Transfer Portal Scrapes w/IU Interest

[EasyEJay]

13 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Nobody will blame it on Ryan Carr not having a full season to "get going" ... Everybody believes the staff should have anticipated the need to flip the roster again. So, none of the examples you provided of imaginary excuses for next year will be used by the fanbase.

And nobody should , but the fanbase has the tendency to grasp at straw and find excuses for lack of success. Also many have IMO have overhyped the immediate impact he will have (too many Moneyball quotes to count) so if he doesn't hit on 4-5 guys then what will they say? Fire him he's overrated? 

As far as flipping the roster the very money questions you yourself are asking in regards to our budget makes me think the staff might have not have thought that, also plenty of discussion on this very board by again by you about the possibility of keeping at least more than 1 of Drake, Dorn, Risitc, Miles, Sisley, and Harris was up in the air for a while. 

Not sad to see any of them go and honestly IU kept the most valuable one, but sit here and pretend to know that the staff anticipated this is a bit of stretch but to each his own. 

[AZ Hoosier]

11 hours ago, hoopsta007 said:

Is the thinking that Dorn stays?  If so hopefully we recruit well enough for him to come off of the bench

Dorn hit the portal this morning, per 247.

[Artie86]

24 minutes ago, Juwan Moye said:

Scott Dolson himself said as much. Basically “last year was a scramble but this next season we have everything in place and everyone should expect better results”.

Paraphrasing a bit but when the AD makes a comment that strong we should listen.

 

 

 I think so many of these negative posters seem to forget or choosing not to remember that Dolson knew how difficult it was going to be for Coach DeVries to find assistants and build a team late, last year. 

Speaking on the Don Fischer radio show in March 2026, Dolson commended head coach Darian DeVries for assembling a team under difficult circumstances, noting it was the "craziest time" to take over a program due to the transfer portal environment.

“The transition in basketball, it was probably the craziest time... to ever take over a program the way the portal was, so I really commend Darian that we were able to put the roster together to at least get us through this season.”

Dolson followed this by expressing confidence that DeVries would "hit his stride" now that the program has a full year of experience under the new staff. 

[Jeff Flabjohns]

14 minutes ago, Hoosierfanyuh said:

Apparently Michigan is going hard after Estrella now - trilly 

Welp, probably get him for 75% of what we’re offering. Can’t blame the kid if he goes there. 

[Home Jersey]

29 minutes ago, EasyEJay said:

And nobody should , but the fanbase has the tendency to grasp at straw and find excuses for lack of success. Also many have IMO have overhyped the immediate impact he will have (too many Moneyball quotes to count) so if he doesn't hit on 4-5 guys then what will they say? Fire him he's overrated? 

As far as flipping the roster the very money questions you yourself are asking in regards to our budget makes me think the staff might have not have thought that, also plenty of discussion on this very board by again by you about the possibility of keeping at least more than 1 of Drake, Dorn, Risitc, Miles, Sisley, and Harris was up in the air for a while. 

Not sad to see any of them go and honestly IU kept the most valuable one, but sit here and pretend to know that the staff anticipated this is a bit of stretch but to each his own. 

The bold is where the disconnect is.

To be clear, I am NOT saying that anybody "knows" the staff anticipated this. I am saying, virtually everyone here thinks they "should" have anticipated that we'd need to fill at least 7 spots. 

Dorn, as the one potential starter returning, not coming back... makes it seem as though the staff probably could have retained him if they really wanted to, but elected not to.

And for that reason, nobody will excuse poor performance next year on the basis of the staff not being prepared to flip the roster or Dorn leaving.

As for your first blurb on Carr... yes, fans tend to search for reasons to be optimistic especially in the offseason. Bringing in a talent evaluator from the Pacers is exciting to a lot of people. Doesn't mean they're looking at him as a savior. Just pointing to that as reason to believe the next roster will be different. 

It's in some people's nature to be more patient or forgiving than others. The fun of message boards is the differing opinions. The "excuses" posted here don't actually affect outcomes for the program. 

[Golfman25]

2 hours ago, Chris007 said:

I wouldn't count Dorn as staying yet

Freaking Carnac The Magnificent.  : ]

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

[Hoosierfanyuh]

7 minutes ago, Jeff Flabjohns said:

Welp, probably get him for 75% of what we’re offering. Can’t blame the kid if he goes there. 

Hoping his strong connection with Rod will help us win out 

[AZ Hoosier]

1 hour ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

From the time I learned how to read baseball box scores I was a Dodger fan.  Free agency hit and my interest in the Dodgers and baseball in general slowly started to fade away.  Really like a player and poof he was gone.  College basketball has become the same way.  Simply can't let yourself become emotionally tied to any one player let alone an entire roster.   A player decides to leave, so be it.  

