(2026) - Anthony Thompson to O$U

[ebridges24]

i got a bad feeling on this one, thank God we got PAM or we might've ended up with a goose egg.

[Demo]

Under the heading of “maybe somethin’, maybe nothin’” top 100 small forward Jalyn Collingwood is announcing tomorrow with Ohio State as 1 of his 3 finalists. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

45 minutes ago, ebridges24 said:

i got a bad feeling on this one, thank God we got PAM or we might've ended up with a goose egg.

Gut feeling?  Or something more?  
 

Kids want to win too.  Gotta show them a vision. On the court helps but making recruiting splashes is big too.  Staff seems to be spiraling a bit to me with recruiting.  Not sure I see the vision yet.   BUT, we needed to be portal heavy or land some big fish if next year is going to be optimistic.  

[Stuhoo]

21 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Gut feeling?  Or something more?  
 

Kids want to win too.  Gotta show them a vision. On the court helps but making recruiting splashes is big too.  Staff seems to be spiraling a bit to me with recruiting.  Not sure I see the vision yet.   BUT, we needed to be portal heavy or land some big fish if next year is going to be optimistic.  

“Spiraling?” Alllllrighty then.

Btw… we already have a top 50 recruit committed for 2027.

[ebridges24]

36 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Gut feeling?  Or something more?  
 

Kids want to win too.  Gotta show them a vision. On the court helps but making recruiting splashes is big too.  Staff seems to be spiraling a bit to me with recruiting.  Not sure I see the vision yet.   BUT, we needed to be portal heavy or land some big fish if next year is going to be optimistic.  

Just the way things have been goin, no insight. I hate being the last team to get commitments. 

[Uspshoosier]

36 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Staff seems to be spiraling a bit to me with recruiting

 

[ebridges24]

I wish Taylor and Thompson would just go ahead and put on the IU hat and then I'll breathe.

[Scotty R]

10 minutes ago, ebridges24 said:

Just the way things have been goin, no insight. I hate being the last team to get commitments. 

We already have one commitment from the 26 class and one in the 27 class

[HoosierHoopster]

30 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

We already have one commitment from the 26 class and one in the 27 class

Yes but they fell when we spiraled into them

[Home Jersey]

There are four teams with multiple top 50 commits in the class of 2026: Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and UConn.

Teams with multiple top 100 commits: Michigan, Oregon, OK State, Tennessee, Bama, Purdump, FSU, Wake Forest, Vandy, Michigan State, and VCU. 

247's current top 25 recruiting class ranking: Missouri, Kansas, Florida State, Wake Forest, Michigan, Purdoodoo, Vandy, Stanford, GA Tech, Arkansas, UConn, OK state, Bama, Minnesota, Pitt, NC State, Tennessee, VCU, Oregon, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Creighton, Mississippi State, LSU

An interesting trend emerges if you extend that group a bit. 

Loyola Chicago (currently #30), Western Kentucky (32), Liberty (33), Louisiana Tech (34), Drake (35).

Those are all ahead of schools like Baylor, Texas, A&M, Providence, Boston College.

You'll see more surprises between there and where IU is currently ranked (68). Denver, Harvard, Princeton, Siena, to name a few. https://247sports.com/season/2026-basketball/compositeteamrankings/

Schools noticeably without any commits at the moment: Duke, Kentucky, UNC, UCLA, Houston.

Without overanalyzing it, this is all to say... yes, some schools are converting more of their targets to commits earlier in the cycle than we are. Not a ton, but some. 

At the same time, the recruiting landscape has changed in a very obvious way. Clearly we're going to end up with a better class than Denver or Siena. But every school's got a different formula of money / prioritization / schemes, etc. to offer. It makes sense for some to spend big early and for others it makes sense to sit tight if they believe they can get better value by spending elsewhere.

Between PAM and Branham + the offseason portal haul, all that's clear to me about this new staff is that they're judicious spenders recruiting to a very specific fit.

The 2026 class has not seen this staff coach a game at IU yet. The 2027 cycle is when they've actually had time under their belt to build relationships with players as juniors. Branham is top 50.

Would love to get Thompson. Hopefully we do. If we do, it makes it a lot easier for some fans to swallow missing on Allmond and likely Taylor. And if we do, kudos to the staff for sticking to their guns and not overpaying for freshmen.

Hard to know who will be in the portal, so can't rely on it 100% but it's obviously a big part of the formula in this era. If the staff shows they can evaluate like the football staff, I'm sure everyone will feel at ease. Until then, I'm not worrying about it. Just looking forward to seeing the product on the court. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

 

Teams projected to be really good this year. Like maybe we can finish top half of the B1G. And recruiting is killing it.

 

It is what it is.

 

I can’t wait to pump the tires for DeVries when he starts getting results anywhere near what Dolson wants. Winning games and winning recruitments.

 

It’s been objectively underwhelming thus far. His off-season work will get to prove itself soon enough.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using BtownBanners mobile app

[HoosierHoopster]

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

It is what it is.

It’s been objectively underwhelming thus far. His off-season work will get to prove itself soon enough.

Sent from my iPad using BtownBanners mobile app

Yes, it is what it is.

No, it’s been subjectively underwhelming. That’s opinion based on how you look at things, and that’s all ok, but your opinion is not fact, it’s opinion.

[Uspshoosier]

12 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

It is what it is.

