mickey one

saw post on Reddit, claiming that Lilly Meister had visited Creighton; posted 5 days ago.

I do not understand some of these statements from people who are transferring: "I would like to thank the coaches and my teammates and the fans for a wonderful experience I will never forget . . . but I decided to continue my journey elsewhere". It's like a script they are following that is available online somewhere (if you were a teacher these days, you would suspect plagiarism, and demand footnotes). It seems there would be some REASON or NOTE OF DISCONTENT, but they rarely, if ever, say it (for instance, "I didn't get enough PT" or "the coach doesn't know what he/she is doing" or "we lost 30 in a row and that was enough"). More candor and honesty would be nice, rather than being left to guess or deduce (sometimes it's obvious; other times it is not). Heck, we are not sure why OUR people are leaving! In a way, I respect the people who make NO statement. Just saying . . . Whatever their reason for moving, I hope IU can round up a few 6'2" bigs, with a proven record. How about Ashley Sofilkanich from Bucknell. We are recruiting her little sister out of HS. Ashley has a proven record and has been unstoppable, albeit in mid-major territory. Just the kind of player who would not be chasing NIL bucks, and could make a big difference at IU.

I don't know about "great". It was their decision to make . . . but not a good day for IU. If she had gone to Iowa State, or Oklahoma, or Florida, that would be one thing . . . . you could even half-way root for her.

Last year WAS a vote of no confidence in a number of the bench players. Cieski & Striplin came in and played ahead of them. And there was the prospect for coming year that this would happen again, i.e. two or more transfers coming in, and playing ahead of them again. So . . . why not transfer? Now it is up to CTM to "deliver" and get worthy portal players, who can play at a high level. Maybe easier said than done.

We have not forgotten you, Nevaeh. Big potential here, and wide open PT next year.

who is B.F.? re a phone call, who is MM? Guys, go light on the initials.

Yeah, why not? Wasn't Zach Edey a 3-star recruit? Peyton Manning vs. Ryan Leaf. It goes on. Some people step up and improve, and others don't.

We look forward to you participating.

No doubt. Just hoping for a "sleeper" who surprises everyone (in her last game at Arkansas, didn't Phoenix get 23 points and hit five 3's against Texas A&M?). IU brought in 2 European players in Garzon & Sandvik. Garzon ends up all-Big 10 and best 3-point shooter ever . . . and Sandvik barely gets PT, and transfers. Who would have bet $1,000 on that outcome?

Phoenix: I have one request. After you become the new Juju Watkins, and make 1st team All-Big Ten, and lead the Hoosiers to the Final Four, do NOT transfer to Maryland. Thank you. We all love you.

You never know about highlight reels, which can make anyone look like a superstar, but she seems to have outstanding athletic ability, long-distance shooting, and great timing:

All IU fans must feel a bit bewildered that Garzon can be so clueless and/or ruthless to go to a big rival. However, the main victim would be CTM, who always wanted to elevate Garzon into the next Michael Jordan or something. Garzon was a good passer and 3-point shooter (obviously), but CTM had a vision of her posting up, and going to the hoop, etc., which frequently seemed to have little relationship with reality.

Talia Goodman says Phoenix Stotijn to IU.

UConn has amazing team esprit de corp, but Paige Bueckers supposedly has about $1.4 m. in NIL money (this year?), and some comment was made on TV at the finals, that she asked Geno for advice on how to invest her money. Do all of them at UConn get NIL money like that? Wouldn't it be destructive of team spirit to have 1 or 2 players with "big time NIL" and others get nothing or little? What if one player is driving a BMW, and the rest of the players cannot even afford cars? What happens if you get big-time NIL money and then have an off year. Shouldn't the team rightfully cut the NIL money? Last of all, is there a "contract length" (like the pro's) where the NIL goes for a set term, and then is renegotiated? If a player has a great NIL contract, would they care if they don't "produce"? Re the "student-athlete thing", if a player is getting $1.5 m. in NIL, isn't it somewhat ridiculous that this person would have to go to classes and get passing grades? At $1.5 m. NIL, some players will make more than the head coach.

Why wouldn't the coach agree to use NIL?

Depressing. Whole new round of being drubbed in the recruiting race. Whatever Maryland is doing, IU needs to do that. At press conference after crushing UCLA, Geno quoted Hank Stram: "in order to win it all, you have to have it all". Means you have to have great players, throughout the roster.

Where do marginal players land (or do they)? Will Sandvik, Bargesser, Meister, et al. get offers? From like Murray State? Would they want to play there? Ava Learn was a big success there (or Jordyn Poole to Dayton), but are most B10 players willing to move to that level?

50 schools supposedly interested, including UConn: https://www.themirror.com/sport/basketball/yuting-deng-auburn-college-basketball-1072625 UConn fans are skeptical: https://the-boneyard.com/threads/yuting-deng.206936/ Since when is Kentucky regarded as women's basketball elite? Tied for 4th in SEC last year.

Is this for real? "The Chosen One"? This will make everyone forget Garzon pretty quickly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-n0V7nf-gk

This coming year will be interesting, because it will be a completely new look. Last year was sort of "more of the same", but at a lower level than the year before. Depending on the portal, we can be "average", "good", or "really good"--but at least it will be different. And we can also see some new players develop.

per Talia Goodman, USC's Avery Howell in the portal. Wow, this is wild stuff.

Good analysis: *another factor: her sister, Lior, transferred at least twice, from Villanova to Ok. State to Colorado. Maybe more? *for all the true old fogeys here, remember '76 Hoosiers who won National Championship? Scott May, et al. were Seniors and only Kent Benson was a Junior. He came back and it was a miserable, underachieving year. He probably regretted it. *"Show me the money!" yes, why not? *contender? If she went to LSU or Texas or even Duke, it's not a sure thing she would have great PT. At IU, she was "the man"; elsewhere--I don't know.

It she's not really good enough to make an impact, CTM has to face that (which I'm sure she will). Yarden Garzon herself was a sleeper, and turned out to be a big hit. You need that "Belichick" intuition to get people no one else is paying attention to, like TOM BRADY!

If you want "can't miss" territory, then we should only be interviewing Gianna Kneepkens, Serah Williams, Cotie McMahon, et al. But, probably nobody here thinks we can get those top-flight players . . . . so, we are bumped down a rung, and have to take chances, or hope that CTM can work her magic on a squad that may not be player-for-player the equal of South Carolina or even Ohio State. The solution is that when you are at the top (which we were 2 years ago), you recruit the absolute top players, but we missed that boat. We should have had a 5-star replacement for Mackenzie Holmes, a first team All-American, . . . and that never happened.

Don't know why people are dismissing Spreen. Ali Patberg transferred from Notre Dame, where she had limited PT, and became a HUGE asset at IU. Chloe Spreen WAS Miss Indiana B-Ball. I saw her play in the Kentucky-Indiana All-Star game, and she was dynamic--taking the ball to the hoop and shooting effectively. I don't know why she disappeared on the bench at Alabama, but, again, Ali Patberg disappeared at ND and emerged big time at IU. Ditto somewhat for Sydney Parrish at Oregon. Sometimes you just need the right situation to shine.