I'm in total agreement.

Sadly, college sports are going the way of pro sports... instead of "look at the team we built" it's "look at the team we bought". At least with pro sports there are salary caps and luxury tax and other restrictions to the hand over fist spending.

It's literally becoming a "Who's on first" scenario.

[AZ Hoosier]

29 minutes ago, Hoosierfanyuh said:

Apparently Michigan is going hard after Estrella now - trilly 

Once again, thank you, Uncle Quinn.

[Golfman25]

13 minutes ago, Artie86 said:

 I think so many of these negative posters seem to forget or choosing not to remember that Dolson knew how difficult it was going to be for Coach DeVries to find assistants and build a team late, last year. 

Speaking on the Don Fischer radio show in March 2026, Dolson commended head coach Darian DeVries for assembling a team under difficult circumstances, noting it was the "craziest time" to take over a program due to the transfer portal environment.

“The transition in basketball, it was probably the craziest time... to ever take over a program the way the portal was, so I really commend Darian that we were able to put the roster together to at least get us through this season.”

Dolson followed this by expressing confidence that DeVries would "hit his stride" now that the program has a full year of experience under the new staff. 

Cool, but how many first year coaches had more success under the same circumstances?  Bottom line, IU has a big lift this portal season.  

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Ain't the internet wonderful?  This from a guy who follows 6 others and has a whopping 9 followers of his own.  

[Golfman25]

1 minute ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Ain't the internet wonderful?  This from a guy who follows 6 others and has a whopping 9 followers of his own.  

Pretty big difference between 2 and 3 M.  : ]

[str8baller]

32 minutes ago, Hoosierfanyuh said:

Apparently Michigan is going hard after Estrella now - trilly 

Good. It means our scout on him is probably pretty good. 

[realTomCrean]

2 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Ain't the internet wonderful?  This from a guy who follows 6 others and has a whopping 9 followers of his own.  

Can't be more unreliable than the guy screaming Cory Bigoonda is a Hoosier

[skhoosier2]

Just now, Golfman25 said:

Cool, but how many first year coaches had more success under the same circumstances?  Bottom line, IU has a big lift this portal season.  

Agreed.  I don't find this excuse to be valid when others did not experience the same hired slightly before or after CDD.  I am not giving up on him but building the roster and setting the culture is on him alone.  Hopefully he's better and learned from his mistakes this season.  Find players that fly under the radar, make the budget go far, and land a few top guys if we can.  If Estrella lands at UM, it won't be a surprise but will hurt.  Lots of talent in the portal though so have to get on many and not be left holding the bag when some move on to better situations or for more $$.

[Chris007]

15 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

Freaking Carnac The Magnificent.  : ]

This old dog did a new trick or something like that. 

[tyappleg]

5 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Ain't the internet wonderful?  This from a guy who follows 6 others and has a whopping 9 followers of his own.  

I for one, trust David Lee with my life.

[Chris007]

6 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Ain't the internet wonderful?  This from a guy who follows 6 others and has a whopping 9 followers of his own.  

If that is the case, I would give him 2 million tomorrow

[8bucks]

16 minutes ago, Artie86 said:

 I think so many of these negative posters seem to forget or choosing not to remember that Dolson knew how difficult it was going to be for Coach DeVries to find assistants and build a team late, last year. 

Speaking on the Don Fischer radio show in March 2026, Dolson commended head coach Darian DeVries for assembling a team under difficult circumstances, noting it was the "craziest time" to take over a program due to the transfer portal environment.

“The transition in basketball, it was probably the craziest time... to ever take over a program the way the portal was, so I really commend Darian that we were able to put the roster together to at least get us through this season.”

Dolson followed this by expressing confidence that DeVries would "hit his stride" now that the program has a full year of experience under the new staff. 

I think that when hired DD felt he was going to land 2 of the better assistants (Alabama and TT?).  That was likely conveyed to Dolson too which is reasonable.  We locked in DD early and before a lot of other coaches who were hired and had his staffing plan worked out we would likely have had a much better season.  It did not though and led to the difficulty i putting his staff together.  Can we blame DD for swinging for the fences on those 2 assistants even though when he missed it hurt us?  Probably but it will be forgotten if we have a very good season next year.

I tend to think like @WayneFleekHoosier and unfortunately fall on the pessimistic side too often.  I hope though to be wrong and come to these threads often looking for some evidence that I was wrong.  It just feels like we get an audience and may even be able to land people (whether top assistants or players) but we are not willing or able to meet their price.