akumanina

If he's there long enough, he can draft Reneau and MTaco. Also trade for Hood Schfino.

He didn't burn the bridge. Wise move even if he doesn't feel exactly what he said here.

NIL money must be so sweet. Otherwise how is he gonna earn that much money fresh out of college? Or is this what coach D wants?

He'll be useless in late game situations. Hack-a-James.

Do they need a DNA test?

He didn't even buy a house in Bloomington, did he? It would've been easy to hit the road.

Yes indeed. Bigfoot no more!

YES!!! Coach D is on a roll!

I'm definitely worried about Auburn too. It seems like kids really like Bruce Pearl. I always thought he was another version of Tom Crean who's eccentric but can coach. Interestingly, Pearl had his ups and downs in 11 seasons at Auburn, but his peaks were higher than Crean's. We'll see!

I thought UK was out of the race soon as Pope took him to the Kentucky Derby.

Hey, don't count them out. They can still cook and do the dishes.

I thought Kentucky Derby was a bad idea. Back in Calipari days, UK was cutting edge presenting Drake, WWW, and LeBron.

Sounds like you're a warm body with 5 fouls to give. The current market price is $250/month. Interested?

I thought about a salary cap too, but then eventually it'll go back to the old days of paying players under the desk. There can be 15+ schools that are willing to pay (for example) 2M cap to a pretty talented portal player. Then, what's it going to be? Schools and their boosters will have to offer all sorts of extra benefits and perks under the desk to get this kid signed. Back in the day, people talked about so and so kid got paid $100K through a shoe company, and we were so shocked. Now, it sounds cute and trivial.

Wow...thanks for sharing the info. So at least, coach D wasn't a negative factor. I'm sure after this recruiting period, coach D will have a better foundation to build and have some continuity. This recruiting period, I think, would be an uphill battle because (1) IU itself hasn't been relevant for many years (2) cupboard is still bare (3) for so many of our targets, we're competing against other programs that just had some or pretty good results in the recent tournament and (4) while IU has about 10M to assemble the entire team, a lot of other programs already have many returning players and only need a few high impact players so they can possibly offer more than IU. My expectation for next season is to win 20 games and make it to the big dance, then I'll be happy.

Wilkerson camp got an offer from Coach DeVries. So this number will be the hurdle for the other 3 teams. My WILD guess is that coach might've offered him 2.5M (3M max). Wilkerson is a really good prospect (almost a can't miss prospect) who fits our system well.

Possibly, but Wilkerson can't do it all by himself. IU's case is the cupboard is bare right now. It's not just less players. Plus all the other 3 programs had varying degrees of successes in the tournament. These coaches are proven winners. We believe coach DeVries is a real good one, but he' never got to Sweet 16 in his 7 seasons as a head coach. So from a college kid's and his parents' perspectives, IU may not be their favorite. I wish we get this kid. But I'm trying to temper my expectations.

I don't think Wilkerson would commit before finishing all his visits. Wilkerson camp is in the driver's seat and can potentially lure these teams into a bidding war. Why would he commit right at the spot? All 4 programs chasing Wilkerson are all good programs, and in fact, I think we're in disadvantage because we only have a handful of players on board.

I like his name.

Definition of a mercenary. A soldier of fortune.

That's great! He earns the NIL, buys a house, starts a family, and lives happily ever after, right? Sounds like a perfect plan to me.

I wondered and just looked up where Romeo Langford is playing. He played for a French club BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque in 2024. Not sure where he is now. His career would've been whole lot different if he could shoot 3s.

I'm really hoping we won't have to look for another one for the next 15-20 years, but in case we have to, I wish our AD either doesn't call Stevens at all or gives him a definite deadline to give IU a final answer. This guy is just not meant for IU coaching job.

For your off-season viewing pleasure

Double D sounds a bit erotic. I like triple D better.