IU Basketball News and Notes

[Stuhoo]

53 minutes ago, Demo said:

 

This is pretty tempting. The good: I assume airfare and hotels in Puerto Rico in August would be pretty reasonable. The bad: I also assume Puerto Rico in August would be oppressive as hell, correct?

Edit: And, oh yeah, hurricane season. Maybe not.

August in PR will be flat out tropical— not blazing hot but super humid and pm rain every day.

[AZ Hoosier]

https://www.insidethehall.com/2025/05/26/iu-basketball-releases-further-details-on-puerto-rico-trip/

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Travel packages

https://cs-mgmt.com/dynamic_orders/indiana-university-basketball-puerto-rico-fan-packages/

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Couple more links about the trip.

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-basketball-releases-details-on-puerto-rico-trip/

https://247sports.com/college/indiana/article/indiana-basketball-making-international-trip-to-puerto-rico-on-aug-512-will-play-3-games-250181421/

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Didn’t make Rothstein’s top 45. This roster construction is polarizing. Hoping we can be the “surprise” team this year.


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[OliviaPope40]

[IU5355]

6 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Didn’t make Rothstein’s top 45. This roster construction is polarizing. Hoping we can be the “surprise” team this year.


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Some people picked last year's squad to be a contender for the BIG title. Hopefully we just flip flop the expectations. 

[Uspshoosier]

9 hours ago, IU5355 said:

Some people picked last year's squad to be a contender for the BIG title. Hopefully we just flip flop the expectations. 

Rothstein had them 15th in his preseason top 45 last year.    Big time optics win for the Hoosiers last year 

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, Uspshoosier said:

Rothstein had them 15th in his preseason top 45 last year.    Big time optics win for the Hoosiers last year 

[Hoosier987]

Rothstein having us not in the top 45 is surprising. Then again, can you really blame him? Every year we seemingly win the off-season always to underperform during the season. Hopefully, this year is different and we see a reverse trend. I think we have the right coach for that. 

[Hoosierfanyuh]

Who

cares 

[Pagoda]

CDD interview at Huber’s.  Talks roster, size/rim protection, Goode/Leal, recruiting, and more.

 

[AZ Hoosier]

30 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

CDD interview at Huber’s.  Talks roster, size/rim protection, Goode/Leal, recruiting, and more.

 

He  mentioned waiting on waiver decisions for Goode and Leal... but nothing on his son, Tucker's waiver? Has it been granted yet?

[Stuhoo]

14 minutes ago, AZ Hoosier said:

He  mentioned waiting on waiver decisions for Goode and Leal... but nothing on his son, Tucker's waiver? Has it been granted yet?

That one’s pretty much a given if it’s even still in contention.

He clearly wants Leal and Goode to join the team, and he is more than cognizant that we don’t have a pure defensive big and will need to adjust accordingly.

[sirhoosierlot]

Seems like there would be a better way for the media guys to ask questions rather than talking over each other lol 

[Home Jersey]

This was the most composed / in his element I've seen DDV, that's my main takeaway. So refreshing / reinvigorating to have a HC that gushes when he talks about basketball. Says he has the same expectations as the fans and will do everything to live up to them. 

Lol at the reporter who couldn't get a question in edgewise. Must be a rookie

Other notes for people who can't watch: 

• Likes depth and ability to shoot, said "for the most part" good positional size, acknowledges short at C. 
• DDV said nicest part of taking the trip is 10 extra practices, might do 1 a week to do film study / install stuff. 
• Still actively recruiting, can go in a lot of different directions with those two extra spots. See how it plays out. 

