HoosierDevils

He’s stretching out pre game with staff https://x.com/michaelniziolek/status/1971997099547152760?s=46&t=Fcw6K8fSPVNFaq5-eOwH9w

Looks like Ponds is questionable for the game. Hope it’s nothing serious and he can play without injury and take the bye week for rest, but I don’t think Iowa’s pass attack is too much a concern this game so maybe they keep him on the bench

Tickets have been going for ~$40 and even seats in the lower sections have been ~$70 the past week. I wonder if Iowa fans are kinda checked out on their program right now? Given all the talk about Kinnick stadium I would’ve thought this would be a hard ticket to come by.

Sorry this is my bad. I should have been more careful. That’s clearly a troll account looking at the handle!

Where are you seeing that? Jon Rothstein reported that he missed Steven Pearl’s presser along with a couple others who are rumored to be talking to their agents but also that he has a court date today for a DUI. https://x.com/bmillerg0at/status/1970891796147568855?s=46&t=Fcw6K8fSPVNFaq5-eOwH9w EDIT: Please disregard this. I should have been more careful and looked at the handle name. This is a troll/impersonator and not Jon Rothstein.

That would be amazing for sure! But also seems like the absolute (very high) ceiling. I think Allmond’s last visit is local for him at UVa on the 26th. I haven’t seen anything about where we stand with him, but he would be a big get for sure. Taylor will be a competitive recruit to get and we’re bumping up against MSU, UK, and KU — looks like he has all three of those visits scheduled for the subsequent three weeks. I think On3 is saying Thompson is likely down to IU and Ohio St. It will be interesting to see how this all breaks for the 2026 class, but the new staff obviously had a later start than rivals for 2026 recruits and I think putting together some good stuff this season will help in the portal in the spring and 2027 which it seems we’re off the a great start already.

I think Junior County is trending towards UConn or Maryland. We’re probably down to Almond, Taylor, and Thompson as our best bets to fill our recruiting class.

Ah duh! That’s that then. My bad!

Are there any players on Auburn’s roster who are eligible to enter the portal tomorrow that DDV and staff would be interested in pursuing or have a chance to land? Elyjah Freeman is one I think fits the playing style.

I think Duke is the leader here. Scheyer has been really going after him and did an in-home visit with him bringing along their GM Rachel Baker and a couple assistants. I think Jai Lucas had started recruiting him before he left to Miami.

Any updates/info on how this visit went?

This will connect a few controversial/polarizing topics - Mgbako & Woodson. I like to check in on how former IUBB players are doing and thought this was interesting from the 3 Man Weave's evaluation of Texas A&M: I feel like there's at least a few kids who garnered a lot of hate from certain fans last year, and I'm really curious to see how they'll perform under different coaches.

Isn't there a big recruiting visit scheduled for Homecoming weekend? If so, this is super exciting and great scheduling.

These were both really neat to see. One of the things I heard often about NBA guys coming back down to college is just not realizing that you have to be hands on and teach -- these kids are malleable and still developing and you see this coaching staff so engaged and *teaching*. Just to round it out, here's Rod Clark mic'd up: https://x.com/IndianaMBB/status/1943339439608205799

Curry Hicks Sage’s Burning Sage podcast had a two hour interview with Crean. He was pretty open about his side. He also said he was not told how bad the situation was when he signed the contract and that had he known everything he’s not sure he would’ve done it. He talked about the 30 failed drug tests and 18 failing grades. But he said the IU fan base was and is incredible and kept him in it. He also suggested that the Syracuse NCAAT game left some insiders looking for ways to get him out. He feels he lost administrative support pretty quickly and most obviously when after winning the Big 10 outright in 2016–second time in four years—and IU was not willing to engage in contract extension discussions. He said he should’ve started looking for other jobs and it was clear his time at IU was up but he felt attached to the OG and TB team. It was a fascinating chat and pretty clear how Crean sees his time went down. Obviously it’s his perspective and I’m sure many on the board have countering opinions or rumors.

Notable that IU is doing this with Conerway on the bench most of the second half after dropping 18 in the first

This. BYU defense is ranked 82 on KenPom. That game was comically bad defense all around. Duke is 5. It was always going to be hard for Bama to replicate their shooting performance from the S16–they typically don’t shoot the ball THAT well as it is—but they also faced a much better defensive team with a ton of length.

I feel like they either scour message boards and regurgitate info or just base it off DMs from super fans Anyways, Osterman is saying everything is probably coming from the agent side:

https://x.com/coachingchanges/status/1901803500520022152?s=46&t=Fcw6K8fSPVNFaq5-eOwH9w

That’s what I was thinking given they said it was awarded because of UNC’s NCSOS and metrics neither of which are great for IU

Also lost Maliq Brown again...he's a big part of Duke being a top defensive team this year

https://x.com/Bball_War3/status/1900240277224268245

Like purdue they ran the table in their conference pre/during-WWII and are very proud of that and also like purdue who take credit for Wooden's success at UCLA they take credit for Hurley's success at UConn

That is a blow to NC State fans. They definitely thought they were in the running for Wade. I suppose it could be a negotiating thing to try to get more money & NIL commitments but the wording seems too harsh to cultivate a working relationship. I think IU is the only bigger job out there? I guess he might be interested in Virginia they seem to be much more into Odom and he seems more of a Nova and Texas guy if they open; but surely this is an attempt at signaling that he's available and looking to get back into the major leagues

I definitely understand this perspective, I guess my only continued hang up is that URI fans want him out too for doing basically the same thing he did at IU -- doesn't care about a program's history, doesn't seem to connect with players at all, and frankly doesn't win (he's like 16-31 in the A10 there). And this is with URI having one of the better NIL situations in the A10 after Dayton. They should def be more competitive than he has them, and while I think he's a great dude he just seems like the type of guy that college basketball just went by over the years both in P5 and top mid major.