(2026) - Anthony Thompson

[Home Jersey 16,990]

5 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

I tend to doubt our MBB rev share/NIL has changed from whatever it was planned to be when CDD signed.

I’m quite sure Scott made $ commitments to CDD and CDD required those to take the job.  I doubt Scott has reneged on those commitments seven months into CDD’s tenure.  It’s not his style.  We know Scott exceeded the promises to Cig, notably before Cig had coached a game.

So far this is mostly coming from Rabby saying our NIL is down and we aren’t among the top schools.   Maybe he is right, maybe not, I haven’t found anyone to corroborate this yet. And what does this mean?  Are we #8?  #12?  #15?  Don’t know.

I wouldn’t jump to conclusions yet — there isn’t enough evidence either way that I am aware of. This is just my viewpoint, I could be wrong.

I agree with your point of view. For the sake of conversation though/playing devils advocate... as you point out, Cig's program is being rightfully prioritized when it comes to where the AD is putting our dollars. That inherently means less resources for the basketball team.

The basketball program is also in a very different position than the football program in terms of fan morale at the moment IMO. Most of us are unhappy with recent results. Apparently some very influential donors are also unhappy that Woodson is gone. If grassroots excitement is dulled and some big donors are taking a step back, where is the NIL money going to come from? 

RE: Rev share/NIL commitments... IMO it's not too hard to envision CDD and Dolson agreeing in principle to terms plans that seemed feasible and realistic at the time. But at the time of signing his contract, I'd be surprised if those kind of NIL commitments are more concrete than a good faith I-O-U. IMO all it would take is a handful of previously reliable donors to have a change of heart for the agreed upon commitments to materially change. 

Perhaps that explains the perceived drop in our NIL resources vs. the past two seasons / compared to other programs. Maybe it's not remotely close to reality. 

Winning cures all.

[Pagoda 5,893]

I think what’s happened is other schools have jumped up more than IU has changed:

- BYU has obviously made a push with the Jazz owner

- St John’s has a NIL sugar daddy plus rev share pop

- All bball only schools (mostly the Big East) that don’t have to materially fund football have benefitted significantly from rev share.  

- UK is allocating more rev share to bball and hanging their FB program out to dry.  Arkansas is similar.

- UL is quasi-blue blood who has had a resurgence.  Dusty has UM donors excited.

- Etc.

All the above happens, we stay mostly the same, and we go from top-5 last season to #10-15 now.  But I think that’s enough for a good coach.  Our big donors have limits — is what it is.  And I don’t know the impact of this, but Cig has earned the right to eat first.

I still feel 90% of our fate lies on how good CDD is.  If he does a very good job this year and we make the tourney no problem and win some big games, our donors will be energized and the NIL will increase.

[WayneFleekHoosier 51,973]

24 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

I think what’s happened is other schools have jumped up more than IU has changed:

- BYU has obviously made a push with the Jazz owner

- St John’s has a NIL sugar daddy

- All bball only schools (mostly the Big East) that don’t have to materially fund football have benefitted significantly from rev share.  

- UK is allocating more rev share to bball and hanging their FB program out to dry.  Arkansas is similar.

- UL is quasi-blue blood who has had a resurgence.  Dusty has UM donors excited.

- Etc.

All the above happens, we stay mostly the same, and we go from top-5 last season to #10-15 now.  But I think that’s enough for a good coach.  Our big donors have limits — is what it is.  And I don’t know the impact of this, but Cig has earned the right to eat first.

I still feel 90% of our fate lies on how good CDD is.  If he does a very good job this year and we make the tourney no problem and win some big games, our donors will be energized and the NIL will increase.

I agree with this.  I'm not sure I agree with the #10-15 though.  The recruiting class will be the best judge in the end.  I think Rabjohns is probably the best source we will get but he doesn't know fully our budget or other teams budgets.  Its also not a 1 to 1 on money spent and recruiting class rank but there should be a strong corollary.  

[ronzo4IU 452]

2 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Good point. I guess never.  But championships, measureables, money, eyes, media and resources always put us in that conversation. 
 

We just haven’t used those resources wisely, time and time again.  Every year we slip a little further from “BlueBlood” criteria.  

