Transfer Portal w IU Interest

[tyappleg]

23 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Really?

We like to say we have top 10 Nil. I’m not convinced we do.

Anyway, it’s not stupid to expect a top 10 Nil budget to put together a top 25 team. Everyone’s counter argument is Woody being ranked last season as a justification for why we don’t want to be ranked. That’s crazy. That’s on Woodson.

We should aspire to be viewed as a top team every single season. I understand it needs to be earned but we could have put together a portal class that would have landed us there.

At this point we don’t even have an obvious 5 starters. We have 3 maybe 4 that would project to start. We have a lot of guys who haven’t won at the mid major level. We have some productive guys from losing teams. It’s been an odd approach to me.

Look at last seasons top 25. It’s generally pretty accurate. Florida was 21. Houston, Duke near the top. Indiana, Rutgers, Cincinnati, UNC were misses. 2 or 3 of those are coaching malpractice.


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Who has said they don't want to be in the top 25 because we were in the preseason top 25 last year? 

And yes, you should want to be top 25... when it matters.

Would it be great to be in the preseason top 25?  Sure... but nothing matters less than what a bunch of writers think before the season even tips off.

[Home Jersey]

56 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Really?

We like to say we have top 10 Nil. I’m not convinced we do.

Anyway, it’s not stupid to expect a top 10 Nil budget to put together a top 25 team. Everyone’s counter argument is Woody being ranked last season as a justification for why we don’t want to be ranked. That’s crazy. That’s on Woodson.

We should aspire to be viewed as a top team every single season. I understand it needs to be earned but we could have put together a portal class that would have landed us there.

At this point we don’t even have an obvious 5 starters. We have 3 maybe 4 that would project to start. We have a lot of guys who haven’t won at the mid major level. We have some productive guys from losing teams. It’s been an odd approach to me.

Look at last seasons top 25. It’s generally pretty accurate. Florida was 21. Houston, Duke near the top. Indiana, Rutgers, Cincinnati, UNC were misses. 2 or 3 of those are coaching malpractice.

Agree up until the bold. I think we've got 5 clear starters - Conerway, Wilkerson, Dorn (maybe Miles?), TDV, Bailey. 

Not refuting your point about not winning at the mid-major level, but worth listing their accomplishments IMO: 

1. A former MVC ROY / All Freshman / MVC Tourney MVP / 2x MVC POY / 3x All-MVC
2. MVC All-Freshman
3. All A-10 / A-10 MIP 
4. 2x All Conference USA 
5. 2024-2025 Sun Belt POY / Tourney MVP
6. All A-Sun 
7. A-Sun All Freshman 
8. CAA All-Freshman 
9. 2024-2025 NCAA champion/2023-2024 All Southern / All Southern Defense

8 of the 11 players were double digit scorers last year. The one freshman was ranked #66 overall. So there's talent. 

You say below mid-majors generally get wrecked for a reason when they play high majors. Yes, but I think these guys were not generally the reason for that. I think they were the reason their teams were competitive at all. It's easy for serious talent to get overlooked and end up at a mid major or JuCo in this era where the politics of the game and money have run wild. The fact they've got a ton to prove is part of what makes me excited for next year. Good players want to win. These are good players who haven't had an opportunity to do a ton of that so I think they're going to play very hard and DDV is good enough to put them in position to win. We will see though. As for the preseason polls being a good indicator, yes, but... 

1985 Villanova, 2003 Syracuse, 2006 Florida, and 2011 and 2022-2023 UConn are the only teams to win it all while being unranked preseason since the expansion to 64 teams in 1985. However, in 2022-2023, 3/4 Final Four teams were unranked preseason. So pretty accurate, but by no means determinative. 

46 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I think this is fair and on point. Also unimpressive. If he wins at the levels he is expected to with this roster he will get all of my Kudos. I’m expecting bubble city. You know when mid majors play high majors they generally get wrecked for a reason. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wilkerson, I like Bailey a lot. But these guys will have a ton to prove. And then, the rankers are tasked with figuring out the High major/mid major gaps and we are where we are.

I know it’s not fair, but UConn’s roster, or Michigans roster, or St. John’s roster, or………….. I KNOW all the excuses but if you have the funds you build what you want.

I don't think having top 10 NIL funds necessarily equates to being able to build whatever you want however you want. We will probably agree though there's no excuse with the resources at his disposal to not be able to build a roster capable of playing his preferred style and winning at the expected level. This team may or may not be able to do that... thankfully we get a preview in August. 

My biggest concern at the moment is defense but I am willing to trust DDV at this point. Cautiously optimistic over here. 

[Dave from Dayton]

6 minutes ago, Bowhunter said:

Wayne you are a good guy! Preach it brother. 
 

