(2026) - Anthony Thompson

[WayneFleekHoosier 51,998]

2 minutes ago, Hoosierfanyuh said:

Rumor is this is his last year and that’s why they’re loading up with HS recruits this year for his successor. Vaughn something I’m forgetting his name 

Oh yeah Jacques Vaughn.  He’ll be an Adidas Darling.  I guess we need to start outperforming Kansas on the court to try to be king of the mountain with Adidas.  I’m not holding my breath on this one.  

[lillurk 5,192]

5 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Oh yeah Jacques Vaughn.  He’ll be an Adidas Darling.  I guess we need to start outperforming Kansas on the court to try to be king of the mountain with Adidas.  I’m not holding my breath on this one.  

Tend to agree but from the outside adidas has always seemed to have a strangely zero sum view about these things. Obviously with individual recruits it is zero sum — Thompson can’t pick KU and IU — but other than when they play each other head-to-head it isn’t really true that Kansas and Indiana can’t both succeed at a high level.

Conversely, Nike seems much better at supporting UNC and Duke, UM and MSU, so on.

[Uspshoosier 54,840]

19 minutes ago, Hoosierfanyuh said:

Trilly latest update day is it’s turning into a bidding war but we are playing the game 

 

[HoosierDevils 169]

19 minutes ago, Hoosierfanyuh said:

Trilly latest update day is it’s turning into a bidding war but we are playing the game 

Allegedly pushing $2M 

[Scotty R 3,822]

9 minutes ago, HoosierDevils said:

Allegedly pushing $2M 

College basketball is getting ridiculous 

They need to blow up the system and get college sports back to what it was intended to be. I know some schools used to cheat but this system is a lot worse because every player  is expecting a big pay day 

[Stuhoo 91,687]

33 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Gotta love getting outbid on all of our primary targets. 

Which ones?

I must've missed the announcements to other schools for all of our primary targets lol.

[Home Jersey 17,043]

This recruitment will be an interesting illustration of modern recruiting whatever the outcome is.

This staff seems active on the trail and has a clear identity for their culture / play style.  

Also, if reports are accurate, pretty disciplined about their prioritization.

They haven't been here long enough for us to have a very good idea of how they prioritize cost vs talent vs eligibility vs fit etc.

Granted I'm no 5 star recruit but consider me unimpressed by Diebler. It's hard to imagine him offering a more compelling on-court pitch than DDV.

Players are so focused on capitalizing on potential they stunt their development and in many cases end up really damaging their long-term prospects. $2M is big money. Life changing in a lot of ways. But it's a fraction of the NBA earning potential. Not many guys are willing to sacrifice a payday today for the idea you'll be better positioned in a few years.

I'm sure many think they can succeed despite the circumstances in a scenario where they choose a school based strictly on the best financial package, being willing to overlook a staff they didn't like quite as much as another school that didn't match the highest offer. Imagine for some it will work out and for an awful lot of them it will be the start of the descent from highly rated prospect to maybe g leaguer or overseas if they're lucky.

Ultimately some kids will "get it" and others will be blinded by the idea of big numbers in their accounts tomorrow.

[JimmerNoe 1,230]

Personally, I’m okay giving ONE top 5ish kid this kind of money per year. In that range, you are buying a starter who you expect to be a focal point of your team, no different than a top tier portal guy imo.

I would rather do that instead of giving several top 20ish kids a medium sized bag.

Hit one home run that you expect will be a starter/major contributor/surefire NBA guy, then you save the rest for a few 50-75 range guys that may contribute or project as sophomore/juniors, then the rest goes for portal studs. 

[BtownStrength 1,656]

45 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

College basketball is getting ridiculous 

They need to blow up the system and get college sports back to what it was intended to be. I know some schools used to cheat but this system is a lot worse because every player  is expecting a big pay day 

While I understand the sentiment, there is no putting the genie back in the bottle on this. 

[WayneFleekHoosier 51,998]

Which ones?
I must've missed the announcements to other schools for all of our primary targets lol.

MSU and Oregon offered more for Ethan Taylor.

Maryland offering more for Latrell Allmond.

OSU initially offering more for Thompson.

Kansas for TK.

Taylor is just a matter of time. TK we didn’t even get in the ballpark. Allmond, outoffered-will see if money is the end all be-all.

Thompson, initially outoffered, let’s see what happens.

Trilly hears, Trilly shares.


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[WayneFleekHoosier 51,998]

Personally, I’m okay giving ONE top 5ish kid this kind of money per year. In that range, you are buying a starter who you expect to be a focal point of your team, no different than a top tier portal guy imo.
I would rather do that instead of giving several top 20ish kids a medium sized bag.
Hit one home run that you expect will be a starter/major contributor/surefire NBA guy, then you save the rest for a few 50-75 range guys that may contribute or project as sophomore/juniors, then the rest goes for portal studs. 

Yeah, makes sense but Indiana has been a 1 man show for years.

Romeo couldn’t carry the team. Trayce couldn’t fully carry the team (don’t he damn well tried). Zeller had the help he needed. We need like 3 of those type guys to perform to that level to compete on the National stage. Also, need “win first” guys which is hard to find with the highest rated freshman. Team building is a real challenge.


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[HoosierDevils 169]

3 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

 

MSU and Oregon offered more for Ethan Taylor.

Maryland offering more for Latrell Allmond.

OSU initially offering more for Thompson.

Kansas for TK.

Taylor is just a matter of time. TK we didn’t even get in the ballpark. Allmond, outoffered-will see if money is the end all be-all.

Thompson, initially outoffered, let’s see what happens.

Trilly hears, Trilly shares.