 

I can’t wait to pump the tires for DeVries when he starts getting results anywhere near what Dolson wants. Winning games and winning recruitments.

Yep it is what it is.  He took over a mid tier  (on the court results) B1G program working on its 4 coach in 10 years that fired the previous 3 for on court results.   He has been coach for 7 months and is getting hammered by some for lack of winning games when he hasn’t even coached a game yet and getting hammered for recruiting results in 7 months when his first full recruiting cycle hasn’t even happened yet.    It is what it is some people are more worried about optics then actual results.   Program is going to have to grind to get viewed as a top player again in college basketball.   Until then the optics of this program will be of a program that has lost 9 out of its last 11 to a program like Rutgers 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

3 hours ago, Uspshoosier said:

Yep it is what it is.  He took over a mid tier  (on the court results) B1G program working on its 4 coach in 10 years that fired the previous 3 for on court results.   He has been coach for 7 months and is getting hammered by some for lack of winning games when he hasn’t even coached a game yet and getting hammered for recruiting results in 7 months when his first full recruiting cycle hasn’t even happened yet.    It is what it is some people are more worried about optics then actual results.   Program is going to have to grind to get viewed as a top player again in college basketball.   Until then the optics of this program will be of a program that has lost 9 out of its last 11 to a program like Rutgers 

Agreed with all this.
 

yet, Duke, Kentucky and Kansas wouldn’t behave like this in basketball with what’a expected.  
 

I’ve admitted before it’s a me problem for holding us to Blueblood resource expectations.  
 

If you have those resources you turn things around quickly and can usually stay near the top.  
 

I guess I’ll just have to reset my standards that we are just a mid level BIG basketball program and things will make more sense to me.  That’s already happened to much of the fanbase.  I’ve been holding on to hope with comments from Dolson from years past.  

[ap2345]

What on earth is happening in the thread. Step off the ledge and touch some grass. The staff is definitely not spiraling or panicking. 

[Stuhoo]

2 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Agreed with all this.
 

yet, Duke, Kentucky and Kansas wouldn’t behave like this in basketball with what’a expected.  
 

I’ve admitted before it’s a me problem for holding us to Blueblood resource expectations.  
 

If you have those resources you turn things around quickly and can usually stay near the top.  
 

I guess I’ll just have to reset my standards that we are just a mid level BIG basketball program and things will make more sense to me.  That’s already happened to much of the fanbase.  I’ve been holding on to hope with comments from Dolson from years past.  

^The bolded says it all!^

__________________________________________

IMO, you are looking at performance relative to financial resources and fan interest.

Financial resources plus incredible fan support are NOT what it takes to win and win big. The clearest example imaginable is 100 yards from where the IU basketball team plays. Look to Memorial Stadium and what Whitten, Dolson, and Cignetti have built. NOT blueblood resource expectations. Instead? Great Leadership which led to all of those great things. Same for UConn, Baylor, Nova, and Florida basketball.

What does it actually take?:

• Acceptable resources.That's it! Like UConn, Baylor, Florida, Villanova basketball have had.
• THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IS ... Great leadership, which leads to:
  • A great head coach hire, which leads to 
    • Great coaching staff hires, which in concert with the head coach, leads to 
      • Attention to detail
      • Work ethic
      • Consistency of messaging to players
      • Excellent scheme
      • Sane and perceptive recruiting priorities and presentations

So yes; while I know that you are a smart, all-in, appropriately frustrated IU basketball fan, I agree that you need to, as you stated "reset." But reset criteria and standards, not expectations. Because elite winning follows great program leadership; anything less is destined for mediocrity.

[Uspshoosier]

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I guess I’ll just have to reset my standards

No need to do that.   You have said that for the last 10 + years but here you are with the same high  standard even after a decade or crap.   We all want the same thing for IU to be at the top and looked at by the college basketball world as being on top and competing every year.   Regardless of what Dolson said or what nil and history advantage IU had or has this  program is going to have grind to get back to where the fans want them to be.   My thing is I have no problem with high standards or expectations however saying a coach or program is spiraling downward before the coach has even coached 1 game or has had time to complete 1 recruiting cycle seems a bit much.  At least let the guy coach 1 game  or complete a cycle before we call it a failure.  Just my opinion though 

[Scotty R]

1 hour ago, ap2345 said:

What on earth is happening in the thread. Step off the ledge and touch some grass. The staff is definitely not spiraling or panicking. 

It is just one poster who is derailing this thread with his usual eyore complex

[Uspshoosier]

If Thompson commits to IU he will be the 2nd highest ranked player IU have in their program in the 247 rankings era.  He is 7th.  Romeo would be the other recruit ranked higher than him.   If the staff lands him that a massive win for the program.   If Branham stays at 33 (sounds like his stock his only going up)he would be the 13th highest rated recruit in the 247 era 

[Uspshoosier]

21 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

  If Branham stays at 33 (sounds like his stock his only going up)he would be the 13th highest rated recruit in the 247 era 

For reference Duke, Kansas and Kentuckys 13th rated commit in the 247 era would all be higher or even with IUs highest rated commit (Romeo).   I get people wanted to compare IU to these 3 but they are not in the same stratosphere.  Recruiting wise IU has never been near these programs on a  national level.   IU has competed with them every once in the rankings nationally when a bunch of home grown kids were highly ranked.