2026-27 Roster/Portal/how to fix the roster?

[cbp4iu]

6 minutes ago, Shooter said:

Three guys I think could be viable role players on next year's team: Sisley, Dorn, Moody.

Otherwise, need the bulk of our rotation to come from the portal again, including 2-3 studs. Easier said than done.

Need 3 studs and 3 really good players. I think we bring in 8 this offseason. 

[Alford Bailey]

I don’t think we can even count on Sisley and Dorn coming back. Not sure either are worth losing sleep over if they move on.

[AH1971]

7 minutes ago, Alford Bailey said:

I don’t think we can even count on Sisley and Dorn coming back. Not sure either are worth losing sleep over if they move on.

You need roster retention. Can’t go out and buy 11-12 new players and rely on freshman every single season. Dorn and Sisley are absolutely pieces you need to keep. How much they play and what kind of role they take on largely depends  on their development, especially in Sisley’s case, but you don’t want to get in the habit of throwing 12-13 new faces together every single year. You need some level of continuity.

[cbp4iu]

5 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

You need roster retention. Can’t go out and buy 11-12 new players and rely on freshman every single season. Dorn and Sisley are absolutely pieces you need to keep. How much they play and what kind of role they take on largely depends  on their development, especially in Sisley’s case, but you don’t want to get in the habit of throwing 12-13 new faces together every single year. You need some level of continuity.

No we don’t need to go out and buy 11/12 new players but what we need is probably 7/8 players that are either A.) elite right away or B.) can be around a couple years and help for the future. We need some kind of plan either way. What I don’t want is 7/8 more guys from the portal that are all seniors again. 

[skhoosier2]

23 minutes ago, Alford Bailey said:

I don’t think we can even count on Sisley and Dorn coming back. Not sure either are worth losing sleep over if they move on.

Sisley is also important for in state recruiting. It is not a good look to other Indiana kids that Sisley gets next to no playing time and then leaves the next year. Especially after staying committed through the coaching change. 
I agree we cannot buy a whole new roster each year. Continuity is important. It’s important for portal guys coming in to have some idea who will be here. It’s important when hosting portal guys we have someone that can sell the program as well. Lastly, it’s important the staff show they can develop young players. Still need to have a few hs players each year and developing them to help the team in later years will only continue to draw other guys in. 

[AH1971]

3 minutes ago, cbp4iu said:

No we don’t need to go out and buy 11/12 new players but what we need is probably 7/8 players that are either A.) elite right away or B.) can be around a couple years and help for the future. We need some kind of plan either way. What I don’t want is 7/8 more guys from the portal that are all seniors again. 

You’re not going to get 7/8 elite players in the portal. No team is. You recruit your future and supplement your needs in the portal. Next years team needs 2 stud guards, 2 athletic bigs who can defend B10 caliber players, and a depth piece or two. 

[cbp4iu]

8 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

You’re not going to get 7/8 elite players in the portal. No team is. You recruit your future and supplement your needs in the portal. Next years team needs 2 stud guards, 2 athletic bigs who can defend B10 caliber players, and a depth piece or two. 

No I misspoke. I mean 7/8 big 10 level players that are good enough to play at this level. 3 of the 7/8 being around great level

[fwgreenway]

I would expect this staff believes they need continuity also. So the 3 frosh and the retention of 3-4 players of this yrs team will make up 6-7 guys and to be competitive the staff will need 6-7 portal players. Those portal players will absolutely have to be difference makers to be able to contend in the BIG. Coach & Carr know what they'll need going forward. I'm hoping they can find a combination of seniors, juniors and sophomores in order to develop more continuity into years 3 & 4.

[AH1971]

12 minutes ago, fwgreenway said:

I would expect this staff believes they need continuity also. So the 3 frosh and the retention of 3-4 players of this yrs team will make up 6-7 guys and to be competitive the staff will need 6-7 portal players. Those portal players will absolutely have to be difference makers to be able to contend in the BIG. Coach & Carr know what they'll need going forward. I'm hoping they can find a combination of seniors, juniors and sophomores in order to develop more continuity into years 3 & 4.

