IUBB at Michigan State - Tuesday, 01.13.26 @ 7:00 on NBCSN/Peacock

[str8baller]

31 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Because he is probably a once in a lifetime coach.   From what I’ve read he had to grind his way to being a power 4 coach.  You tell me I don’t follow football like I do college basketball 

I mean I don’t really know. Seems both him and Devries went to the portal heavy. One found guys who could translate over and the other didn’t.  
 

There’s other baseball examples, Dusty May, Kelsey, McCasland all seemed to hit the ground running. Scheyer same, and we can say he was left a loaded team but so was Davis at UNC and he’s been up and down. I guess the counter point would be Todd Golden, but last time I checked he had a couple pieces of his title team on his first squad.  
 

Which brings us back to IU. What exactly are we grinding towards? Seems like we’re going back to the portal for 4-5 starters next year plus 3-4 bench pieces.  I don’t follow recruiting so maybe we have those stud freshman coming in next year? Gotta just get lucky and nail the portal the second time around? Ok…doesn’t really seem like a grind to me though, just a game of Russian roulette every year in the portal. 

[Uspshoosier]

2 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Shaheen Holloway won 7 games last year and they're currently in the top 25 coming off a close loss to UConn. The Jimmy's and the Joe's matter like the X's and O's do. And they're not nearly as well resourced as Indiana

Last year he recruited the name recruits and higher rated kids and it backfired. This year he said he went back to recruiting his type of kid with the chip on their shoulder.    It’s worked out.   That guy can coach 

[Home Jersey]

Cig literally lifted and shifted an established staff and a decent amount of his best players. IMO that is the biggest difference. DDV had some early setbacks in building a staff and some misses in the portal. Gotta see improvement next year. Still hopeful. 

[str8baller]

6 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

Underwood at Illinois when he first got in the B1G stuck with his overplaying defense that worked at the lower level and then got humbled in his first 2 years at Illinois which i think are the 2 of the worst seasons in Illinois basketball history.

Underwood made the tourney at Ok State before he got to Illinois. So his Xs and Os couldn’t have been that bad.
 

It was pre portal and seems he built Illinois the old school way through HS recruiting. But if that’s what we’re doing here then I’m fine with it.

 

I’m skeptical about DDV’s future here if he doesn’t make the tourney until year 3. I’m also skeptical about a guy making the 2nd weekend once in 8 years like Underwood lasting long here.  Seems like it’s a different environment these days, but maybe that’ll work. 

[Home Jersey]

26 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Which brings us back to IU. What exactly are we grinding towards? Seems like we’re going back to the portal for 4-5 starters next year plus 3-4 bench pieces.  I don’t follow recruiting so maybe we have those stud freshman coming in next year? Gotta just get lucky and nail the portal the second time around? Ok…doesn’t really seem like a grind to me though, just a game of Russian roulette every year in the portal. 

We have 2 freshmen committed and neither project to play much their first year IMO. Those with remaining eligibility: Sisley, Dorn, Ristic, Andrej, Miles, Harris, Drake.

That's 9 and we may get another 2026 recruit (Manhertz) bringing us to 10 before any transfers. 

Dorn and Sisley are the only productive players returning from this year's team. Maybe Miles can grow into a 6th man type as a junior. We haven't seen how good or bad this staff is at player development yet. Harris and Drake have been injured most of their time at IU. If either can be serviceable in the back of the rotation, I think that's big for next year's team / this spring portal.

I think we're a lot closer to adding 4-6 players total vs. 7-9. And I think that lets you spend more on the key guys you want to add. We'll just have to see. 

[DChoosier]

30 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

We have 2 freshmen committed and neither project to play much their first year IMO. Those with remaining eligibility: Sisley, Dorn, Ristic, Andrej, Miles, Harris, Drake.

That's 9 and we may get another 2026 recruit (Manhertz) bringing us to 10 before any transfers. 

Dorn and Sisley are the only productive players returning from this year's team. Maybe Miles can grow into a 6th man type as a junior. We haven't seen how good or bad this staff is at player development yet. Harris and Drake have been injured most of their time at IU. If either can be serviceable in the back of the rotation, I think that's big for next year's team / this spring portal.

I think we're a lot closer to adding 4-6 players total vs. 7-9. And I think that lets you spend more on the key guys you want to add. We'll just have to see. 

It sounds as if next years starting five “only” needs a productive PG, SG and 2 frontcourt guys  from the portal.  