True, and I always wondered why we didn't become one and always wondered if it was because of Knight being the way he was and less blue chip players wanting to play for him etc.., and maybe we were squeeky clean and not paying players like other programs and making kids go to class.. but yes, we are a historical program with many championships no matter what!

[ronzo4IU 452]

2 hours ago, Scotty R said:

The 87 team didn't have blue chip players but were the overall #1 seed in the tournament 

Which is amazing when you think about it now!

[Scotty R 3,806]

41 minutes ago, ronzo4IU said:

True, and I always wondered why we didn't become one and always wondered if it was because of Knight being the way he was and less blue chip players wanting to play for him etc.., and maybe we were squeeky clean and not paying players like other programs and making kids go to class.. but yes, we are a historical program with many championships no matter what!

To me we are a blue blood program but not elite at this time.

Blueblood is your overall history of your program 

Elite is where your program is at right now.

[Stuhoo 91,543]

6 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

To me we are a blue blood program but not elite at this time.

Blueblood is your overall history of your program 

Elite is where your program is at right now.

[Pagoda 5,893]

I'm not going to argue with anyone that sees us as a "blueblood."  I don't think we are anymore after 35 years of doing very little on the court.  That's a long time and we have not been in the national CBB conscious in decades.  In my view we need to win a title or make several F4's to get back up to "blueblood."  But, on the bright side, aside from the winning aspect, we have all the characteristics of a blueblood program, which has always given me some hope.

[Scotty R 3,806]

We might just have to come to the realization that today's top players might not see IU as a great destination. It might not be anyone's fault it is just reality. We have blamed multiple coaches and AD's for our failures but it might just be today's college basketball.

Also it has been said a lot of top players aren't interested in playing in the big ten because of style of play. Hopefully with the 4 new teams and Maryland hire someone like Buzz Williams who aren't big ten guys might change that. It seems like the big ten doesn't attract a lot of long athletic wing players who can run the court well. If you watch a big ten game and then watch an SEC or Big 13 game it doesn't look like the same game.

Also it had been so proven that you can build a consistent winner without having to only get top recruits or a lot of portal players. Both Purdue and Marquette has been pretty consistent the last 5 or so years and they don't have many highly ranked players 

[Scotty R 3,806]

1 hour ago, ronzo4IU said:

Which is amazing when you think about it now!

I U had the best college coach at that time. It is the same coach who in 1984 took a freshman in Alford and a bunch of average players and beat the #1 team in UNCa  UNC had 4 starters who were picked in the top 7 of their respective drafts Jordan, Daugherty, Perkins and Smith

[Uspshoosier 54,781]

4 hours ago, Scotty R said:

The 87 team didn't have blue chip players but were the overall #1 seed in the tournament 

Splitting hairs here but I would guess unlv was the number 1 overall seed that year.   They only had 1 loss heading into the tourney and IU had 4 and shared the B1G regular season with Purdue.   Unlv was the AP 1 team heading into the tourney.   IU was 3rd.   I know if you google it AI will tell you IU was the 1 overall but from watching the old tapes I have I’m pretty sure it was unlv.  Unlv was favored in the IU game.  Again splitting hairs because they were both really good that year 

[Scotty R 3,806]

4 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Splitting hairs here but I would guess unlv was the number 1 overall seed that year.   They only had 1 loss heading into the tourney and IU had 4 and shared the B1G regular season with Purdue.   Unlv was the AP 1 team heading into the tourney.   IU was 3rd.   I know if you google it AI will tell you IU was the 1 overall but from watching the old tapes I have I’m pretty sure it was unlv.  Unlv was favored in the IU game.  Again splitting hairs because they were both really good that year 

I just watched that game not long ago and pretty sure they said IU was the top seed. Also IU wore their white uniforms which goes to the higher seeds

 

[WayneFleekHoosier 51,973]

We might just have to come to the realization that today's top players might not see IU as a great destination. It might not be anyone's fault it is just reality. We have blamed multiple coaches and AD's for our failures but it might just be today's college basketball.