• Says the advantage to building a roster from scratch is everyone is bought in all the way from day 1.
  • Said that matters in terms of connectivity and playing your role, the trip will help build chemistry. Everyone is figuring each other out, fun process to see play out from where we start in June to finish in March
• Q: What was the biggest challenge putting the roster together, 10 commitments in 27 days, things moved quickly.
  • A: Wanted to be sure everyone we brought in fit who we want to be, not just this year but long term. Same thing with the staff. Trying to do it right from Day 1, if it takes a little longer it takes a little longer, but trying to do it as quickly as we could and be smart and calculated about it. 
• HS recruiting will continue to be a big emphasis. Considered regional connections, experience, youthfulness, lots of things when it came to building the staff. Important to have complimentary skill sets. Potential for one more staff member. 
• Thinks we have guys who are about winning, and that tends to shine through quickly
• Doesn't anticipate we'll have a lot of rim protection but it's not always blocking shots and there's other ways to protect the rim. 
  • Says he feels really good about the 5, like our guys and how they fit offensively. Have the ability to have the ball in their hand and be playmakers, have good depth there, will be nights we're undersized but lots of ways to offset that. 
• On paper likes the balance of shooters and bigs, but have to take it from paper to the floor. That process starts next week.

[OliviaPope40]

4 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

This was the most composed / in his element I've seen DDV, that's my main takeaway. So refreshing / reinvigorating to have a HC that gushes when he talks about basketball. Says he has the same expectations as the fans and will do everything to live up to them. 

Lol at the reporter who couldn't get a question in edgewise. Must be a rookie

Other notes for people who can't watch: 

• Likes depth and ability to shoot, said "for the most part" good positional size, acknowledges short at C. 
• DDV said nicest part of taking the trip is 10 extra practices, might do 1 a week to do film study / install stuff. 
• Still actively recruiting, can go in a lot of different directions with those two extra spots. See how it plays out. 

• Says the advantage to building a roster from scratch is everyone is bought in all the way from day 1.
  • Said that matters in terms of connectivity and playing your role, the trip will help build chemistry. Everyone is figuring each other out, fun process to see play out from where we start in June to finish in March
• Q: What was the biggest challenge putting the roster together, 10 commitments in 27 days, things moved quickly.
  • A: Wanted to be sure everyone we brought in fit who we want to be, not just this year but long term. Same thing with the staff. Trying to do it right from Day 1, if it takes a little longer it takes a little longer, but trying to do it as quickly as we could and be smart and calculated about it. 
• HS recruiting will continue to be a big emphasis. Considered regional connections, experience, youthfulness, lots of things when it came to building the staff. Important to have complimentary skill sets. Potential for one more staff member. 
• Thinks we have guys who are about winning, and that tends to shine through quickly
• Doesn't anticipate we'll have a lot of rim protection but it's not always blocking shots and there's other ways to protect the rim. 
  • Says he feels really good about the 5, like our guys and how they fit offensively. Have the ability to have the ball in their hand and be playmakers, have good depth there, will be nights we're undersized but lots of ways to offset that. 
• On paper likes the balance of shooters and bigs, but have to take it from paper to the floor. That process starts next week.

Finally a coach who doesn't speak in the third person and doesn't say over the hump.

[Demo]

22 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

• Still actively recruiting, can go in a lot of different directions with those two extra spots. See how it plays out.

Still can’t really see how they don’t add 1 more interior kid. Thought initially that maybe he philosophically was creating a purely perimeter-oriented style of play and that’s why he hadn’t pushed hard on any traditional bigs. Then he goes out and offers multiple ‘26 post kids. So that’s obviously not the deal, he just didn’t like any of the available options enough. But I’m still feeling some 22yo Euro-big that we’ve never heard of may be in the cards. 

[Home Jersey]

Just now, Demo said:

Still can’t really see how they don’t add 1 more interior kid. Thought initially that maybe he philosophically was creating a purely perimeter-oriented style of play and that’s why he hadn’t pushed hard on any traditional bigs. Then he goes out and offers multiple ‘26 post kids. So that’s obviously not the deal. He just didn’t like any of the available options enough. But I’m still feeling some 22yo Euro-big that we’ve never heard of may be in the cards. 

Speaking of 22 Euro bigs... Filip Jovic from the team we'll be playing in PR, just committed to Auburn. That team seems very talented and I think has 8 guys 6'8+ guys with a few that are 6'10+. Seems highly unlikely, but I'd love to get one of them. Lots of productivity in international play on their team. I think when we play them in August, it will be way too late to add anyone this year though. 

Was sort of wondering if we'd see any of the '26 guys reclass. Also seems doubtful.

But ya never know... still actively recruiting. 

[Pagoda]

Here is most of the staff talking in front of the crowd at Huber’s.  Moderated by Don.