AH1971

He wore Duke across his chest for 5 straight months. He's one of the more visible athletes in the country. That's $4.8 million in marketing and promotion alone. Not every college athlete is worth what they're being paid in NIL but Cooper is easily an exception.

Easily.

Probably more

It's nothing that hasn't already been said on here...basically says it's IU or UK for Wilkerson. Says Freeman has visited IU and Auburn so far and visiting Tennessee this week; too early to call a leader. Also Conerway down to IU, Miss St, and Vanderbilt with IU in the lead. Also mentions that NC State is the favorite to land Mgbako and Alabama F Derrion Reid.

Potential 3 and D guy to play alongside Wilkerson or is he an alternative? Know nothing about him individually but as fun and as electric as UNF was offensively, they were equally as bad defensively.

If tonight comes and goes without a commitment, I think it’s IU. I don’t think Auburn is offering anything close to what UK or IU is offering, rendering the Auburn visit useless.

Or Auburn is nowhere near the ballpark in terms of what IU or UK are offering. These guys have agents now, he’s visited two schools this weekend and will almost guarantee LW’s agent phoned Auburn today and said, “Here’s where you need to be to even sit at the table”.

You're losing sight that Duke likely has the largest NIL budget of any team in college basketball and by a decent margin. Those other 4 and 5* players you considered weren't "cheap". Cooper Flagg is a generational talent....something Dix, Conwell, and Tucker aren't. IU can't afford to sink 80% of their NIL budget on 3 guys and still expect to sign "cheap" role players like Proctor, Evans, Foster, etc. who are all 4 and 5* talents with NBA potential. Hence why the comparison isn't really applicable to IU's situation.

Not all $4.5million of that was from Duke collectives by the way, he had other 3rd party endorsement deals. If a guy like Gabe Cupps is getting $600k to go to Ohio State, there isn't a chance in hell IU could dump ~80% of its NIL on 3 players (Conwell, Dix, and Tucker DeVries) and expect to be competitive next year surrounding them with "jersey fillers".

Duke had 3 top 15 picks on their roster last year and 5 other top 50 prospects that were all getting paid. They added two role guys in Gillis and James. Terrible comparison.

You've missed the point. He doesn't need to be highly skilled to make a huge impact next year at 7 foot. If he can catch lobs and protect the rim for ~15 mpg next year I don't care how unskilled he is as that would net a solid portal addition. How skilled was the Chinyelu guy from Florida this past year?

Like Rutgers who had a losing record? An "underpaid role player" in the NBA is 100x more serviceable than a college jersey filler. Comparison isn't really fair.

I know they are still getting paid, but when you have an established roster you know how much money you have to work with from the jump and where and how to allocate it, it's very different. Louisville keeping their 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 guys or whatever (and probably at a discount as not every single player in college basketball is portaling and bag chasing) allows them to be aggressive and upfront about who they need and how much they can pay. Imagine if IU landed both Conwell + Dix along with Tucker in the first week of the portal? That's $7-8million in NIL right there. Now what? My comments reflect that. It's much easier to spend money to fill your gaps as opposed to buying an entirely new roster. Woody was able to land 3 or 4 of the top 20 portal players last year by simply filling the gaps.

If this guys floor is ~10-15 solid minutes a game of rim protecting and screening and rolling offensively I'd consider that a win for next year. I'd think a raw prospect like Opurum could greatly benefit in a P5 weight room with some elite level coaching; an opportunity that has yet to be afforded. We have 4 confirmed players for next year...you absolutely need depth and bodies.

It's been reported that at least 10-15 other programs have $10mil+ to spend on NIL this year, IU included, and plenty of other programs who have the money to spend $2-3mil on a single player. Would guess IU is the only team literally starting from scratch this offseason. Simply cannot sink 50%+ your NIL funds in 2-3 players and expect a successful season (see Rutgers).

Obviously a highlight tape, but he appears to have really good hands and some already polished footwork which suggests he’s further along offensively than I would have guessed. Very intrigued by this one…definitely needs to bulk up.

Wouldn’t be a bad addition at all depending on his role. Sure TTU wanted him as their 6th man again, he was good for them.

Would definitely expect us to get involved. His HS coach Luke Barnwell however just left Texas Tech to take an assistant job at Iowa. He was recruited over in the portal this offseason. I think he’s more of a 6 man at this level but there’s definitely playing time to sell.

Iowa might be tough to beat here

lol, absolutely why I never want to hear why the fan base is the lifeblood of the program again.

Not really. Nebraska fans decided Bo Pelini winning 9 games and going to the Holiday Bowl every year wasn’t enough. Then decided Mike Riley winning 7 games wasn’t enough. Finally just went .500 for the first time in nearly a decade. They’re a delusional bunch. But so are we.

Didn’t you boycott games this past season and root for the team to lose the better part of two years??? Yeah this fanbase is a real strong attribute…clearly.

Todd Golden went 16-17 his first year at Florida as did Dan Hurley. You would lose your **** if DeVries did that next year. That’s my point.

Remind them of Hurley’s track record through 4 years (zero tourney wins). Perhaps Painter? We’re our own demise and will never realize it. The fact we compare ourselves to a school like Florida in the present day is wild…what do you think Florida thinks of IU?

Glad @Jeff Flabjohns formerly known as Doctor P got his laughs in. He’s part of the problem lol.