Anywhere from 5-7 in portal seems apt. Need to find an all-conference caliber player like Wilkerson and then two other high level starters, preferably a PG and C. 

[str8baller]

After thinking it over, my guess is we’re closer to completely starting over next year than we are to adding just 5 players. Even if we add 4 quality starters to Dorn we still need a backup big, so that’s 5 right there. 
 

That leaves us with essentially the same bench as this year minus Bailey but plus the freshman. The truth is our starters haven’t been that bad this year. But our bench has been one of the worst in the league, maybe the worst. We got 0 points from them again yesterday and we routinely play starters 37-40 min trying to avoid our bench guys. 
 

So if we only add 5 starters next year, we’re returning one of the worst benches in the league hoping that 1) the freshman can meaningfully contribute, or 2) the guys we have can develop. Either way that’s a gamble.  
 

Adding 7-8 guys plus the 3 freshman means that we lose some out of the Sisley/Miles/Dorn group or we basically clear out all the redshirt guys who were supposedly being developed this year.  And if we’re not adding that many guys we seriously risk derailing next years team with an awful bench like we did to this years team.  
 

Portal season can’t get here soon enough. 

[Tasmanian Devil]

12 hours ago, AH1971 said:

You need roster retention. Can’t go out and buy 11-12 new players and rely on freshman every single season. Dorn and Sisley are absolutely pieces you need to keep. How much they play and what kind of role they take on largely depends  on their development, especially in Sisley’s case, but you don’t want to get in the habit of throwing 12-13 new faces together every single year. You need some level of continuity.

Thoroughly agree. Having a new roster turnover every year caught up to Calipari at UK; big reason why he’s in the Ozarks now.

[AH1971]

36 minutes ago, str8baller said:

After thinking it over, my guess is we’re closer to completely starting over next year than we are to adding just 5 players. Even if we add 4 quality starters to Dorn we still need a backup big, so that’s 5 right there. 
 

That leaves us with essentially the same bench as this year minus Bailey but plus the freshman. The truth is our starters haven’t been that bad this year. But our bench has been one of the worst in the league, maybe the worst. We got 0 points from them again yesterday and we routinely play starters 37-40 min trying to avoid our bench guys. 
 

So if we only add 5 starters next year, we’re returning one of the worst benches in the league hoping that 1) the freshman can meaningfully contribute, or 2) the guys we have can develop. Either way that’s a gamble.  
 

Adding 7-8 guys plus the 3 freshman means that we lose some out of the Sisley/Miles/Dorn group or we basically clear out all the redshirt guys who were supposedly being developed this year.  And if we’re not adding that many guys we seriously risk derailing next years team with an awful bench like we did to this years team.  
 

Portal season can’t get here soon enough. 

Disagree. Get three high level starters in the portal, one of them being an all-conference caliber player, and there's enough leftover between Sisley, Dorn, Miles and the three freshman to form a complimentary rotation. 

[Hoosier987]

16 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

Disagree. Get three high level starters in the portal, one of them being an all-conference caliber player, and there's enough leftover between Sisley, Dorn, Miles and the three freshman to form a complimentary rotation. 

My opinion, is if there's anybody to keep from this year's team, it's those 3...however, they should not be counted on as major contributors. If they are, then I think we're in for another long season. We know what Dorn and Miles are. They're both upper classmen plus I don't think a light switch is going to turn on in the off season and they all of a sudden become high end Big Ten players. I think they've reached their peak in terms of development. Outside of a 4 game run, Dorn has provided very little, he quite literally disappears on the court, and Miles seems to be a person that can offer some energy, but that's about it. They should be back end rotation players that come in and play 8-10 min a game to spell the major contributors. Sisley is still up in the air. I think he can be good, but the lack of playing time (and in some cases zero minutes) is confusing. 

[ronzo4IU]

There is also the completely unknowns in Harris and Drake.  Once healthy, they could be very good pieces moving forward.

