Transfer Portal w IU Interest

[Jet812]

12 minutes ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

He's literally on a visit to Auburn. 

I don't want our 7ft making many moves other than dunks. How does someone who's 7ft have a low floor? Complete opposite. wont he have multiple years of eligibility? I'm certain he's better than Hatton and the other big kid we had off the bench.... and we won't have to run offense through him like Ballo. 

Bawa Muniru, Peter Jurkin, Tijan Jobe…. To suggest a 7 footer can’t have a low floor is ignoring many examples.

[Demo]

27 minutes ago, HoosierX said:

I mean I understand his response is a bit passive aggressive, but I can't say I disagree with the sentiment.

The stat line is not super impressive for a JUCO, and I watched two minutes of his highlight video from last year and a three-foot left hook and a step-through are the only non dunks/lay-ups.

Maybe this guy has some upside but the floor is also low.

Emeka Opurum - Butler CC - 2024-25 JUCO Highlights

I get that, though scouting stat lines can be pretty sketchy, particularly in the JUCO world, and if you were recruiting to Woody’s system with the plan to play through him he’s probably not ready for that. But as a rim runner/PnR finisher /rim protector who’s a rotation piece with a matchup specific role and has 3 years of eligibility to develop him, I see the value in that. 

[moyemayhem]

13 minutes ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

How does someone who's 7ft have a low floor?

I have no horse in this race, but I've seen plenty of unplayable 7 footers.  What were the floors on Peter Jurkin, Jeremiah April, and Dallas James?

[CSP]

Just now, Jet812 said:

Bawa Muniru, Peter Jurkin, Tijan Jobe…. To suggest a 7 footer can’t have a low floor is ignoring many examples.

Did any of them put up REALLY good #s in JUCO? I don't really see where those guys had a low floor, though. At minimum its a rim protector and 5 fouls, that in itself is valuable and raises their floor. 

Gabe Cupps had a low floor.  

[CSP]

1 minute ago, Demo said:

I get that, though scouting stat lines can be pretty sketchy, particularly in the JUCO world, and if you were recruiting to Woody’s system with the plan to play through him he’s probably not ready for that. But as a rim runner/PnR finisher /rim protector who’s a rotation piece with a matchup specific role and has 3 years of eligibility to develop him, I see the value in that. 

I think he should have 4, though, right? 

[iu eyedoc]

10 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

It's been reported that at least 10-15 other programs have $10mil+ to spend on NIL this year, IU included, and plenty of other programs who have the money to spend $2-3mil on a single player. Would guess IU is the only team literally starting from scratch this offseason. Simply cannot sink 50%+ your NIL funds in 2-3 players and expect a successful season (see Rutgers). 

You act like teams pay a player once upon arrival to the program, those 8-10 players currently with teams are still getting paid so it's not much if any different. Fans expecting 3 or 4 of the top 20 portal players are just being unrealistic.

Unrealistic on BTB? No way!

This team will be built much like UM or UL last season, a lot of names you don't know and will inspire angst with BTBers. It will be up to CDDV to build a cohesive unit.

UL most mirrors IU's situation as they had 1 recruit and 13 transfers last season

Their leading scorer...77th in the portal from JUM

Their leading rebounder...218th in the portal from CU

Their leader in assist and steal  ... 101st from Wisc

Their leader in blocks...274th from Charleston

Others to average over 20 min/g ...273rd, 283rd, 309th

 

If IU has that portal class this place will be unvisitable until at least 6-10 gamses into the season.

 

[Hoosierfan2017]

21 minutes ago, JaybobHoosier said:

I said it was okay to be critical and discuss, but some people post negative comments non-stop at anything Coach Devries does. I have no issue with people complaining, but it shouldn’t be 24/7 with every little thing. 
 

I think people are letting their dislike for the hire persuade this entire offseason. I don’t understand why we can’t give a guy more time who completely turned around a Drake program and was doing it at WV in year 1. IU needs a culture reset from how things were ran for the last 10 years. Let Coach bring in his players, build his culture with the foundation he wants, and let’s go win ball games. I don’t think people quite understand how good of a job he did at Drake and WV. 

He wasn’t my first choice, but I didn’t hate the hire and still don’t. I just expected to be farther along nearly a month into the hire than we are right now. It isn’t any one particular factor but rather the combination of them all that has me concerned.

He had a comparable situation going into WVU last year, so I expected a smooth transition this time around given that he’s done it before. One of the positives I felt around the hire was that he had a team with some guys he could bring over to IU with him, but none of them (other than his son) have joined him for whatever reason. I’m not sure how to feel about the assistant coach hires, and it took awhile to get the staff in place. I have questions with his two portal additions because we don’t have a full roster to see how they fit. We need better starting guards than Enright. He should be fine as a backup/role player, but we need some starters. I like Bailey as an offensive player but he isn’t a strong defender, so we’ll need defenders to make up for it. 

Idk. I know I’m looking at a partially painted picture at this point and we won’t have answers until it’s fully painted. I just expected it to be closer to finished at this point. 

[CSP]

2 minutes ago, moyemayhem said:

I have no horse in this race, but I've seen plenty of unplayable 7 footers.  What were the floors on Peter Jurkin, Jeremiah April, and Dallas James?

Those are just bad basketball players compared to other D1 players? 

[hoosierbgh]

24 minutes ago, HoosierX said:

I mean I understand his response is a bit passive aggressive, but I can't say I disagree with the sentiment.

The stat line is not super impressive for a JUCO, and I watched two minutes of his highlight video from last year and a three-foot left hook and a step-through are the only non dunks/lay-ups.

Maybe this guy has some upside but the floor is also low.

