we bought a potentially pretty to very good group of starters. We still need to get something out of our bench. All teams need to worry about staying healthy. Especially us. Hopefully we go 12-8 in the Big Ten or better and have a core to retain for the first time in what feels like forever for IUBB. This program has no culture to attract or retain guys. That's probably what I found most disappointing about year 1 and why going into year 2 we again had to spend absurd amounts of money to flip the entire roster. Hopefully allocated better this time around. All we can do is hope since absolutely nothing is ensured when you compete at this level.

All this misdirection that people are concerned about 11-13 lol. People are commenting on 6-9. People have their own ideas about depth and top end talent. Or what to expect from freshmen. So everyone minimizing concerns others have, what is your expectation for the Big 10 W/L record next year?

Who is acting like we haven't significantly upgraded the roster? Not me. I've said I have no problem with Moody as 9th man and Karvala as 10th. We agree on your last paragraph. Comparisons to last year's team don't interest me. Simply saying the bench can be a hindrance to success next year. I didn't realize saying 12-8 in the Big Ten next year is so pessimistic of me. I'll remember to give the staff a pat on the @$$ in every post if it makes people feel better lol

If we are counting on Karvala to be productive in the Big Ten as a freshman, I suppose that's possible. Staff knows better than me so just going to hope they are right and wait and see. In the meanwhile people will question things that are obviously questionable from a staff that has not yet earned the benefit of the doubt. Would be nice if that changes after this year

I highly doubt Moody or Karvala are very meaningful contributors next year. Maybe Moody does OK

I was told I was pessimistic for saying the team could go 12-8 in the Big Ten next year lol. I don't think anything is ensured

I sure hope so, is that the only goal? A lot riding on Sisley and Harris taking big steps forward. Hopefully it works out. Depth is still an obvious question mark right now

Who is clutching pearls? I think the discussion is mainly about the fact that, while our portal class is highly rated, we have no proven depth on our bench. No team can afford to lose their best players to injury. Many teams do, in fact, have back ups that are more proven than 10mpg that Harris and Sisley gave last year or 3 freshmen or 3 practice players. We could have a great season next year! Or we could have another one like last year. The possibilities are endless and the board is where we discuss them.

Agree it's not worth handwringing over 11-13 and neither Millender or Morton are likely to get many minutes at all. That doesn't change the fact that Millender performed much better at IU Indy than Morton did at UMES. Millender actually played 7 really important minutes in their first round game against Furman because of injuries and he was able to do what they needed him to do. I don't think Morton is capable of that, but it's largely irrelevant anyway. Agree all we can do is wait and see how it shakes out

Duke and Illinois announce a home and home. Illinois will go to Durham in 2026

Well Rabjohns reported weeks ago that the last three spots were basically going to just be practice players. We probably simply ran out of money and decided to roll with what we've got. The PG we just signed was literally one of the 50 worst players in D1 last year, statistically. I saw some people compare this signing to Alec Millender at UConn but even that's not close to the same type of vet signing. The same day we signed Sokolov, Arizona signed a guy from the same German league with better stats. End of the bench doesn't have to be world beaters but would be nice to take a lotto ticket. These guys are out there. Seems based on Rabjohns reporting that we are comfortable with what we've got and / or don't have the cash to further upgrade. Only time will tell how effectively they've handled things.

Whoopty doo Seriously, thanks for the info. Good to know where the connection comes from at least. I sincerely welcome this kid to IU, just hope we don't see him play a minute outside of garbage time. Don't get too worked up about man 12 / 13 on the roster. We don't currently have any culture to attract / retain guys and breed competition because of the approach in year 1, so I guess it's nice to have some familiarity around. Every team except the truly elite have imperfections with their roster. Up to the staff to chart a winning path with the guys they've been able to land.

Winning 12 big 10 games with this group is going to be an achievement. That'd be tied for our best conference record over the last decade so I'm not saying that in a disparaging way. 12-8 was the fifth best conference W/L record last year (not good for fifth in conference standings because of ties), fourth the year before that, third the year before that, and second the year before that. I just want to see IUBB win 20+ games and a first round tournament game for a change of pace.