Also it has been said a lot of top players aren't interested in playing in the big ten because of style of play. Hopefully with the 4 new teams and Maryland hire someone like Buzz Williams who aren't big ten guys might change that. It seems like the big ten doesn't attract a lot of long athletic wing players who can run the court well. If you watch a big ten game and then watch an SEC or Big 13 game it doesn't look like the same game.

Also it had been so proven that you can build a consistent winner without having to only get top recruits or a lot of portal players. Both Purdue and Marquette has been pretty consistent the last 5 or so years and they don't have many highly ranked players 

 

Excuse making at its finest. BYU turned into a top 25 program overnight. Louisville had heinous legal embarrassments and bottom of the barrel results for year.

 

If these 2 programs can be salvaged in a year or 2, Indiana can be anything they want to be.

 

Formula? It’s a highly transactional business for those in highest demand. Be able to pay near top dollar. Have a coach that is trusted and liked by those that make decisions. Have that staff be good enough to win enough to be relevant. Repeat steps 1-3. We recently tried step 1 without following through on steps 2 and 3. Woodson had a season where step 2 was okay, but that was lost in a year.

 

 

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[Scotty R 3,806]

6 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

 

Excuse making at its finest. BYU turned into a top 25 program overnight. Louisville had heinous legal embarrassments and bottom of the barrel results for year.

 

If these 2 programs can be salvaged in a year or 2, Indiana can be anything they want to be.

 

Formula? It’s a highly transactional business for those in highest demand. Be able to pay near top dollar. Have a coach that is trusted and liked by those that make decisions. Have that staff be good enough to win enough to be relevant. Repeat steps 1-3. We recently tried step 1 without following through on steps 2 and 3. Woodson had a season where step 2 was okay, but that was lost in a year.

 

 

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So why did UL only get 1 top 150 kid in the 2025 class and UM only get 2. This years class was going to be hard to get a lot of top players because they haven't seen Devries coach a game at Indiana. Just like the 2025 class for UL and UM

[WayneFleekHoosier 51,973]

So why did UL only get 1 top 150 kid in the 2025 class and UM only get 2. This years class was going to be hard to get a lot of top players because they haven't seen Devries coach a game at Indiana. Just like the 2025 class for UL and UM

Because they spent big in the portal. Both team had huge portal hauls that made them top5-top10 teams.

Indiana if we want to be good next year also aren’t going to be great getting 2 or 3 solid freshman which we don’t have yet. We will need another portal haul if we are trying to be a top 25 team.


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[Uspshoosier 54,781]

17 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

I just watched that game not long ago and pretty sure they said IU was the top seed. Also IU wore their white uniforms which goes to the higher seeds

 

Good catch on the Jersey color. I Still think UNLV was favored in the game 

[Scotty R 3,806]

1 minute ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Because they spent big in the portal. Both team had huge portal hauls that made them top5-top10 teamys.

Indiana if we want to be good next year also aren’t going to be great getting 2 or 3 solid freshman which we don’t have yet. We will need another portal haul if we are trying to be a top 25 team.


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Did UL pay big in the first class of transfers. I am not sure but they didn't have to many many high major transfers 

 

[Scotty R 3,806]

1 minute ago, Uspshoosier said:

Good catch on the Jersey color. I Still think UNLV was favored in the game 

I think they were favored. What was funny was Billy Packer kept saying that IU can't run with UNLV and need to slow it down. IU ran with them and won 97-93. Packer said that about IU all the time thinking RMK always slowed the game down but that isn't the case

[Uspshoosier 54,781]

1 minute ago, Scotty R said:

I think they were favored. What was funny was Billy Packer kept saying that IU can't run with UNLV and need to slow it down. IU ran with them and won 97-93. Packer said that about IU all the time thinking RMK always slowed the game down but that isn't the case

Yeah I watch the whole 87 tourney run every year before the season starts.  Packer said a lot of stuff throughout that tourney 

[Scotty R 3,806]

Just now, Uspshoosier said:

Yeah I watch the whole 87 tourney run every year before the season starts.  Packer said a lot of stuff throughout that tourney 

That team and the 92 and 93 scored a lot of points and usually shot after a couple of passes. I remember one game I counted the amount of passes and the most in the first half was 4.

87 tournament 

Fairfield 97?

Auburn 107

Duke 88

LSU 77

UNLv 97

Syracuse 74