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I find the rumors and Trilly stuff fun to follow but it can be difficult to take too seriously. For one, I’m skeptical how much he actually knows as fact versus what’s just talk from the agent side acting on behalf of the client and trying to max their own cut. Now that there’s a media side to Trilly through Basket Under Review—which I do like reading and listening to their podcasts—he is more of an access person and I don’t think would betray sources (like coaches and high level program people) by burning them on the Discord as that would jeopardize the media side. 

The other part is this: Let’s say Trilly is correct on all his statements. Where’s his gif? Where are any Crystal Balls? His threads make it sound like IU is seriously outmatched across the board with MSU having Taylor in the bag, Allmond to Md, and Thompson to OSU. Yet, there’s not a single logged prediction for any of these let alone by him. His response when people ask is that he’ll wait likely til the night before or a few hours ahead of announcement…by which point everyone knows anyways! 

My last piece on the Trilly stuff is let’s say that IU is getting outbid but it is because they have a max price in mind for HS players. Then I’m totally unconcerned about DDV not overpaying T35 guys in a weak class. Better bang for the buck in the portal this year and focusing on 2027 HS targets where we are in on the ground floor. Of course people can disagree with the strategy and prioritization, but I don’t think it signals weakness or underlining problems in the new staff. 

[JimmerNoe 1,230]

18 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Yeah, makes sense but Indiana has been a 1 man show for years.

Romeo couldn’t carry the team. Trayce couldn’t fully carry the team (don’t he damn well tried). Zeller had the help he needed. We need like 3 of those type guys to perform to that level to compete on the National stage. Also, need “win first” guys which is hard to find with the highest rated freshman. Team building is a real challenge.


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Sure, I just mean that using your high school budget for the year on a top 5 guy is fine with me. You just better make sure you go grab 2-3 big portal contributors too.

This year is a bit of an outlier with the coaching change, but if you told me we spent 5-6 million on a top 3 of Lamar, Tucker, and a top 5 freshman I would be on board. Leaves you 7-8 million to get the rest of the roster I think?

My main point is that I think it makes way more sense to spend 2-3 million on a single top five guy instead of spending 1 million each for three guys in the top 25.

[Stuhoo 91,687]

24 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

 

MSU and Oregon offered more for Ethan Taylor.

Maryland offering more for Latrell Allmond.

OSU initially offering more for Thompson.

Kansas for TK.

Taylor is just a matter of time. TK we didn’t even get in the ballpark. Allmond, outoffered-will see if money is the end all be-all.

Thompson, initially outoffered, let’s see what happens.

Trilly hears, Trilly shares.


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Maybe!

Maybe not.

[Scotty R 3,822]

1 hour ago, JimmerNoe said:

Personally, I’m okay giving ONE top 5ish kid this kind of money per year. In that range, you are buying a starter who you expect to be a focal point of your team, no different than a top tier portal guy imo.

I would rather do that instead of giving several top 20ish kids a medium sized bag.

Hit one home run that you expect will be a starter/major contributor/surefire NBA guy, then you save the rest for a few 50-75 range guys that may contribute or project as sophomore/juniors, then the rest goes for portal studs. 

The thing is even top ten players are no guarantee just look no further than MgBako. I rather be a little judicious with the money instead of just throwing money around like Woodson did.

[Scotty R 3,822]

21 minutes ago, JimmerNoe said:

Sure, I just mean that using your high school budget for the year on a top 5 guy is fine with me. You just better make sure you go grab 2-3 big portal contributors too.

This year is a bit of an outlier with the coaching change, but if you told me we spent 5-6 million on a top 3 of Lamar, Tucker, and a top 5 freshman I would be on board. Leaves you 7-8 million to get the rest of the roster I think?

My main point is that I think it makes way more sense to spend 2-3 million on a single top five guy instead of spending 1 million each for three guys in the top 25.

I rather have 3 players ranked between 20-60 than a top 5 players. One those 3 will probably be here 2-3 years instead of 1 year of a top 5 player. You build your foundation with players ranked 20-60

[JimmerNoe 1,230]

3 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

The thing is even top ten players are no guarantee just look no further than MgBako. I rather be a little judicious with the money instead of just throwing money around like Woodson did.

I said top five. And even still, Mgbako (#10 was his best final ranking), was Big Ten freshman of the year with an absolutely awful system for his skill set.

If you look through the last several years the majority of top 5 players in final recruiting rankings are high level college contributors from day one 

being overly judicious with the money is going to leave us in situations where the big prizes are gone and we are getting nickel and dimed by what is left, typically good but not great mid-major guys. You can probably win that way, but give me a headliner or two every year for my money.

[JimmerNoe 1,230]

Just now, Scotty R said:

I rather have 3 players ranked between 20-60 than a top 5 players. One those 3 will probably be here 2-3 years instead of 1 year of a top 5 player. You build your foundation with players ranked 20-60

Cool, you just spent 3 million or more on three roster spots that are unlikely to be starter level players in the big ten. So now are down 3/12 million with zero star caliber players. Money gonna go quick that way.

[tyappleg 8,325]

8 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

The thing is even top ten players are no guarantee just look no further than MgBako. I rather be a little judicious with the money instead of just throwing money around like Woodson did.

The difference here at least is the staff has been involved with Thompson. They know who he is.  Woodson probably didn't even know Mgbako's name before he decommitted from Duke.

[HoosierDevils 169]

9 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

The thing is even top ten players are no guarantee just look no further than MgBako. I rather be a little judicious with the money instead of just throwing money around like Woodson did.

I don’t know…Mgbako is very good but was in an awful system for him. You can read a bunch of stuff from A&M insiders and NBA guys from last spring bewildered by how he was used at IU under Woody. He will have a big season.