[Uspshoosier]

33 minutes ago, str8baller said:

There’s other basketball examples, Dusty May, Kelsey, McCasland all seemed to hit the ground running. Scheyer same,

May was able to bring some of his guys with him and convinced players to stay.  He didn’t do a full blow up.  Dusty might be one of those once in a lifetime coaches.  He followed year 1 up with what’s looking like a better year

kelsey in my opinion took advantage of a historically weak ACC conference (good for him for doing it).  He went 18-2 in the Acc if I’m remembering right and still got an 8 or 9 seed in the tourney.  Played a ton of Acc teams with +100 net and didn’t really beat the tourney quality teams especially any on the road.   Again he took advantage of the schedule laid before him.  McCasland is one of my favorite coaches and was at North Texas.  I never thought he would leave Texas for a coaching job and now that they have a billionaire writing blank checks to the athletic teams he is going to kill it for a while.   Scheyer took over the standard program. I’m guessing anyone could have taken that job and succeeded.   A little different taken over Duke compared to an IU program that doesn’t consecutive winning records in conference play in the last 8 years.   

[ronzo4IU]

6 hours ago, Hoosier987 said:

I’m not ready to write DeVries off in the first 17 games of his tenure. I do think he can turn this program around, however, there were some glaring issues this Staff didn’t address that frankly should’ve been addressed in the portal.

It’s simple. We can’t live rebound the ball. You’re not winning at a consistent level in any conference, let alone the BIG Ten if you don’t have a frontcourt presence. It’s all Amazing and yet concerning that this Staff thought Reed Bailey was an adequate option down low in the Big Ten. Wait till we play Michigan or Purdue.  We’ll get eaten alive on the Boards. IMO, To stand any chance in keeping those game close, we have to be hitting at a greater than 50% clip beyond the arc, maybe even 60%. We also have 5 scholarship players that don’t contribute, either because they’re unplayable or hurt. Sure would have been nice to have gotten a rim protector/ rebounder that could’ve have contributed in lieu of one these guys sitting on the bench. 
 

Lastly, thank God for Coach Cignetti and IUFB. 

 

 

We did: His name is Andrej Acimovic from a far distant land..

[Hovadipo]

59 minutes ago, str8baller said:

I mean I don’t really know. Seems both him and Devries went to the portal heavy. One found guys who could translate over and the other didn’t.  
 

There’s other baseball examples, Dusty May, Kelsey, McCasland all seemed to hit the ground running. Scheyer same, and we can say he was left a loaded team but so was Davis at UNC and he’s been up and down. I guess the counter point would be Todd Golden, but last time I checked he had a couple pieces of his title team on his first squad.  
 

Which brings us back to IU. What exactly are we grinding towards? Seems like we’re going back to the portal for 4-5 starters next year plus 3-4 bench pieces.  I don’t follow recruiting so maybe we have those stud freshman coming in next year? Gotta just get lucky and nail the portal the second time around? Ok…doesn’t really seem like a grind to me though, just a game of Russian roulette every year in the portal. 

I don't really have a dog in the fight, but would like to point out something I've been saying for like a year now. Curt Cignetti is going to get SO many people fired lol.

[ronzo4IU]

This offseason portal haul should tell us a lot about the direction of IU Basketball imo.

[HinnyHoosier]

2 hours ago, Golfman25 said:

At this point an a$$ kicking is and a$$kicking.  Throwing other players out there is a no lose situation.  If they suck, then we still suck.  All we are talking about is degree of suckage.  :) 

I'm talking from the player's perspective. When I'd already have to swing well above my weight class to go out and compete in a normal scenario, it wouldn't get me valuable reps to get trotted out in front of a racous MSU crowd with Izzo's squad in the middle of an absolute tear and have Coen Carr dunk it off my face so hard it looks like I got a 'Wilson' tattoo on my forehead. Not to mention leaving with less confidence than I had when I arrived. A coach puts those kinds of players in when there's an opportunity for some relative success, not when there's an almost guarantee of flat getting embarrassed. Like was mentioned earlier, the coaches know what goes on in practice and if Reed Bailey is getting prime minutes in conference play, the guy behind him is likely nowhere close to being ready to surprise anyone. We don't need to see what's sitting behind him unless Incarnate Word wants a rematch.

[Golfman25]

1 hour ago, str8baller said:

I mean I don’t really know. Seems both him and Devries went to the portal heavy. One found guys who could translate over and the other didn’t.  
 

