str8baller

It’s bad enough to crash in front of 70k people. Then you have to sit there in front of that giant tv, playing that stupid video, listening to that dumb song blare. That’s what you call a bad day.

He’s a good coach and he’s struck gold in the portal every year. His luck has to run out sometime.

They have some rich boosters. They just don’t care about athletics that much.* Their legislature just passed a $10mil boost to their AD to help out with NIL, too. I have met their AD (or now fired AD?). He wanted a clean break from the Alvarez era and to do things his own way. It all sounded pretty dumb to me, but he at least knew if the Fickell thing fell through he was toast. I’ll give him that much. He was a former OL, had a cup of coffee in the NFL, and then made some money on a biotech startup-up out in NY or something. It’s one thing to think you’re smarter than everyone else. It’s another thing to prove it. Whether Dolson got lucky with the Cig hire or not, he and whitten have proven they can maneuver through this NIL era about as well as any. I’ll give them that for sure. *(They may not be that smart either. I have a couple stories).

If just one frosh plays rotation mins and you add a backup big you’re at a 9 man rotation already. There isn’t really room for anyone else of note. I’m not sure what people are expecting.

It’d be funnier if we won 25 but still couldn’t beat NW…in a perverse way. Also, I can’t believe the office lounge is still around. lol

If they really like Moody I can see him and Lindsey being the combo-guard/backup Pg options. That gives you some flexibility.

Dang. Almost have to think he was ours if we wanted him. There’s nothing wrong with liking Lindsey better, but 44% from 3 on 7 attempts in one of the toughest mid major conferences is pretty intriguing. Has 3 years of eligibility left too.

That would be fairly normal turnover for any year. But I doubt we lose too many to money concerns. In any event, the staff will likely want 2-4 spots open for HS recruits and a portal upgrade or two. Seems like we’d take at least two HS recruits, no?

Where is all this coming from?

It would be nearly impossible for us to get less shots in the paint.. So I suspect we’ll see quite the change there. In any event, I would guess that we’re “returning “ enough production to put us into the top 25 at places like Torvik and Kenpom.

Yea, the number and quality of backup guys who basically bailed on a visit after we hit our first option is pretty funny.

While I’m totally on the message boards for the gossip, I really appreciate the professionalism IU is showing here. Big change of pace.

It’ll be interesting to compare next year. Probably one of Carr’s first big decisions. Although we don’t really know what they’re being paid so that would factor in.

Kinda makes sense. He reminds me a little of the bigs he had at VCU that held down the back of that press. Good pull for them and makes me think IU could’ve had them if they wanted him.

Backup big backup combo guard starting caliber perimeter who can shoot

At the very least we have a competent P5 starting lineup. Would like to add some topline shooting, but this has been a successful week for the staff

If there’s a good roster and one spot left I wouldn’t be upset if they kept it open to hunt for a high quality euro looking to make the leap over here late spring or summer. I don’t remember if it was Fru or the UVA kid but one of them didn’t sign until like July last year.

I would worry more about Hall’s athleticism if he were in Wilkerson-like role from last year. But with a strong post game and Burton getting in the lane, he should get a ton of nearly uncontested 3’s on this team.

Josh Smith for us old(er) timers

Don’t forget Tschetter or however you spell his name. But yea…we’re probably a year away from anything great due to roster continuity which I pointed out yesterday. In any event, if we spend top 5 money a top 25 roster should be a bare minimum expectation. Whether the AP voters see it initially is kinda irrelevant.

I think the someone said if he gets in shape and loses a little weight it shouldn’t be a problem.

Have to think it happens today or things get interesting with the Colorado kid coming in tomorrow.

I’m sure we all know IU’s never reported a half truth in the media to save face.

Agree that it is the future. Disagree about those guys though. They have GMs but overt authority. In other words the GM is just a guy who works for May. I’m not sure that’s the case here with Carr and probably why someone like Carr would come. For fans of pro sports this has been like a 25 yr year saga of coaches wanting to do both roles, great coaches having the juice to become their own GMs, and then mostly failing. It’s why Jerry West left the Lakers. But by now almost everyone concedes it’s two distinct full time jobs at the pro level and even great coaches have little chance of exerting authority over the GM in matters of personnel. It was the future of the pros. It will likely be the same in college. I think IU is possibly ahead—way ahead—of the curve on this one.

An equally plausible explanation is that Devries was the one who assembled it. And he’s not this time. Which is fine, because he can focus on coaching and doesn’t need to be coach and GM. Outside of a few guys like May, Scheyer and Pitino it is probably better off for most schools that way.