I’m right there with you on what we did with the money. DeVries and Wiketdon  A plus. The rest of the team is kind of underwhelming for the NIL budget we carry. 

I perceive that the coach knows how to build a program.  Does he really try to get ballers and shooters that think that the team is more important than individual players?  Does he think that basketball IQ and effort means and sharing the ball is more important than a 41" vertical jump?  Are guards going to get the ball in play and steal more balls than a front court?  Do the number of stars mean more than everything else?  Well, I don't know but he may be on to something.  

I wondered about Archie  stepping up.  But he did very well in Dayton.  I knew that Crean was full of hype and was unsure about him winning without Wade.  Sampson is a winner but was risky and IU didn't handle it well at all.  No comment on Mike Davis who was too unseasoned.  And IU, again didn't handle RMK's last decade.  What a fiasco.  

I will give CDD the benefit of the doubt.  But, I just don't know.  I like the guards and the shooters and those that try harder.

[8bucks]

50 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I think this is fair and on point. Also unimpressive. If he wins at the levels he is expected to with this roster he will get all of my Kudos. I’m expecting bubble city. You know when mid majors play high majors they generally get wrecked for a reason. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wilkerson, I like Bailey a lot. But these guys will have a ton to prove. And then, the rankers are tasked with figuring out the High major/mid major gaps and we are where we are.

I know it’s not fair, but UConn’s roster, or Michigans roster, or St. John’s roster, or………….. I KNOW all the excuses but if you have the funds you build what you want.


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I think the evidence suggests we may have a large NIL but maybe not as big we thought. A lot of schools showed up with big NIL signings who were supposed to have struggled with NIL. Then you have programs like BYU show they may be a big player here too. 

I think we all saw last year that attracting kids with NIL primarily does not lead to success. DD hopefully will end up being a very good coach but it isn’t like he has had years of success at the P5 level. So when recruits consider us they can see a little bit of his vision in action but not enough to know we will be a top 20 team. So would we rather attract kids who want to play for a winner (we are unproven here), yes, but since we can’t prove that we can only offer hope and money.  

I kind of like this top midmajor kid approach. Hopefully these kids want to prove themselves and work as if they have that chip on their shoulders.  

Some schools had instant success. Michigan for example. I think a lot of that is attributed to a good coach sure but also really had kids outperform their portal ranking. Wolf for one. No reason to know we will have this too. Hoping we eithe get a few kids that do exceed their expectations and lead us to a big year or we have a gritty tough team that helps DD show what could be and next year we add more pieces and take another step forward.

We all wanted a coach that would grind and work. We may have to do the same as fans and let DD build this. Not panic as he builds even if slowly. 

[HoosierInParadise]

Anyone who is confident that this team will be good is kidding themselves. Woodson proved to all of us that getting some of the "top talent" in the portal doesn't mean jack regarding winning results. Coach Cig showed us that a collection of decent players with a vision and energy around a program can make for a magical season. The transfer portal has only proven one thing....if you are going to rely heavily on the portal for your core group of players, you should be anything but confident that winning will necessarily follow. I am going to wait and see what happens....I do like who we have gotten in the portal if they work their tails off to play as a freaking team.

[RaceToTheTop]

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

You guys can mock all you want. I’ve had a realistic approach to my fandom all along and have been more accurate in my assessments than most.  
 

I’m optimistic with a new coach and systems and style and for that alone im happy.  

but we tout a top 10 Nil budget supposedly but didn’t act like we have one.  
 

we are pumping up mid major guys of varying degrees of clout, talent, and success that we hope will translate.  (It might work-it certainly might not)  

We clown our team last season as a reason you don’t want a good portal class but forget our coach is the major reason that class stunk.  Give me that roster with a legitimate coach and a better SG than Carlyle (that I never liked) and that team could have done some things.  Should have.   
 

I look at a lot of college basketball rosters and I’m envious.  I REALLY like DeVries and Wilkerson.  I have varying degrees of thoughts on the rest of the roster. I like Bailey a lot offensively but I wonder if his game will work against better, more athletic bigs.  I could go player by player.

 

To me, it’s just a total wait and see roster and doesn’t justify anywhere near top 10 NIL.  I’d rather spend big and get 8 dudes and pay pennies for the rest of the roster.  Top8 wins  our top 8 is top 30-45 good to me.  
 

Im allowed to be unimpressed.  

 

If you have 8 dudes and penny players you are one or two inujuries from disaster.

[str8baller]

50 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I know it’s not fair, but UConn’s roster, or Michigans roster, or St. John’s roster, or………….. I KNOW all the excuses but if you have the funds you build what you want.

This isn’t empirically true and you’re setting yourself up for disappointment with unrealistic expectations. 
 

