DWB

Just listened to the HH podcast with Jakai plus his parents. Like Leal's, Bates' and many others, his family is awesome, and he's a great kid. Very mature for a 16 yr old at this point. BUT...the interesting tidbit that came out in the interview is that Jakai just decided 2-3 months ago to concentrate on BBall. He's this good as a sophomore in HS, and he hasn't really focused on it like most others have by now. To me...that makes for a very high ceiling for the kid. And he's perfect for the culture that Woody's trying to instill.

Who the hell is Tom Brew? I've never heard of him. Sounds like he's about as well known as me....and I'm a nobody.

No problem. You must have accessed the story before they put the pay-wall up. Like I said, it's no big deal, just a little inconvenient. All's good.

Listened to Goodman's interview with Woody yesterday, and Woody gave a pretty good shout out to Kristian. Said he's making big jumps in the quality of his play. Still think he'll be the 3rd PG, but I bet he gets more than 4 minutes a game this year when all is said and done.

There's only 2...right?

I don't have any inside info, but I gotta believe it's between us and AL. And hopefully, we offer a much broader experience with the campus, education choices and quality, and BBall. I have a tough time putting Oats on the same level with Woody, especially for those trying to get to the NBA. Girl quality is probably a wash between the 2 schools. AL is closer to home, but he previously stated that wasn't a big deal. It's still 6 hours from SC to U of AL. And you have to go thru Atlanta, which could add another 2-3 hours.

And the scalpers. Stub Hub already has them. Friend of mine bot tickets for us for the OSU game already.

Hope you're right about guys hanging around longer. I wonder how Isiah and other NChamps compare the college championship to the pro championship. Which one do they remember most? The college NC because it was their first? Or the NBA one? I also wonder if any of the former players have discussed any of that with current players, like TJD going pro early. Isiah had to take care of his family financially and all, but he still got a NCAA NC under his belt first.

OK...you guys disagree with me, and that's all good. I come from a different generation of value assessment I guess. But comparing $100 balcony ticket for a game is one thing. For a ½-a$$ practice, show-time event is quite another. I just don't see how you can justify charging $50 (my estimate) to attend something like that. I applaud the effort to get the players some pocket money, but disagree with trying to get them enough $$$ to fully fund their retirement accts...

Just took a peek at the Hoosier Fanfest website this morning and drilled down to the events. In order to a fan to participate in the events with players, there is an auction for you to bid on that priviledge. Not a bad idea. BUT...the starting bid for most of the events is $100. Sorry, but that is outrageous IMO. If the bidding goes up that high from a lower starting point, that's fine, but to start it at $100 completely eliminates 90% of the people who would normally bid. I listened to the HH guys last night on their follow up podcast, and they had every opportunity to announce the admission price and actually made a comment they didn't want to do so until tickets went on sale on Friday. With the starting bids for the auction, I can only imagine the Gen Adm will be looney tunes as well. They didn't even say WHERE you could buy tickets online. There's no link in the Hoosier Fanfest website to buy tickets, at least that I saw. I was planning on driving up from SC for the event, but now I doubt it.

I'm sure you're right about more people wanting to see TJD in person. But honestly, I'd really like to get a good look at the 2nd string to actually see how deep we really are. I love Leal & Galloway because of their hustle and loyalty to the program. I've never seen Logan play other than a few highlights. (saw TJD in person at Peach Jam in SC a few years ago). I'd like to see how Big Mike does against TJD. But that's just me.

If you read further, it states that it will not be split evenly, but based on better players vs those at the end of the bench. (Maybe I'm wrong about an even split, but that's the way I feel for this type of event)

Haven't seen this article posted yet. Has a few more "details" on the event (not many, but some) https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/iu-basketball-players-will-cash-in-from-new-hoosier-fan-fest-event.php I have mixed feelings about how the money is getting split among the players. Seems kind of arbitrary to me. Who makes the decision? Pankowski & friend? Cuban? Coach? Lottery? what? Personally I think the players should split it evenly. TJD, Scoop, Miller, etc have all shown they can get deals on their own, but the guys who work just as hard, and prepare the starters for games are important too IMO. For this type of event I'd like to see "crop sharing". 1:1 deals are a different animal.

