Silat Player

So basic corporate professionalism is now part of the workflow of the basketball program? Who'd have thunk it? LOL

This is one of the difficult positions for a team like IU, who is rebuilding their whole team. Everyone seems to want a shot of starting. Its going to be difficult to find really high-quality backups. This is why program stability is so important. You've got to have guys on the roster to fill those positions, at least ideally, and then just use the portal to go after a few studs. I hope our coaches are really good salesmen.

TThat's very true. But its not from the portal. They're generally losing players because they are considered such good NBA recruits. But my point was that Duke doesn't lose players to the portal. I couldve made my point better, though, obviously. And let's face it. Duke's constant roster churn due to the draft has not helped their chances of winning championships in recent years, in spite of their massively great hs recruiting. Last years michigan team was lightening in a bottle with so many transfers that were relevant to that team. It will be interesting to see what else happens going forward. I sometimes wonder if Purdue has been doing so well during the last few years because teams have less chemistry because of roster churn vs how they used to be. Purdues stability overcomes some of their athletic weaknesses.

This. Look at teams like Duke and Purdue. They have very little turnover into the portal. Two completely different programs getting very different kinds of players - Purdue lower rated ones (compared to Duke). Duke getting the best recruiting class every year. The similarity is in the stability of the program. That's what IU needs to become. Hopefully, the players they lose in the future will primarily be Devries version of Creaning.

Hell has officially frozen over. I'm going to go outside and check the sky for comets.

2 more bigs. Definitely 2 more.

I'm almost glad that they are all gone. Maybe it's a true admission by Devries that his roster was just massively undertalented and not at all salvagable. You've got to have the jimmies and joes and it was clear pretty early in the season that IU just didn't have that.

Peter Jurkin type of career here. How ever will IU replace that level of production?

I think the other issue creating the perception of being "behind" is because IU has nearly their entire roster to refill. This is almost a situation like the school getting a new coach with the few players on the roster right now. With as many spots to fill as IU has, it is imperative that early signings occur. Momentum is a very real thing, and this program has absolutely none of it right now.

Has anyone broken the news to RTZ that Brad Stevens is not the current coach of the IU Hoosiers? He will be very surprised by that. Just sayin'

He was running from the Serbian mob.

Saw that Malik had 7 TOs today. Yikes. Maybe he wasn't in that line for chicken. Maybe he was in line to grab a few beers.

Well, Ben McCollum did. So...

Agreed. Way too many swing and misses in last year's portal class. You can't miss on several players when you're paying them so much money. And you need 7-8 great players. And by great, I mean either a great all-around player or someone who is just massively good at a specialized skill.

Yeah, this is what's been baffling to me.