str8baller

Is it negative recruiting if it’s the truth? I can’t even be mad at Conwell or McNeely. A Galloway, Conwell, McNeely backcourt would’ve been fun with a real coach. In fact, it’s the type of roster Coach DD should be building starting this year.

The portal date is absurd. A more cynical person might think it was done intentionally so by the NCAA because they obviously hate the whole thing and want public opinion to shift against it. It’s literally about the dumbest possible time they could pick on the calendar.

I have actually been thinking of a different USC comp this whole time: Pete Carroll. USC football had been lost in the woods for a while. They were a sleeping giant that was turned down by everyone and were down to about their 5th choice when a talented young coach named Pete Carroll, who really wanted the job, said yes. The rest is history as he built one of the most dominant programs of the 00’s. Sometimes you just have to get lucky with timing.

Sounds about right. The only other possibility is he had Devries on his list grouped with someone like McCollum or somebody else in the tourney. And when IU and WVU were out of the tournament the timing was imminent. You can’t wait on McCollum at that point. And the only reason I mention that is because there was a lot of chatter about CDD and Iowa Monday, CDD possibly flying out to meet them, etc… If Dolson waited and missed out on CDD and then couldn’t land McCollum next week it would be catastrophic. So you pull the trigger on the hire you can actually make today.

Doubt IU would fire a guy before year 4–even in this modern environment—so you just really need to see what years 5 and 6 are in terms of guaranteed money.

Sucks for Alford. I had recently heard from someone who would know that Alford finally got Nevadas NIL in order. But still a tough putt for midmajors to keep good players

Kid is athletic and can score. Would be a good get.

I have to say, I do find it intriguing how he’s going to handle Tuckers NIL. Do you say “hey, it’s my kid and not my money, so back up the bricks truck and pay the kid.” Or does he get him for a more sensible amount, or even discount, so he can try and leverage more of that money into a championship caliber roster?

That’s the job description. Top 5 NIL should get you a top 10 roster. If he can’t do that, they need to get him a GM who can or it will be a long 6 years. There really shouldn’t be any barriers to success.

I mean…ol’ Double D doors need a new home in the area.

Uh….Kentucky? Can’t really have it both ways where UK settled and IU didn’t, because each guy was essentially a midmajor coach with one year of P5 experience. Popes was arguably a better year.

The only thing that really matters is if Devries was really Dolsons guy all along, then both WVU and IU getting snubbed was a lucky break for us. I’ve always thought IU athletics—revenue sports, anyways—needed a good break of luck to exit the rut they were in. Fitzgerald getting vetoed so we could get Cig and then everything lining up so Devries could get onboard and hit the ground running, might just be the turn in our fortunes. UNC getting unceremoniously bounced the first weekend is a hundred times preferable to WVU making a run and screwing up Dolsons hire.

Can we at least find out who the mystery candidate is before they ban him???

Will be golf for me, good sir. And I’m completely fine with it. I stopped believing in IU about the time they extended Crean. I still hope they win. I just like to discuss basketball, so I’ll probably keep doing that too.

I thought the Turgereon guy was funny. Anyone can whip the gullibles into a frenzy about Steven’s. But it takes a little finesse to try and pass of something as ridiculous as Turgeon. Made me laugh all the way through.