Transfer Portal w IU Interest

[WayneFleekHoosier]

4 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

I’m not sure what you’re saying or suggesting? Fru shot 75% from the field last year. He’s as close to automatic as it gets around the basket.

On less than 5 shots a game. He’s a dunker.  He’s not a guy you feed to get a tough 2 one on one when nothing else is working.  He’s got size.  He’s a capable body.  

[AH1971]

6 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

 

I called it for what is was in real time. This board did not agree in general.  Especially as it came together.  I got pushback all off-season that I was wrong.  Whatever.  My track record has been good.  
 

We don’t need to be the dream team but setting the standard of being slightly better than last year and hopefully being a 6 or 8 seed is a losing strategy.  It’s basically what we did this year.  Build a bubble team, then be shocked when on the bubble.  
 

Also with how Alexis played to end the year, I’m not convinced Fru is much better either to be honest.  So the obvious upgrade isn’t as clear it as you might think. 

Most people on this board thought making the tournament would be an achievement given the roster that was assembled and it appeared to be that way up until they fell apart the last 2-3 weeks of the season. Majority didn’t expect more than that. Not sure what you’re talking about?

[WayneFleekHoosier]

4 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

Most people on this board thought making the tournament would be an achievement given the roster that was assembled and it appeared to be that way up until they fell apart the last 2-3 weeks of the season. Majority didn’t expect more than that. Not sure what you’re talking about?

Expectations adjusted.  You are misremembering the off-season.  It’s whatever.  I lived it.  
 

The names we are connected to so far will put us in that similar 30-40 range or whatever.  
 

Fru is a backup to me.  Especially on a good team.  You like him better.  That’s fine.  I think with Carr coming over, and Rabjohns and others hinting this one has high odds.  I’ll make a more declarative read once we identify our other 5.  

[AH1971]

3 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Expectations adjusted.  You are misremembering the off-season.  It’s whatever.  I lived it.  
 

The names we are connected to so far will put us in that similar 30-40 range or whatever.  
 

Fru is a backup to me.  Especially on a good team.  You like him better.  That’s fine.  I think with Carr coming over, and Rabjohns and others hinting this one has high odds.  I’ll make a more declarative read once we identify our other 5.  

He was a starter on a top 20 KenPom team that lost their PG at the end of the year lol. If being a top 20 team isn’t good enough for you next year, you may be the one that needs adjusted expectations. 

[RaceToTheTop]

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

His minutes were declining.  He played 22 minutes.  Big and long.  But not tough.  Not skilled.  He’s a 6’11” JAG.  60 percent free throw shooter.  
 

I’ll take him over Bailey, but 1 and 5 are ultimate positions of need.  I’d rather have a shot blocking/rebounding freak of nature if we can find one. 

He averaged 21 mpg in their last ten games.  He averaged 22 mpg for the year.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

42 minutes ago, RaceToTheTop said:

He averaged 21 mpg in their last ten games.  He averaged 22 mpg for the year.

In his four post season games?  
 

15, 17, 25 and 18 mins.  Fouled out in 18 mins vs Michigan State. 4 fouls in 17 minutes against Miami.  Average 5 rebounds with a 10 rebound performance against USF.  
 

The stats will underwhelm.  The video/scout is ok as a dunker and a big guy but he’s just not that good.  
 

Louisville was fairly good because of their guard play not because of Fru.  Making that leap instead of breaking down the video and stats is why we end up in the situations we do.  

 

Edited 11 hours ago by WayneFleekHoosier

[Asha’man]

5 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

In his four post season games?  
 

15, 17, 25 and 18 mins.  Fouled out in 18 mins vs Michigan State. 4 fouls in 17 minutes against Miami.  Average 5 rebounds with a 10 rebound performance against USF.  
 

The stats will underwhelm.  The video/scout is ok as a dunker and a big guy but he’s just not that good.  
 

Louisville was fairly good because of their guard play not because of Fru.  Making that leap instead of breaking down the video and stats is why we end up in the situations we do.  

 

With our style of play I don’t think we need a dominant center. All we need is a dunker, big body that can rebound and be a defensive presence. I’d rather spend what it takes to get a guy with those attributes than overspend for a dominant big this season. Then spend big on guards. We are going to have to spend less on some positions and I’d rather it be for a big than PG for example. 
 

edit: Ryan Carr is a Pacers guy. My guess is we try and moneyball the bigs if we can. Take a more NBA approach to how we spend the money. 

[Stuhoo]

10 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

The bar isn’t getting high major players.  The bar is getting a team that has a chance to win at the top.  Fru is entry level for that.  If I went through 5’s I want or made a list of best 5’s FRU isn’t high on that list.  

Oh?

