Transfer Portal w/IU Interest

[ronzo4IU]

32 minutes ago, str8baller said:

You need a big in case of fouls or injury but I really doubt anyone that comes in makes the actual rotation. Devries has never played with two bigs before. Splitting Yigi and Sherrel would mean about 20mpg of two bigs together and 20mpg where one of them is the singular big.  
 

You can’t get a quality backup big that doesn’t fit in the rotation and just force them on the floor if there’s an injury. Most coaches will just go small at that point. Even 7’ center addict Matt Painter went small when faced with an injury 2 years ago. It would be really weird for a “small ball/4-out” coach like Devries to not do the same if faced with an injury.  
 

Woody was committed to 80 mins per game of post play and we still ended up with backups like Hatton, Sparks, and Duncomb. I’d expect something like that at best for our last big spot. 

Michigan dominated last year because they figured out how to use Lenderborg, Mara and Johnson.  Thats a better plan than using one Big in todays game as we just experienced IMO.

[AH1971]

16 minutes ago, ronzo4IU said:

Michigan dominated last year because they figured out how to use Lenderborg, Mara and Johnson.  Thats a better plan than using one Big in todays game as we just experienced IMO.

And kept them fresh. Mara and Johnson each played less than 25 mpg. Running Samet and Sherrell out there for 30+ mpg a night is going to be a disaster. You almost have to do it because the drop off is going to be significant. 

[Stuhoo]

23 minutes ago, ronzo4IU said:

Michigan dominated last year because they figured out how to use Lenderborg, Mara and Johnson.  Thats a better plan than using one Big in todays game as we just experienced IMO.

That's because Landenborg was able to guard 1-5 and played some point guard on offense. When you get a very rare 6'10 player like that it opens lots of possibilities. Again; that is a very, very rare player.

[Stuhoo]

12 hours ago, Pryght said:

 

Since it's a highlight reel for a young, untested player I was looking for signs of athleticism.

Nope - didn't see any! 

[Home Jersey]

10 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Since it's a highlight reel for a young, untested player I was looking for signs of athleticism.

Nope - didn't see any! 

An impressive lack of dunks for a 6'11 guy in his highlight reel lol 

[ronzo4IU]

34 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

That's because Landenborg was able to guard 1-5 and played some point guard on offense. When you get a very rare 6'10 player like that it opens lots of possibilities. Again; that is a very, very rare player.

True, but Dusty seems to know how to get those players like Wolfe that have Big10 size/high IQ type players and have enough depth to keep them fresh enough throughout the season and it looks like he will continue that model going forward. 

I think it is short sighted to play one Big in this era of college basketball, especially in the B10. 

It's all about identifying the right players that can work for this system and be competitive in the upper tier of the league.

I really do hope that all those years of experience we now have on staff will be able to navigate this and lock down a roster that we can be confident in.  It's not over yet so maybe we have some hot irons in the fire for quality depth, but that comment Wayne was talking about that Rabby said we were only looking for practice players to round out the roster doesn't inspire confidence.  

 

[Shooter]

1 hour ago, str8baller said:

You need a big in case of fouls or injury but I really doubt anyone that comes in makes the actual rotation. Devries has never played with two bigs before. Splitting Yigi and Sherrel would mean about 20mpg of two bigs together and 20mpg where one of them is the singular big.  
 

You can’t get a quality backup big that doesn’t fit in the rotation and just force them on the floor if there’s an injury. Most coaches will just go small at that point. Even 7’ center addict Matt Painter went small when faced with an injury 2 years ago. It would be really weird for a “small ball/4-out” coach like Devries to not do the same if faced with an injury.  
 

Woody was committed to 80 mins per game of post play and we still ended up with backups like Hatton, Sparks, and Duncomb. I’d expect something like that at best for our last big spot. 

Agree. Yig, Sherrell, and Sisley are likely to eat up nearly all of the 4/5 minutes in an 8-man rotation. We absolutely need another big for depth, but it's only a 0-10 mpg slot we are offering unless someone gets hurt.

Best case scenario is to strike gold on someone like Alexis again. But a Sparks type is probably more likely.

[Shooter]

1 hour ago, ronzo4IU said:

Michigan dominated last year because they figured out how to use Lenderborg, Mara and Johnson.  Thats a better plan than using one Big in todays game as we just experienced IMO.

Lendeborg was a highly skilled wing who happened to be huge. Obviously a game changer, but there aren't many of those guys around in college ball.