There’s other baseball examples, Dusty May, Kelsey, McCasland all seemed to hit the ground running. Scheyer same, and we can say he was left a loaded team but so was Davis at UNC and he’s been up and down. I guess the counter point would be Todd Golden, but last time I checked he had a couple pieces of his title team on his first squad.  
 

Which brings us back to IU. What exactly are we grinding towards? Seems like we’re going back to the portal for 4-5 starters next year plus 3-4 bench pieces.  I don’t follow recruiting so maybe we have those stud freshman coming in next year? Gotta just get lucky and nail the portal the second time around? Ok…doesn’t really seem like a grind to me though, just a game of Russian roulette every year in the portal. 

Cig's players execute to perfection.  That makes up for lack of whatever (size, speed, talent) at the college level. CDDV's guys, not so much.  I mean how many chucks and ducks, when we need a basket do we have to tolerate.  Right now CDDV and Cig aren't even on the same planet.  Hopefully CDDV takes some notes.  

[str8baller]

12 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

May was able to bring some of his guys with him and convinced players to stay.  He didn’t do a full blow up.  Dusty might be one of those once in a lifetime coaches.  He followed year 1 up with what’s looking like a better year

kelsey in my opinion took advantage of a historically weak ACC conference (good for him for doing it).  He went 18-2 in the Acc if I’m remembering right and still got an 8 or 9 seed in the tourney.  Played a ton of Acc teams with +100 net and didn’t really beat the tourney quality teams especially any on the road.   Again he took advantage of the schedule laid before him.  McCasland is one of my favorite coaches and was at North Texas.  I never thought he would leave Texas for a coaching job and now that they have a billionaire writing blank checks to the athletic teams he is going to kill it for a while.   Scheyer took over the standard program. I’m guessing anyone could have taken that job and succeeded.   A little different taken over Duke compared to an IU program that doesn’t consecutive winning records in conference play in the last 8 years.   

McCasland was good from the beginning much like May.  I’m not arguing that IU should’ve got him, just that he had no problem finding immediate success.  
 

As far as May bringing his guys over, Devries brought two of his guys over both of whom start.  That seems to be part of the problem though. 
 

And I compared Scheyer, not to IU and Devries, but to Hubert Davis at Duke’s arch rival school. They both took over at about the same time. Davis was left with arguably a more talented roster. One guy is thriving while the other is flirting with the hot seat. One guy is clearly seems to be a better coach than the other.  

Other guys with immediate success (often taking over worse programs than IU) I didn’t even mention include guys like Tommy Lloyd, Otz, and Byington. 
 

The point being this: In the portal era most of these good coaches are finding success early. We’ve identified a couple outliers and that’s fine. We’re gonna hang our hat on that. I just don’t think anyone is going to convince the fanbase at large that in this day and age you need some slow 3-4 yr rebuild to get to the tourney.  Fans can look around and see so many other schools/coaches doing it right away.   
 

Of course, we’re the school that extended Davis and Crean and gave Archie and Woody 4 years. So who knows what our rebuild philosophy is…lol

[Golfman25]

17 minutes ago, HinnyHoosier said:

I'm talking from the player's perspective. When I'd already have to swing well above my weight class to go out and compete in a normal scenario, it wouldn't get me valuable reps to get trotted out in front of a racous MSU crowd with Izzo's squad in the middle of an absolute tear and have Coen Carr dunk it off my face so hard it looks like I got a 'Wilson' tattoo on my forehead. Not to mention leaving with less confidence than I had when I arrived. A coach puts those kinds of players in when there's an opportunity for some relative success, not when there's an almost guarantee of flat getting embarrassed. Like was mentioned earlier, the coaches know what goes on in practice and if Reed Bailey is getting prime minutes in conference play, the guy behind him is likely nowhere close to being ready to surprise anyone. We don't need to see what's sitting behind him unless Incarnate Word wants a rematch.

I suppose, but if he's as bad as some here what to suggest, why waste the uniform.  At some point players need to put their big boy pants on and play.  

[Golfman25]

4 minutes ago, str8baller said:

McCasland was good from the beginning much like May.  I’m not arguing that IU should’ve got him, just that he had no problem finding immediate success.  
 

As far as May bringing his guys over, Devries brought two of his guys over both of whom start.  That seems to be part of the problem though. 
 

And I compared Scheyer, not to IU and Devries, but to Hubert Davis at Duke’s arch rival school. They both took over at about the same time. Davis was left with arguably a more talented roster. One guy is thriving while the other is flirting with the hot seat. One guy is clearly seems to be a better coach than the other.  