Most of the best rosters had a couple homegrown guys mixed in. You can’t poach those guys because schools use their NIL to keep them. The rest of the rosters have transfers that have been there for more than one year (that includes St. John’s and UConn) or in the case of Duke a stud frosh or two they’d been recruiting for several years. Michigan St and Purdue had nearly entirely homegrown rosters of their key players. You can’t replicate that in one year. 
 

The best you can do—or at least that’s been proven so far—with entirely new portal rosters is somewhere in that Lville/UM/UK range. And while those teams had some success none were near the top 10.  You also had teams like Kansas and Arkansas follow your strategy with big splashy transfers. KU started ranked 1 and finished unranked and Arkansas would’ve too until they surprise made the S16. If anything, the former group that relied on mid major guys outperformed the latter group who spent on bigger named players. 
 

People can expect what they want but I haven’t seen a team yet that has been able to wholesale purchase an automatic top 25 roster in one year just because they had top money. 

[hotjawns]

2 “things”

1) funny take - this roster is built like a mid major that couldn’t get a legit big (lol jk)

2) if CDD wanted a legit 7 footer or a “real big” with elite size to clog up the paint, we would’ve had that. there was no problem in finding and closing($) the types of guys CDD wants. (this was a realization i too had to come to, FWIW)

that is all. trust the process. we have what we need. go IU, fight fight fight.

Edited April 30, 2025 by hotjawns

[Scotty R]

2 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

You guys can mock all you want. I’ve had a realistic approach to my fandom all along and have been more accurate in my assessments than most.  
 

I’m optimistic with a new coach and systems and style and for that alone im happy.  

but we tout a top 10 Nil budget supposedly but didn’t act like we have one.  
 

we are pumping up mid major guys of varying degrees of clout, talent, and success that we hope will translate.  (It might work-it certainly might not)  

We clown our team last season as a reason you don’t want a good portal class but forget our coach is the major reason that class stunk.  Give me that roster with a legitimate coach and a better SG than Carlyle (that I never liked) and that team could have done some things.  Should have.   
 

I look at a lot of college basketball rosters and I’m envious.  I REALLY like DeVries and Wilkerson.  I have varying degrees of thoughts on the rest of the roster. I like Bailey a lot offensively but I wonder if his game will work against better, more athletic bigs.  I could go player by player.

 

To me, it’s just a total wait and see roster and doesn’t justify anywhere near top 10 NIL.  I’d rather spend big and get 8 dudes and pay pennies for the rest of the roster.  Top8 wins  our top 8 is top 30-45 good to me.  
 

Im allowed to be unimpressed.  

 

Like UF roster that won a championship and this is where their starters came from. It must be miserable to always look at things in a negative light especially in the off season.

Belmont 

Iona

FAU

Australia 

Africa

 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

2 “things”
1) funny take - this roster is built like a mid major that couldn’t get a legit big (lol jk)
2) if CDD wanted a legit 7 footer or a “real big” with elite size to clog up the paint, we would’ve had that. there was no problem in finding and closing($) the types of guys CDD wants. (this was a realization i too had to come to, FWIW)
that is all. trust the process. we have what we need. go IU, fight fight fight.

Am hearing our last player, assuming Goode is coming back will not be a traditional center. So yeah, Bailey will be our starting 5 and will play a lot.


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[IndyHoosier1997]

2 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

You guys can mock all you want. I’ve had a realistic approach to my fandom all along and have been more accurate in my assessments than most.  
 

I’m optimistic with a new coach and systems and style and for that alone im happy.  

but we tout a top 10 Nil budget supposedly but didn’t act like we have one.  
 

we are pumping up mid major guys of varying degrees of clout, talent, and success that we hope will translate.  (It might work-it certainly might not)  

We clown our team last season as a reason you don’t want a good portal class but forget our coach is the major reason that class stunk.  Give me that roster with a legitimate coach and a better SG than Carlyle (that I never liked) and that team could have done some things.  Should have.   
 

I look at a lot of college basketball rosters and I’m envious.  I REALLY like DeVries and Wilkerson.  I have varying degrees of thoughts on the rest of the roster. I like Bailey a lot offensively but I wonder if his game will work against better, more athletic bigs.  I could go player by player.

 

To me, it’s just a total wait and see roster and doesn’t justify anywhere near top 10 NIL.  I’d rather spend big and get 8 dudes and pay pennies for the rest of the roster.  Top8 wins  our top 8 is top 30-45 good to me.  
 

Im allowed to be unimpressed.  

 

I know it’s a different sport and all, but our football team just went to the college football playoffs on the back of mid major players.

 

Florida just won a championship in basketball on the back of a lot of mid major players. 
 