Johnson played about half of his minutes alongside Mara, the other half Johnson was the 5. I expect we will deploy Sherrell in a similar fashion. The backup "big" for Michigan was Will Tschetter - Sisley will fill that role for us.

[Home Jersey]

15 minutes ago, ronzo4IU said:

 

I think it is short sighted to play one Big in this era of college basketball, especially in the B10. 

UConn has been in 3 of the last 4 title games and won two of them playing exclusively with one big on the court. More than one way to win

[Stuhoo]

24 minutes ago, Shooter said:

Lendeborg was a highly skilled wing who happened to be huge. Obviously a game changer, but there aren't many of those guys around in college ball.

Johnson played about half of his minutes alongside Mara, the other half Johnson was the 5. I expect we will deploy Sherrell in a similar fashion. The backup "big" for Michigan was Will Tschetter - Sisley will fill that role for us.

So we've already got these roles covered:

• Yigi = Mara
• Sherrell = Morez Johnson
• Sisley = Tschetter
• Ben Winker = Yaxel Landenborg

Winner.

 

[Gnet550]

2 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

An impressive lack of dunks for a 6'11 guy in his highlight reel lol 

I am not going to lie until the one dunk I was thinking can this dude even dunk? lol

[Jeff Flabjohns]

2 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

UConn has been in 3 of the last 4 title games and won two of them playing exclusively with one big on the court. More than one way to win

Karaban was such a perfect fit there. Cheat code. Could hold his own against most 4’s and then destroy them on the offensive end. 
Shame that Tucker wasn’t even a Temu Karaban for us

[go iu bb]

15 hours ago, Pryght said:

 

A minute and a half highlight reel for a player who averaged less than 1 ppg. Must have every basket he made during the season.

[RaceToTheTop]

1 minute ago, go iu bb said:

A minute and a half highlight reel for a player who averaged less than 1 ppg. Must have every basket he made during the season.

The highlights were from when he was in high school.

[str8baller]

3 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

That's because Landenborg was able to guard 1-5 and played some point guard on offense. When you get a very rare 6'10 player like that it opens lots of possibilities. Again; that is a very, very rare player.

You and shooter are correct. Landenborg was a wing—their starting “3”—who could slide down to a 4 when they went small.  
 

They also got lucky when he dropped out of the draft. Had he signed with UM first they would’ve had a lot harder time signing someone like Johnson as his agent would’ve looked at the roster and saw a similar but better player who would take any minutes from Johnson if they were forced to play small. As it is Johnson only played 25mpg but Dusty made it all work and I’m sure Johnson was happy to trade a slightly smaller role for a title. 

[AZ Hoosier]

11 minutes ago, Gnet550 said:

I am not going to lie until the one dunk I was thinking can this dude even dunk? lol

[CSP]

44 minutes ago, Jeff Flabjohns said:

Karaban was such a perfect fit there. Cheat code. Could hold his own against most 4’s and then destroy them on the offensive end. 
Shame that Tucker wasn’t even a Temu Karaban for us

PG, SF, C, and bench were far greater issues than Tucker, though. 

[BA47591]

41 minutes ago, str8baller said:

You and shooter are correct. Landenborg was a wing—their starting “3”—who could slide down to a 4 when they went small.  
 

They also got lucky when he dropped out of the draft. Had he signed with UM first they would’ve had a lot harder time signing someone like Johnson as his agent would’ve looked at the roster and saw a similar but better player who would take any minutes from Johnson if they were forced to play small. As it is Johnson only played 25mpg but Dusty made it all work and I’m sure Johnson was happy to trade a slightly smaller role for a title. 

I'm holding out hope that Momcilovic could be our late draft drop out. 

[Home Jersey]

Pretty clear at this point we aren't adding any players that require a considerable pay day. Every year there are tons of guys from the portal who way outperform their ranking. We are looking for deep value at this stage, not a big name. This is where the staff's scouting / development chops will be tested and where they will earn their keep, or not. 

[HoosierHoopster]

2 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Pretty clear at this point we aren't adding any players that require a considerable pay day. Every year there are tons of guys from the portal who way outperform their ranking. We are looking for deep value at this stage, not a big name. This is where the staff's scouting / development chops will be tested and where they will earn their keep, or not. 

I'd say the staff's scouting and addition of the top 3 portal class (so far) along with the 2026 recruiting class is part of their earning their keep (or not), but agree it's pretty clear they're looking for depth with supporting bench players who may outperform their rankings/perceived portal value. Do hope they add another on-ball player to go with another big or versatile wing, very interested to see how the portal class ultimately shapes up.