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The Dusty and Ben thing hurts -- I feel it too. And I'm worried about CDD. Fingers crossed we are good again someday...

He's been in charge for two key hires. One was great, one is TBD but off to a slow start. Still a long way to go before this can be concluded.

He’s a great tournament coach. Ability to make effective in-game adjustments is amplified in importance with the short prep times in between games. Impressive. It hurts to see…

Yea, let's see if Iowa goes undefeated and wins it all. CBB is a sideshow compared to CFB. You really can't compare them. Some of our fans don't appreciate what happened in football.

I get your point, but this is shortchanging what IU has accomplished. What IUFB did in CFB is substantially more difficult and significant than a CBB tourney run. Iowa has a long way to go to rival our football story. CBB is so much smaller than CFB it's not really possible.

I hope so, but I suspect the PU game is close and they have a chance. Painter has one of his hard to beat postseason teams, which is annoying. If they get to a home F4 that would be unpleasant. Illinois Iowa idk, that is probably less close.

Yet mighty IUBB still took Rod Clark from Tennessee. ;-)

Opening SP+ for ‘26 just came out. We’re 5th. A good read: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/48306284/2026-college-football-sp+-rankings-138-fbs-teams

True. Though I suspect for some of them it won't be their choice. Some players are gonna get DeVries'd and/or Carr'd.

Another easy match up for Purdue. I’ve got little hope.

This is how it seems to go — the targets start falling away. Lloyd has it rolling at a good bball school and he might win it all. I don’t know why he would leave Arizona. Billy D has been out of CBB for over a decade. Pretty telling. And even if they actually got him, he’s not exactly sure thing anymore given how much CBB has changed. His titles were 20 years ago. UNC may make a good hire and get back to being a top program, but it’s tough and far from a certainty.

Hard to not get excited...

First presser in a long time. Spring practice has kicked off. This is funny (per Osterman): "Cignetti asked about Nick Marsh. Says he loved his film last year vs. Maryland. "I didn't love those gold shoes he came out in today. He learned what getting your @$$ ripped is all about. I don't know if he got much of that at Michigan State." This draws laughs.

Agree. I think they have decent market intel pre-portal, but it probably takes a “strong @$$ offer” as well to have the whole thing wrapped up before the portal opens.

Yes. Maybe technically against the rules, but in reality there are no rules. Teams are talking with agents weeks and months ahead of the portal opening. Sometimes deals can be struck before the portal is open — then the player enters with a “do not contact” tag and they head to wherever. At the least, a lot of recruiting work is done before the portal opens.

I think we all know our perception isn't very good. We've talked about it pretty much every day for years. On the bright side, it can be fixed...

It's still $2M. And if anything they've spent a lot of money so it's not a bad move to wait a week and save $2M. I'm just presenting what the reason may be. Folks can take it or leave it.

Just a guess: Will Wade's buyout at NC State is $5 million if he leaves for another job (such as LSU) on or before April 1, 2026, dropping to $3 million after that date. Tough scene for NC St. assuming this happens. They're obviously a pretty good bball school. I guess this is what you get with Will.

Small chance Cig doesn’t put it on the big screen given we have turned the page to Chapter Three. Rules are rules once a page is turned!

Probably better to get him out of the conference. I doubt he leaves a place where he has created a national title favorite that might win it all. That’s hardly a unique take from me lol. I also wonder if he likes the setup at UM. Not all coaches like attention. He’s in the background there. Frankly UM fans would throw him in a volcano if it meant UM beat OSU in FB.

If I had to log a prediction, UNC isn't going to lure away a "top" coach. As in no Hurley, Golden, Oats, Dusty, Lloyd types of coaches. UNC is a great brand, maybe the best in CBB, but in the NIL era that doesn't matter as much. Coaches can win at a lot more places now. I don't follow them in detail, but their whole athletic department operation doesn't look great. The politics and infighting that led to the Belichick fiasco is a red flag and an incoming coach has to wonder what they're walking into and if there will be the all important "alignment." Looking at the odds right now, Otz is ~25% and next is Billy D at ~20% (lol). Then it's a bunch of candidates at lower percentage chances. No clear leader right now. Otz would be a good get, but he's not quite a "top" coach. At the end of the day, I think the UK search was telling about the new dynamics in CBB. It's going to be very interesting. We'll see what happens.

Haha. Pat & Co. aren’t putting up with this all-time stupid take that Ty Simpson is the best QB in this class. Thanks Pat! People are pointing out Ty and Dan are repped by the same agency. Pretty obvious what is happening here… Language warning.

Well, Jeff, Hubert wants to continue as head coach, which indicates he actually did want this job. That... and he took the job.