Emeka Opurum - Butler CC - 2024-25 JUCO Highlights

The days of really skilled bigs at IU are likely in the past for the foreseeable future. The 5's role in this offense are to 1. defend, 2. rebound, 3. set screens, and 4. catch the ball and dunk it on rare occasions. Being able to make any kind of post move is largely irrelevant.  

Opurum doesn't appear to be as stiff and lumbering as a lot of inexperienced kids his size. He also has a good frame, good timing on blocks, and appears to be able to catch the ball. He probably won't contribute much his first year but is worth a shot as a backup on the bench and a developmental piece.

[Demo]

2 minutes ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

I think he should have 4, though, right? 

Yeah, that’s right. The JUCO years not counting anymore is gonna take me a while to get used to. 

[CSP]

Just now, Demo said:

Yeah, that’s right. The JUCO years not counting anymore is gonna take me a while to get used to. 

same... with this kid's experience last year, knowing he has 4 years... I can see why we're interested and he has a skill set we need. 

[ebridges24]

45 minutes ago, JaybobHoosier said:

I said it was okay to be critical and discuss, but some people post negative comments non-stop at anything Coach Devries does. I have no issue with people complaining, but it shouldn’t be 24/7 with every little thing. 
 

I think people are letting their dislike for the hire persuade this entire offseason. I don’t understand why we can’t give a guy more time who completely turned around a Drake program and was doing it at WV in year 1. IU needs a culture reset from how things were ran for the last 10 years. Let Coach bring in his players, build his culture with the foundation he wants, and let’s go win ball games. I don’t think people quite understand how good of a job he did at Drake and WV. 

Preach it brother 

[Demo]

9 minutes ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

same... with this kid's experience last year, knowing he has 4 years... I can see why we're interested and he has a skill set we need. 

Also read some post that I can’t find anymore that the kid just got in the country in August and the 2nd half of their season his stat line averages was something like 13/13/5blks. 

[HinnyHoosier]

Roster not full overnight? No high major studs since yesterday? 

Burn it.

[AH1971]

8 minutes ago, iu eyedoc said:

You act like teams pay a player once upon arrival to the program, those 8-10 players currently with teams are still getting paid so it's not much if any different. Fans expecting 3 or 4 of the top 20 portal players are just being unrealistic.

Unrealistic on BTB? No way!

This team will be built much like UM or UL last season, a lot of names you don't know and will inspire angst with BTBers. It will be up to CDDV to build a cohesive unit.

UL most mirrors IU's situation as they had 1 recruit and 13 transfers last season

Their leading scorer...77th in the portal from JUM

Their leading rebounder...218th in the portal from CU

Their leader in assist and steal  ... 101st from Wisc

Their leader in blocks...274th from Charleston

Others to average over 20 min/g ...273rd, 283rd, 309th

 

If IU has that portal class this place will be unvisitable until at least 6-10 gamses into the season.

 

I know they are still getting paid, but when you have an established roster you know how much money you have to work with from the jump and where and how to allocate it, it's very different. Louisville keeping their 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 guys or whatever (and probably at a discount as not every single player in college basketball is portaling and bag chasing) allows them to be aggressive and upfront about who they need and how much they can pay. Imagine if IU landed both Conwell + Dix along with Tucker in the first week of the portal? That's $7-8million in NIL right there. Now what? My comments reflect that. It's much easier to spend money to fill your gaps as opposed to buying an entirely new roster. Woody was able to land 3 or 4 of the top 20 portal players last year by simply filling the gaps.

 

[iubb]

3 minutes ago, HinnyHoosier said:

Roster not full overnight? No high major studs since yesterday? 

Burn it.

 

[HoosierX]

49 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

If this guys floor is ~10-15 solid minutes a game of rim protecting and screening and rolling offensively I'd consider that a win for next year. I'd think a raw prospect like Opurum could greatly benefit in a P5 weight room with some elite level coaching; an opportunity that has yet to be afforded. We have 4 confirmed players for next year...you absolutely need depth and bodies. 

There is no way to know what this guy's floor is at this point. Maybe what you describe is the floor for next year, or maybe he never gets off the bench because he's not good enough to play at this level.

I think it's much easier to feel comfortable with "adding guys to the end of the bench" when you're confident about the front of the bench. I'm not saying we don't get there, but I don't think it's unreasonable to be underwhelmed with this offer.

[CSP]

Just now, HoosierX said:

There is no way to know what this guy's floor is at this point. Maybe what you describe is the floor for next year, or maybe he never gets off the bench because he's not good enough to play at this level.

I think it's much easier to feel comfortable with "adding guys to the end of the bench" when you're confident about the front of the bench. I'm not saying we don't get there, but I don't think it's unreasonable to be underwhelmed with this offer.

why? 

[str8baller]

5 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

Imagine if IU landed both Conwell + Dix along with Tucker in the first week of the portal? That's $7-8million in NIL right there. Now what

Then you fill out your roster with lower paid role players. If the NBA roster is any guide, your 2 or 3 best players should be making the lions share of your money. Everyone else is a lower paid role player. 
 

Obviously CDD didn’t think Dix and Conwell were worth paying that much for. But if you want high end talent you’re going to be paying a high percentage of your total NIL to that player. Flagg and Duke is probably a good example from last year.  You can build a different way by spreading your money around more evenly. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you won’t generally land the high profile guys. Either way, the bench guys are going to be making peanuts that won’t take up much of your total salary. They’re just there to fill out a jersey. 

[AH1971]

3 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Then you fill out your roster with lower paid role players. If the NBA roster is any guide, your 2 or 3 best players should be making the lions share of your money. Everyone else is a lower paid role player. 

Like Rutgers who had a losing record? An "underpaid role player" in the NBA is 100x more serviceable than a college jersey filler. Comparison isn't really fair.