AH1971

The variance in high major basketball is enormously large. Duke is a high major. Boston College is also a high major. There are probably 20-30 non-P4 schools chalked full of rosters with players who held zero P4 offers coming out of high school that would beat Boston College by double digits. I don't buy that you automatically have a higher floor because you chose to attend Boston College or DePaul over St. Mary's or San Diego St. Yes there are highly skilled guys who were passed over for P4 basketball because they lack desired size or athleticism just like there are insanely long and athletic guys who were passed over for P4 basketball because they lack an elite level skill set(s). If you put Indiana jerseys on VCU or St. Louis this year, nobody would say the Hoosiers are undersized or lack athleticism despite having a team full of "mid-major" players.

So what makes you think a failed P4 player is suddenly going to become a good player at Indiana? Guys are misevaluated out of high school all the time, and not just in basketball either, look at our own football team for crying out loud. I don't know how you can watch college basketball these days and not understand this? There are former mid-majors littered all over P4 rosters. Some bad, some just ok, some all-conference caliber, and some are the best players in the entire country. Would be utterly foolish not to entertain a 22-23 year old who may have been misevaluated out of high school.

Who has mentioned stats? Your summation is that because Conor Enright, Reed Bailey, Dorn, etc weren't plus athletes, plus athletes don't exist at mid-major schools. You're dead wrong. I dare you to try and tell me someone like Brandon Jennings or Elijah Mahi aren't plus athletes. On the other hand, don't, because you have no clue who either are.

Ya give me the proven mid-major guy that checks the boxes over the former top 50 kid on his 4th school in 4 years.

I pointed out the failures of this years IU team in a previous post which is also a confirmation bias. I fail to see why that should prohibit the staff from continuing to recruit mid-major players so long as they're evaluating the right ones? You wouldn't take Florida's team from last year?

I'm not suffering from anything. The mid-major bunch DeVries put together collectively lacked size and athleticism. That doesn't mean there aren't athletic guys out there at the lower levels. Watch SLU, Santa Clara, and VCU play this week, either of those teams will arguably be the most athletic team on the floor regardless of the opponent. When a large majority of the best players in college basketball the last few seasons have all been transfers from lower-level schools, your argument doesn't hold water. All three of Florida's guards last year came from low-major schools. Alex Condon was a San Francisco commit who followed Golden to Florida. Chinyelu was a back up big at Washington St. Thomas Haugh was a 200 level rated recruit with minimal P4 offers. I dare someone to tell me last years national champion team wasn't big or athletic because the majority of their players didn't start their careers at P5 schools? And they were a 1 seed, not a Cinderella story.

This years freshman class has some generational players and is potentially the best freshman class in a long time. The three best non-freshman in college basketball this year are Yaxel Lendenborg, Joseph Jefferson, and JT Toppin. Lendenborg was a JUCO player who came to Michigan via UAB. Jefferson was a zero star recruit who began his career at St. Mary's. Toppin began his career at New Mexico. There are countless examples of former mid-major players being the cream of the crop of college basketball who were overlooked in high school. Stirtz was a D2 player for crying out loud and is a projected top 20 draft pick.

What a myopic view. Literally 8/10 All-American's last year started their careers at non-P4 schools. The other two were 17 year old Cooper Flagg and Braden Smith who was a sub-200 level recruit with only a single P5 offer. Plenty of mid-major talent with the size and athleticism to play P4 basketball.

Or find ready to play mid-majors. The tournament is littered with kids who started their careers at mid-major schools.

My fear is we don’t get anyone near as good Wilkerson this haul. I think we’ll have a better, more rounded team, but guys with his skill set and scoring ability don’t grow on trees. He’s easily a NPOY candidate on a better team. No question.

So any team who suffers a 6 minute scoring drought doesn’t have a certified go to scorer? IU had a ton of problems this year, but Wilkerson’s ability to score the basketball wasn’t one of them. Terrible take.

Also coached Ben Sheppard and Will Richard.

Lol

What? Wilkerson was about as efficient as humanly possible without any help. He wasn’t out there scoring 20 points on 25 shots a game. Wilkerson was a stud who would start for any team in the country.

You’re going to run out of money quick if you’re only focusing on high end P4 guys. Reality is that you need class balance, production, mixed with some potential. I don’t want another mid-major all-star team, but I don’t want an entire group of P4 rejects either.