Other guys with immediate success (often taking over worse programs than IU) I didn’t even mention include guys like Tommy Lloyd, Otz, and Byington. 
 

The point being this: In the portal era most of these good coaches are finding success early. We’ve identified a couple outliers and that’s fine. We’re gonna hang our hat on that. I just don’t think anyone is going to convince the fanbase at large that in this day and age you need some slow 3-4 yr rebuild to get to the tourney.  Fans can look around and see so many other schools/coaches doing it right away.   
 

Of course, we’re the school that extended Davis and Crean and gave Archie and Woody 4 years. So who knows what our rebuild philosophy is…lol

What CDDv is missing is a clue what to do with a roster with a bad front court.  So far the answer has been take shots from half court.   

[AZ Hoosier]

1 minute ago, Golfman25 said:

I suppose, but if he's as bad as some here what to suggest, why waste the uniform.  At some point players need to put their big boy pants on and play.  

I remember more than one instance of RMK sitting the underperforming "stars" in favor of the bench guys to get the attention of the so called "stars" and to make a point.

Isn't playing some of these guys the very essence of "next man up"? 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

1 hour ago, DChoosier said:

It sounds as if next years starting five “only” needs a productive PG, SG and 2 frontcourt guys  from the portal.  

Exactly.  People act like we are in a better spot. Not by much.  Dorn and Sisley as potential starters. Maybe neither should start yet. Could easily argue we need 5 starters from the portal to be competing at the top.  Crazy.  And who wants to commit to Indiana right now unless we overpay.  I mean, he absolutely has his work cut out for him.  I just don’t see a path tbh.  
 

The path imo is overseas pros and find a great scout who can identify.  That’s the only path I see working. 

[Home Jersey]

26 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

What CDDv is missing is a clue what to do with a roster with a bad front court.  So far the answer has been take shots from half court.   

What would you do differently with this personnel? Got a clue?

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, Home Jersey said:

We have 2 freshmen committed and neither project to play much their first year IMO. Those with remaining eligibility: Sisley, Dorn, Ristic, Andrej, Miles, Harris, Drake.

That's 9 and we may get another 2026 recruit (Manhertz) bringing us to 10 before any transfers. 

Dorn and Sisley are the only productive players returning from this year's team. Maybe Miles can grow into a 6th man type as a junior. We haven't seen how good or bad this staff is at player development yet. Harris and Drake have been injured most of their time at IU. If either can be serviceable in the back of the rotation, I think that's big for next year's team / this spring portal.

I think we're a lot closer to adding 4-6 players total vs. 7-9. And I think that lets you spend more on the key guys you want to add. We'll just have to see. 

You think all those guys stay? Do we want all those guy’s to stay?  
 

Let’s say Sisley has a nice offseason and is a solid starter for us next year. Dorn is a good 6th man type. We need starters and at least two more rotation guys. How many do we get from the group above?    
 

Can you keep ten guys from a team this untalented? I advocated this summer on the “NBA model” of spending most your cash on two or three really good players. But the more you take the better chance you have of hitting on a couple good players.

[Home Jersey]

1 minute ago, str8baller said:

You think all those guys stay? Do we want all those guy’s to stay?  
 

Let’s say Sisley has a nice offseason and is a solid starter for us next year. Dorn is a good 6th man type. We need starters and at least two more rotation guys. How many do we get from the group above?    
 

Can you keep ten guys from a team this untalented? I advocated this summer on the “NBA model” of spending most your cash on two or three really good players. But the more you take the better chance you have of hitting on a couple good players.

I don't really care who fills spots 9-13 tbh. Retaining them on team friendly deals is fine by me, rather a player in their second year of the system at the end of the bench than flipping the whole roster again.

I think Drake is most likely to transfer. I think the Euro kids probably stay. Miles / Harris could also transfer. We haven't seen Harris yet and Miles has shown some potential but fallen out of the rotation. Getting anything out of Harris/Drake/Euros is gravy to me.

A lot depends on how good at developing this staff is, ultimately. We have 6 seniors departing and those with remaining eligibility are not likely to get a big pay increase. 

I'd feel fine about adding a starting backcourt and front court to Sisley, Dorn, Miles. We just need to be able to scout effectively, which is definitely the big question. I think you'll have enough $ to put a competitive roster together. And I think that's more likely this cycle because the staff is all in place from the start now. We shall see.