Why do you view mid major in and of itself as damning? You seem to be offering no further analysis beyond our players used to be mid majors. I don’t know if you’ve been more accurate than most in the past or not, haven’t been here long enough to tell, but I don’t see why that means you’re remotely correct here. I am well aware of how many players routinely make the jump from impact mid major players to impact power conference players. Are we pretending that’s rare or unheard of? 
 

I do know that viewing mid major in and of itself as damning is terrible analysis though and pretty ignorant of how much talent is overlooked there. And that talent regularly transfers over to power conferences and even to the NBA. 

Edited April 30, 2025 by IndyHoosier1997

[mike vannice]

31 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Am hearing our last player, assuming Goode is coming back will not be a traditional center. So yeah, Bailey will be our starting 5 and will play a lot.


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So any idea who that player might be ? 6'8"-6'10" forward maybe?

[AZ Hoosier]

2 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

I don't think having top 10 NIL funds necessarily equates to being able to build whatever you want however you want. We will probably agree though there's no excuse with the resources at his disposal to not be able to build a roster capable of playing his preferred style and winning at the expected level. This team may or may not be able to do that... thankfully we get a preview in August. 

My biggest concern at the moment is defense but I am willing to trust DDV at this point. Cautiously optimistic over here. 

IMO, let's wait and see what Coach DeVries is able to do with his team. The last 3-4 years we had a hack throwing bags at stars with no clue as to whether the stars were warranted, and no clue what to do with any talent that he actually stumbled upon.

This is not that.

[AZ Hoosier]

11 hours ago, Scotty R said:

Like UF roster that won a championship and this is where their starters came from. It must be miserable to always look at things in a negative light especially in the off season.

Belmont 

Iona

FAU

Australia 

Africa

 

So, we won the off-season the last two years and crapped the bed when the ball was tipped. People b!tched and moaned that the talent didn't pan out...

This year we have a new coach who didn't gather a collection of players on the level of the last guy, and the sky is falling...

Sheesh... y'all need to pick a lane.

[IvanRenkosillegitimatechild]

10 hours ago, str8baller said:

If I only looked at the offensive personnel I might think that too.  
 

Two problems with this idea of a fast paced, gunning team a la Alabama or UK last year: 

1) To play the style of defense he seems to want to play, a super fast pace isn’t ideal. To play packline and protect the rim by stopping dribble penetration, you’ll generally want to get back and get set up and then let the shot clock be your friend. Last year at WVU they were super slow at 331 in tempo, which brings me to point #2…

 

2) Just looking at his teams historically they’ve been pretty middle of the pack in pace. I’d almost call them pace nuetral. Last year they were really slow and his first year at Drake they were just inside the top 100 in pace.  
 

None of this is meant to be critical of CDD. I’m just saying, I’m curious what he does. If he does what he did last year, it’ll be the polar opposite of what everyone here expects. And if he does what everyone here is saying they expect it’ll be a pre big departure from what he’s generally done. 

Maybe he’s not been able to recruit the players he needed to recruit to play fast and now with unlimited resources at IU he can now do it

[OGIUAndy]

3 hours ago, IUCrazy2 said:

https://x.com/DarrenHeitner/status/1917273709678616939

Anybody know who this guy represented?  A few other people in the comments complimenting Indiana as well.  Won't hurt to get a reputation with agents to be on the up and up with the athletes.

I would have to guess Josh Harris since he just committed and he's from FLA and this guy is based out of Fort Lauderdale. 

[Juwan Moye]

Look at this mid-major bum, I hope they didn’t overpay.

[Juwan Moye]

7 hours ago, RaceToTheTop said:

If you have 8 dudes and penny players you are one or two inujuries from disaster.

Outside of injuries, I’d argue that getting 10+ guys that have produced high at the mid-major level also hedges against against the risk that some of these guys can’t handle the step up in competition.

The roster as constructed isn’t one Carlyle away from disaster. If we have a few guys who can’t step up, as long as they’re not all playing the same position, we should be fine. We’ll likely be surprised at how well some guys transition while also seeing some guys fall flat on their face when the competition heats up.

The hope now is that we have an actual college basketball coach who will not only coach these guys up, but will also make the obvious adjustments when necessary. None of us knows how this will go so “cautious optimism” seems the reasonable place to be.

[Golfman25]

13 hours ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

Really confusing post 

Not confusing at all.   A true Debbie Downer.  

[Papacap]

I have no idea how this team will do next year. I do know that if you are unimpressed/disappointed with the roster at this point, you’re just the type of person who complains about the taxes when winning the lottery. We have much better shooters, much better guards, more athleticism…but we don’t have traditional big men so how are we going to compete in the mighty Big 10 with all the titles the conference has won since these players have been born?

Again, I have no idea what will happen next year. But sitting here today, I feel much better than if Woodson was still coach and trying to get some more ranked players to get us over the hump.