Over the past 20 years, Indiana University men's basketball has a conference record of 182-184. So to be Nostradamus when predicting how IUBB will do, if you simply go with "not great" it's a likely winner, not some outlier  revelation. Constantly taking credit for being the primary true realist/pessimist is not accurate; lots of us are there. Having expectations of a top tier roster and accomplishments is the real sunshine pumper/pipe dream, until and unless proven otherwise. It's not that people think Fru is extraordinary; it's that he's an excellent get for IU.

Expecting us to swoop in and get top of the top portal recruits is just plain wishful thinking. You want some realistic pessimism? Why in the heck would any top of the top portal recruit want to play for IU right now?

• We haven't accomplished jack in recent memory; hell, we haven't accomplished jack in distant memory
• Our current and recent coaching staffs haven't developed any NBA players
• We have plenty of money? So do the teams that have accomplished something. I can easily name 25 teams that can come calling with a similar financial offer that players would prefer to IU.

We have a chance to poach the starting center from the Power Five #23 ranked team. He was relatively productive and is relatively athletic. We have a chance because he has a relationship with our new assistant, not because we're Indiana or have a strong budget.

When/if our current staff shows they can develop and succeed under the current conditions, then we can have expectations of getting top tier players. Until then? I am gonna be grateful if a player the caliber of Fru chooses IU, and I'm gonna hope like hell that the coaching staff is talented enough to develop players like Sisley, Prince, Manhetz, and Karvala so that we have more results to show when we recruit the top of the portal.

 

[skhoosier2]

8 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Expectations adjusted.  You are misremembering the off-season.  It’s whatever.  I lived it.  
 

The names we are connected to so far will put us in that similar 30-40 range or whatever.  
 

Fru is a backup to me.  Especially on a good team.  You like him better.  That’s fine.  I think with Carr coming over, and Rabjohns and others hinting this one has high odds.  I’ll make a more declarative read once we identify our other 5.  

Generally, I agree with you on most of what you post but I am curious...why do you think we are attractive to high major more talented players?  What do we have to offer besides money and playing time?  While I really want to see us build a competitive roster with better players, I just don't see what is better about IU if they can go to UK, UL, Texas, Arkansas, UT, etc.  Those were tournament teams.  We had a meltdown and couldn't beat NW twice.  Being a tournament team seeded 6-10 would be a feat for this program right now IMO.  We are not the IUBB of old.  We cannot just attract any players we want unfortunately.  Money isn't the only thing that attracts these high major players especially when other programs have the SAME money to offer and a more attractive winning program.  I am not saying CDD/Carr shouldnt go after the big fish.  I am saying I don't think there is anything at this point to believe we can get those players over others save for money (and those that are purely after money aren't going to create the right culture that is needed to build this program).

[BA47591]

I liked Fru early in the season and if is one of 3 bigs that we need to compete in the Big Ten I'd be excited to have him. I'm not concerned about landing wings that can shoot, they're a dime a dozen. Bigs, a talented point guard and athletes that want to defend is the must if we want to evolve. 

[str8baller]

29 minutes ago, BA47591 said:

I liked Fru early in the season and if is one of 3 bigs that we need to compete in the Big Ten I'd be excited to have him. I'm not concerned about landing wings that can shoot, they're a dime a dozen. Bigs, a talented point guard and athletes that want to defend is the must if we want to evolve. 

I’d probably fall close to this camp or with WFH. Bring in Fru as a rotation piece or backup? Excellent. Try and plug him in as your 30mpg answer at center? We’re probably trending pretty close to bubble team territory again.  
 

I guess the exception to that would be we hit a homerun at all of our perimeter portal spots. Because that’s basically what Lville did. Brown was one of the top 3-4 freshman PGs in the country. Conwell was probably a top 2-3 combo guard out of the portal, and McNeely was probably a top 3-4 shooter in the portal. They also returned a pretty good player in Hadley.  Even with all that they finished 6th in a fairly mediocre ACC.  
 

Could we nab Fru and a bunch of good portal guards and finish 8th in the B1G and be a 9/10 seed? Sure. Could we land Fru, miss on some guys and have to pair him with Sisley in the front court and end up on the wrong side of the bubble again? Yep. 

[AH1971]

9 minutes ago, str8baller said:

I’d probably fall close to this camp or with WFH. Bring in Fru as a rotation piece or backup? Excellent. Try and plug him in as your 30mpg answer at center? We’re probably trending pretty close to bubble team territory again

Based on what?

[Pagoda]

IMO, good points in these recent posts.

My gut is the realistic best case coming out of this portal is a ~#30 KenPom team with no glaring construction issues.  I doubt the talent will look like a sure thing due to the reasons Stu and sk pointed out.  Just a prediction, maybe I'm wrong.

I can't help but think this still all comes down to sharp scouting and player dev.  A program either does this or they don't.  If a program doesn't, no amount of money will save them.  Like Kentucky.  If program does, everything starts falling into place -- culture, identity, execution under pressure... all that good stuff our football program does.