I think there is a distinction between what they do on the podcasts, vs the NIL collective, vs how they get in a recruit's face and embarrass them with questions (Blink twice if you didn't like school X) on camera, and then post it. Badgering the hell out of Garcia on twitter, same with some twitter posts on JHS. I just think his personality lacks class when it comes to recruits. Some call it passion, I don't. Having said that, the podcasts aren't that bad. His intent isn't bad, it's good. I guess I just don't agree with some of his presentation to voice that intent.

IMO think every student (athlete or not) should have a personal finance class requisite prior to graduation. A lot of kids have never had a checking acct, only credit cards (usually Dad's that they don't pay), and don't understand the ramifications of investing small amounts of money, money management, debt management, TAXES, etc etc. Learning from major mistakes from poor financial decisions can be tough.

Not picking on you, just clarifying that the team is 100% vaccinated according to Woody. Shouldn't be an issue. I also expect masks to be required by all attendees.

I suspect they are still working on the forecasting of how many people @ $XX, + Premium seating, etc. I suspect they just got the OK to have the event from the staff. IIRC other schools charge for Midnite Madness, etc. So this shouldn't be a big deal. If the tickets aren't outrageous, I plan on driving up to attend.

Personally, I think we're going to see a completely different team this year, including Rob, Christian, Anthony and others. If you've watched any of the interviews the attitude is light years different than the last few years. If the attitude is good, chances are we will play a lot harder (and hopefully smarter). Go Hoosiers!

Despite whatever success Pankowski has had in Looneywood, he gets way out of line for recruits. Goes way overboard and without any class IMO. Its great to be passionate about your fan-dom and all. But his tweets to Garcia were juvenile, at best. He's been able to ingratiate himself somewhat with the coaching staff and the podcast, but my perception is that he thinks he's "on the inside" when in reality, he's just another "media guy" they have to contend with. Seems you either like him a lot, or dislike him a lot. The podcasts are OK in my book, but not some of the other stuff he pulls. Just my 2¢

If the announcement is originating with the Hysterics guys, "major" could mean he got a deal on some cigars. I can't believe Hysterics was told something in confidence about a recruit coming, or other important stuff before it's made public. I suspect its got to do with their NIL foundation they set up.

TJD was talking to Coyle and stated that there is much more emphasis on running and stamina as opposed to just strength. He also stated that the first 30 minutes of practice is essentially all running for conditioning. Personally I'm glad to hear this, as I thought in prior years we lacked the stamina to play more than a 4-5 minutes without getting winded. Far too many guys walking, or slowly jogging up the court. Didn't see any of that in the Bahamas.

I remember a quote from RMK that said: "Everybody wants to win. But not everybody wants to prepare to win". Gotta believe Woody is trying to instill that mindset in the team. The clip showing him saying how everything they do needs to be done with "a sense of urgency" is a step in that direction of preparing to win. Phin was discussing Fife with Jim Coyle at media day today, and stated that Dane is really drilling down into the details of how to play defense. Much more so than Rob had previously experienced. Hope the guys are really taking this stuff to heart. We'll see come Nov-Dec when it gets a little tougher.

Wasn't sure where to put this, so decided to start it's own thread. Hopefully some of the insiders can expand on this topic as we go along. Couple of things I've heard players and coaches discuss: Players continue to talk about working harder this year than ever in practice (and outside of practice) To a man all the players talk about how they all get along, compared to other years, that the team was segmented into "sub-groups" (don't want to say cliques, b/c I don't think it was) And they all talk about how much fun they're having. Certainly different body language than what we saw last year. But then again, we haven't come under any real adversity yet, so we'll see how they hold up when the excrement hits the oscillator. Last night I listened to the Hysterics guys "encore" podcast, and Coach Kenya was on. There was a discussion about how Woody's style of play works better on man to man defense, but not so great on zone defenses. Coach K indicated that Woody is all ready to start on day 1, practicing against a zone defense, because he anticipates more teams will play defense on us this year to make us shoot the 3 (which has been less than stellar as we all know). I found Coach K's comment very encouraging. And he specifically pointed to how it will help our confidence in playing Syracuse. Coach K also said that Woody has changed his (Coach K's) mind on who should bring the ball up the court. If there is a fast break opportunity, then whoever rebounds it, brings it up and initiates the offense. Not exactly sure I want Big Mike bringing the ball up, but I guess we'll see how it works out.

Supposedly Woody said it was because too many players were being held out with minor injuries. Evidently, it was planned, but decided to forego it with several guys out.

Hope all you guys going to HH post some pics for the rest of us here. Please !!