[AH1971]

2 minutes ago, Hoosier987 said:

My opinion, is if there's anybody to keep from this year's team, it's those 3...however, they should not be counted on as major contributors. If they are, then I think we're in for another long season. We know what Dorn and Miles are. They're both upper classmen plus I don't think a light switch is going to turn on in the off season and they all of a sudden become high end Big Ten players. I think they've reached their peak in terms of development. Outside of a 4 game run, Dorn has provided very little, he quite literally disappears on the court, and Miles seems to be a person that can offer some energy, but that's about it. They should be back end rotation players that come in and play 8-10 min a game to spell the major contributors. Sisley is still up in the air. I think he can be good, but the lack of playing time (and in some cases zero minutes) is confusing. 

I think Dorn could be a highly effective 3 and D guy with the right personnel around him. Pair him with 2 elite guards and a big that is a threat to score and the floor is spaced that much more. I have no qualms with him being the 3rd guard next year under those conditions. But those conditions need to be met for him to play a large role, otherwise he's fine being that 7th/8th man off the bench. I think Sisley has all the physical tools to be good in this league, he just needs confidence. Way too early to give up on him. 

[str8baller]

17 minutes ago, ronzo4IU said:

There is also the completely unknowns in Harris and Drake.  Once healthy, they could be very good pieces moving forward.

They could be. Or they could be unplayable. 
 

At first I was in the more conservative “need 4 good starters camp.” But the more I think about our bench the more I think its by far the worst part of our current roster. I think coach would agree because he rarely uses them, instead preferring to push our starters to the brink.  We played 3 bench guys 34 min Saturday compared to 57min for MSU.  You have to go back to early conference play to find games where we were playing our bench as much or more than the opponent, and some of that was because Baikey went to the bench but was still playing ~20mpg.  
 

You could build a good starting five and completely kneecap them by bringing back the current bench squad if they don’t drastically improve. 

[Stuhoo]

1 minute ago, str8baller said:

They could be. Or they could be unplayable. 

I find it curious that with three or four games left, Drake and Harris are still listed as "out" for each game but not "out for the season," whereas a perma-injured Rayford is "out for the season."

[Home Jersey]

14 minutes ago, str8baller said:

They could be. Or they could be unplayable. 
 

At first I was in the more conservative “need 4 good starters camp.” But the more I think about our bench the more I think its by far the worst part of our current roster. I think coach would agree because he rarely uses them, instead preferring to push our starters to the brink.  We played 3 bench guys 34 min Saturday compared to 57min for MSU.  You have to go back to early conference play to find games where we were playing our bench as much or more than the opponent, and some of that was because Baikey went to the bench but was still playing ~20mpg.  
 

You could build a good starting five and completely kneecap them by bringing back the current bench squad if they don’t drastically improve. 

Carr definitely has his work cut out for him.

Strictly by the numbers, we have room for 3 portal additions right now with 6 departing seniors and 3 freshmen coming in. Adding 5 in the portal means we need 2 transfers (Ristic/Andrej/Drake/Harris likely candidates IMO). 

If all 4 of them transfer and we try to add 7, the budget becomes more of a factor and you've really got to identify and hit on some real good value guys.

Curious how aggressively we move with portal additions or potential staff changes. 

[ronzo4IU]

17 minutes ago, str8baller said:

They could be. Or they could be unplayable. 
 

At first I was in the more conservative “need 4 good starters camp.” But the more I think about our bench the more I think its by far the worst part of our current roster. I think coach would agree because he rarely uses them, instead preferring to push our starters to the brink.  We played 3 bench guys 34 min Saturday compared to 57min for MSU.  You have to go back to early conference play to find games where we were playing our bench as much or more than the opponent, and some of that was because Baikey went to the bench but was still playing ~20mpg.  
 

You could build a good starting five and completely kneecap them by bringing back the current bench squad if they don’t drastically improve. 

I agree, and hopefully with the added assessment from Carr, they can figure out who to keep and who to let go.  All we have on those two are old highlight reels.  Don't know if they have been practicing or what.  I'm guessing both will def get a redshirt.

[Alford Bailey]

Sisley may come back due to local ties but you don’t see guys like him get relegated to the bench and stay in a program anymore. Dorn is more likely here next year but who knows. Can’t count on them in the nil era.