The thing that gives me the heebie jeebies is the lack of sharp scouting and player dev we saw last season.  I've got to hope the root cause of like 80%+ of that was the hurried portal last year for all the reasons we've discussed (timeline, slow staff hires, etc.) and we couldn't tell who we wanted and we scrambled.  Not sure I buy that explanation, but it's possible.

We need our high school recruits and whoever we get in this portal to be strategic and targeted additions that fit what IU wants to be vs. something more like taking whoever looks the best on paper and praying it works.  Kind of a no-duh I know.  Ryan Carr should help.

We're in a tough spot.  We'll see if this staff can start smartly building a program in season two.  We won't know for sure until they play games, but I'm really hoping for a decent looking portal haul that doesn't raise any serious red flags.

[CSP]

JFC

eventually there has to be a "this is who we can actually get" element to all of this

 

At minimum this kid played high major ball this year---- was incredibly efficient, has a good rebounding rate, assist rate, and a very good block rate. 

 

He's easily a step up from Alexis. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

1 hour ago, skhoosier2 said:

Generally, I agree with you on most of what you post but I am curious...why do you think we are attractive to high major more talented players?  What do we have to offer besides money and playing time?  While I really want to see us build a competitive roster with better players, I just don't see what is better about IU if they can go to UK, UL, Texas, Arkansas, UT, etc.  Those were tournament teams.  We had a meltdown and couldn't beat NW twice.  Being a tournament team seeded 6-10 would be a feat for this program right now IMO.  We are not the IUBB of old.  We cannot just attract any players we want unfortunately.  Money isn't the only thing that attracts these high major players especially when other programs have the SAME money to offer and a more attractive winning program.  I am not saying CDD/Carr shouldnt go after the big fish.  I am saying I don't think there is anything at this point to believe we can get those players over others save for money (and those that are purely after money aren't going to create the right culture that is needed to build this program).

Money, money, money, stage, and Indiana does a tremendous job of taking care of these kids, plus playing time. 
 

Money is the biggest factor, although granted not the only factor. We put ourselves behind the 8 ball with the season we had this year which was a major flaw in the plan to begin with. They counted on DeVries coaching  to be able to cobble enough wins to have a acceptable year.  They needed to aim higher but many factors were in play. I get it. 
We are at the point we have to grossly overspend and rely on “built in” connections to attract the talent until winning can add the third element.

We really need to find a way to overspend for 2 or 3 key pieces. But it’s a crapshoot. Injuries, etc.  we have a huge staff, we need to relay those connections plus extra money to do what we should have done in year 1.  Now it’s harder.

I know you can’t have a superstar at every position.  We need 3 to be ultimately successful. And 1 being at the 1 and 5 are the hugest returns in wins.  I won’t get as upset by the wing spots. 

[AH1971]

5 minutes ago, CSP said:

JFC

eventually there has to be a "this is who we can actually get" element to all of this

 

At minimum this kid played high major ball this year---- was incredibly efficient, has a good rebounding rate, assist rate, and a very good block rate. 

 

He's easily a step up from Alexis. 

It's flabbergasting isn't it? Especially coming from the guy who has spent all of 2026 saying IU needs a major overhaul in talent and size positionally. 

[Uspshoosier]

1 hour ago, Stuhoo said:

Over the past 20 years, Indiana University men's basketball has a conference record of 182-184

Surprised it’s that good. I would have thought it was worse.    

[EasyEJay]

Keep in mind what change of scenery and a new coach can potentially do for a kid. Granted the jury is still out on DDV and his staff in terms of player development at the P5 level.

Who knows about Fru 247 has him as a PF though. 

 I feel like the portal is like playing the Powerball man. Look at a dude like Aday Mara 1st 2 years at UCLA Started a total of 8 games and  averaged 3.4 in just 9 min a game as a frosh and 6.5 in just 13 min as a Soph. Goes to Michigan starts 37 games averages almost 12 and 7 and is playing 23 min. I don't think even advanced statistics showed he could potentially produce in this way for a final four team even with an elite backcourt but I could be wrong believe he was 8-10th ranked center in the portal last year. Credit to Dusty and the UM staff. Not to put the pressure on and I want to be realistic but I do hope this is what Carr can do you IU this year. 

I think they key really is the backcourt, especially PG we REALLY need an Elite one whether they are elite now or become Elite during the season watching the tourney your truly realize it. That's were I'd like to see us spend the big money on a power guy whose already shown he can produce at this level

I'm gonna try to reserve judgement on most guys good or bad this year for as long as possible lol 

[Jeff Flabjohns]

DDv signing and effectively utilizing Javon Small is what gives me the most hope. Which kinda stinks…certainly nothing from last year tops that. 

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, Uspshoosier said:

Surprised it’s that good. I would have thought it was worse.    

 

Without the two Big Handsome years, our 20 year conference record is 147-173.

If you include the Zeller/Oladipo years and go back to since Kelvin Sampson left? 158-188.