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Totally agree. Last year, it seemed like we could get "top" guys like Conwell and Dix on campus but stuck to our guns when it came time to make best and final offers. Hopefully the guys we prioritize early this time, we are willing to pay top dollar for and then Carr / staff can find 2 or 3 underrated players that are good value and have multiple years of eligibility. Portal will make for another interesting offseason.

Very much agree in principle that the ability to scout should be one of the staff's best skills. Not sure that it is (don't think they're terrible at it either though, necessarily) and that's where Carr should be helpful IMO. Woody seemed to rely on rankings, we definitely didn't with this bunch. The data suggests DDV didn't really do more or less with the talent he had - just basically shot par. With Woody, we were doing less with more. Filling 5 spots is easier than filling 13 so whether the money is the same or the difference is marginal, I think it will be allocated better this time around.

If Ristic couldn't crack the rotation on this team as a 21 year old with three years of pro experience, I have a tough time picturing him ever being much of a contributor here. I think Drake is unlikely to be much more than a "break the glass in case of emergency" type of ball handler. Seems like the plan with Andrej was always to redshirt. I'm most curious about him. Harris, another wildcard... he would be a RS sophomore next year and has been injured his entire time here so no idea if he can do anything at this level. Sometimes it just doesn't work out, though maybe the staff believes he can contribute? I'd think for roster balance purposes, you'd want to send one guard and one big out so you can add 5 portal players. Flip side, the guards are much less interesting to me and keeping both bigs means one of them is probably getting at least some minutes next year. So you'd have to count on them somewhat. We probably need two starter quality big guys IMO. A true C and a guy who can play the 4 or the 5. We need a starting backcourt, with PAM off the bench. Probably need another ball handler?

Regardless of whether the rumor about an additional 2.5M is true, there's more than enough money to add 5 quality players. More money should make it easier to get the guys the staff wants. Hopefully they want the right guys.

CAM's firing is so far removed it makes no sense to mention him IMO. The only thing relevant is having nothing to inherit from Woodson. The point isn't even that we needed 9 better players. You think out of all those schools, there's not a single big man who could contribute better than Bailey or a guard who fit better than Conerway? I'm personally not so fussed, but the roster could have been better with the money we had. DDV was just doing it at way less than 100% staffed which is a big deal. He's much better positioned for this portal, so time to see what they can cook up for us in year 2.

He's definitely not questioning the money paid to Wilkerson. See a bit of hyperbole in this post but I agree with your general sentiment... I don't think anyone believes he should've been able to get 9 "top players" in the portal this past go round, but that he could've assembled a much better top 9 players with the budget we have. Obviously easier said than done, but CAM's train wreck certainly had nothing to do with it. I think an easy critique of DDV would be, why didn't we press harder to keep Reneau? Maybe that's not fair but he was a JR already on campus, we probably could've enticed him to stay. But that wasn't part of the vision. So we should've gotten someone better than Reneau for the system, but we didn't. We overpaid for Bailey. Referring back to the graphic I shared earlier, look at all the teams with a lower talent rating than ours who are overachieving. And all our peers in the "meeting expectations" area... we probably could've constructed a better roster with some of those players, and they were not "top players" in the portal or commanding more money than we could spend. Of course, you're right DDV was not fully staffed for the portal, which was a huge impediment. He made a choice to build the roster from scratch. He hasn't really done himself many favors with this first year, but I don't think he's been atrocious and want to see what he does differently heading into year 2.

Baylor beating Houston early in H2

I think Jasai Miles is going to surprise a lot of people next year. I really like him as a player.

Jasai Miles is really good at defense.

Could be trouble with Wilkerson and Sam checking out with a 15 point lead and 12:30 to go

Seems likely to break this one and Alford's 3 pointer record. What a year from Wilkerson. Would've loved to see him with a better supporting cast.

Good first half performance from a team still fighting to make the tournament

For sure. To get 5 spots, we need two transfers. The likeliest candidates (Ristic, Andrej, Harris, Drake) probably aren't making much, so sending them packing won't free up much more money. If the seniors are making ~7M, that should be plenty to add 5 quality players IMO. Very eager to see how we move in the portal.

I doubt the market value for potential returners is any better than their current deal at IU, but maybe. Big offseason ahead.

The past can't be changed and we are where we are. The question for me right now is, can DDV take constructive feedback on board and grow as a coach because of what he has learned from year 1 here? We have ample resources and didn't spend well this season. We also have a relatively clean slate going into year 2 to build something better.

Us 74 them 70

Yea, I'm using conservative estimates... 2M to TD and Lamar, 1.5M for Bailey, Conerway 750k. Thats 6.25M. So adding Enright and Alexis, could be 7M-ish IMO. All guesstimates of course. Either way, more than enough to get some studs. Just gotta identify and land em. Last year we reportedly stuck to our guns when it came time to put in best and final offers. Hopefully Carr helps with prioritization.

Seems to me Sisley can be the back up 4 and Dorn and Miles can play off the bench as back up 2 or 3, whichever matches up better. Miles a defensive specialist, Dorn a spot up shooter. Maybe Prince can play back up guard minutes and be a 3rd ball handler? So IMO we need at least a C, a PG, a CG, a big guy who can slide over to the 5, and ideally a 3 & D guy. Our seniors are probably making somewhere in the range of $6-7M. Since we have a lot of guys who can play the 3 (including Karvala and Manhertz, likely to redshirt but anything is possible) I don't think we spend a ton on that spot. Probably not on the starting PF who plays back up 5 mins either. Splurge on the starting backcourt and C.

Carr definitely has his work cut out for him. Strictly by the numbers, we have room for 3 portal additions right now with 6 departing seniors and 3 freshmen coming in. Adding 5 in the portal means we need 2 transfers (Ristic/Andrej/Drake/Harris likely candidates IMO). If all 4 of them transfer and we try to add 7, the budget becomes more of a factor and you've really got to identify and hit on some real good value guys. Curious how aggressively we move with portal additions or potential staff changes.

Sure don't disagree. So, unhelpfully boo him to punish him for not being as good as we'd like? I guess that's people's right.

So people who make more money don't deserve sympathy? Booing may soothe upset fans and be warranted at times, but it's generally unhelpful, no matter how people may try to spin it. It's not going to make a kid play better.

This program has no reason to turn down an NIT invite. Same thing as ND declining a bowl game.

Some of us care about being good stewards of capital. /s

Marquette was extremely fun, it just turns out Marquette is stinky hot doodoo