AH1971

Would be ecstatic to land this kid. There are several high level players in the 2027 class in central Indiana alone who could become big difference makers for this university.

Stop it lol

Kansas or NC State

Offered today by Iowa and UConn and I'm sure more to follow.

For anyone that has seen him play, how does he compare to Sisley?

Pretty strange recruitment for a player rated so highly. Purdue has heavily recruited him for the better part of two years and has made him their #1 priority. Doesn't have a great offer list but does include one from hometown Tennessee whom I can guess Rod Clark has a prior relationship. Definitely get the vibe he's waiting on his recruitment to pick up and subsequently why he hasn't committed to Painter.

IU just offered Thompson

This would be a gut punch to Purdue to pry this kid away as no other P5 schools has recruited him longer and harder.

Don’t need that out of the 5 position next year. There’s plenty of fire power 1-4 offensively, especially if you’re 4 is Bailey. As exciting as DeVries/Bailey at the 4/5 offensively is equally horrifying defensively.

Why? It worked perfectly for Michigan last year and I think Bailey's offensive game has some Danny Wolfe to it. DeVries and Wilkerson on the wing frees up plenty of spacing, especially with Bailey's ability to dive and cut.

I'm not claiming either were elite defenders. But they could hold their own and rebound their position more than adequately, something DeVries and Bailey have never been able to do, even in lower level conferences. Now asking them to do it in the B10 as a pair? It's quite a stretch. There's zero practical reason why Bailey can't and shouldn't play the 4. It exploits the other team defensively even more.

You didn't clearly explain anything because literally none of what you said made sense. DeVries is an average defender at best and there isn't a single metric or piece of film that states Bailey is anything but a bad defender. You can argue the merit of Reneau's basketball IQ all you want, but his advance metrics and stats don't lie. He was an average defender...defending out of position...who was a plus rebounder.

What are you talking about? Ballo (23.8 DR%) and Reneau (18.4 DR%) is demonstrably better than DeVries (14.3 DR%) and Bailey (16.2 DR%). Ballo's block rate was more than double that of Bailey. It's not even a comparison really. Indiana ran into defensive issues and breakdowns when they had a combination of Reneau, Ballo, AND Mgbako on the floor together. Was an awful two-way pairing on both ends.

Sure it could. Ballo could at least rebound and protect the rim.

Because a DeVries/Bailey combination is probably the worst defensive/rebounding tandem in the B10, and arguably in all of P5. Bailey has a versatile skill set that allows him to play on the perimeter on offense and he moves well enough laterally to guard out on the perimeter.

I think DeVries, Bailey, Alexis 3-5 becomes more realistic by the day.

Hawthorne was one of the fastest rising players in the country this winter. He was a 300 level rated player as late as November of 2024. 247 just released their final 2025 rankings and he ended up at 33. Could be nothing, could be something but there's a reason why programs like Tennessee and Kentucky are on him. He should have every opportunity to play with a brand new roster. I don't think he would be competing for minutes with Alexis who is strictly a 5 at this level. He would be competing with guys like Harris and Bailey's minutes at the 4.

Who is having a parade? I have genuinely never heard of UTRGV. I thought he was supposed to be a rising star in the industry based on peoples reactions when he was let go. Seems like an odd choice to land. Nothing more, nothing less.

So he’s a martyr?? Help me out here?

How is that extreme? I’ve literally never heard of UTRGV, have you? People were literally saying he’d be at Michigan and a recruiting thorn in our side. Why would I feel compelled to root for somebody fired for insubordination?

Depends on who and how much you bring back. As opposed to popular belief, not every player in college basketball is looking to move schools every year and squeeze every dime out from their university. Look (unfortunately) at our rivals to the North. Braden Smith likely would have made $3-4mil on the open market this offseason and a guy like TKR would have made $2-3mil as both project to be preseason AA's next year. There isn't a chance in hell Purdue is paying those guys $6-7 million collectively. They're taking considerable pay cuts, especially Smith, to stay at a place geared up to win a national title. The more players you keep intact, the less you're likely spending on a year to year basis.

Would be really hard to buy a top 10 roster on paper starting completely from scratch. Louisville, Michigan, and Kentucky certainly didn't have top 10 rosters on paper last year after their portal hauls.

No they weren't. He played in games 1,3,4,5,7,9,18,19,26 https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/malik-thomas-2/gamelog/2022

Say what you want about Leal's individual offensive abilities, the ball moved better and the offense was more efficient when he was on the court.

I think you're underselling what a bunch of guys with massive chips on their shoulder can do when they totally buy-in. That might be the worst collection of players to play a zone that I've ever seen.