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

[IUHoosier5]

6 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

I think we need to go young and rebuild, not reload.  Lock down the 3 freshman coming in.  Then find a few P5 sophs who don't think their current location is working out.  Add a couple of high character leaders as Jrs/Srs and start establishing something.  If we make the tornuney, great.  If not, lets at least see an arrow pointing up.  

I mostly agree, but you’ve got to make the tournament in year 2 if you’re DeVries. You have got to stop the bleeding. That stat of missing the tournament in 8 of the last 10 years is damning. 
 

If he wants to be here for the long haul, he needs to start the next 10 years 1/1.

[IUCrazy2]

3 hours ago, IUHoosier5 said:

The only player I would be disappointed to see leave is Sisley. I honestly hope most everyone is gone and we do have 8-9 new faces. 

I don't know, weren't there a couple of injured guys who were supposed to be decent but we didn't really get to see at all?  I would rather keep a few more guys if we think we could do something with them and then have more to spend on like 3 or 4 guys as opposed to trying to fill 7 or 8 spots.

[IUHoosier5]

3 minutes ago, IUCrazy2 said:

I don't know, weren't there a couple of injured guys who were supposed to be decent but we didn't really get to see at all?  I would rather keep a few more guys if we think we could do something with them and then have more to spend on like 3 or 4 guys as opposed to trying to fill 7 or 8 spots.

Yes, Harris and Drake. Who knows what you’ve got with them, but if they are supposed to be serviceable then I guess you keep them for bench depth. I strongly feel we need to be recruiting for 4-5 starters.

[IUCrazy2]

18 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

I think we need to go young and rebuild, not reload.  Lock down the 3 freshman coming in.  Then find a few P5 sophs who don't think their current location is working out.  Add a couple of high character leaders as Jrs/Srs and start establishing something.  If we make the tornuney, great.  If not, lets at least see an arrow pointing up.  

Haralson, Bidunga, Singleton.  I would put feelers out. 

For some depth, maybe take a look at Kellen Pickett (Ft. Wayne) and  Michael Cooper (Jeffersonville) at Wright State.  Young guys that could grow into the program but also put up some decent numbers (Cooper in particular, Pickett came on recently) and you could probably get at a discount.

I think you need to shoot high on the starters and then bring in some young guys who are showing flashes that you could maybe grow into the program (and would also be your culture building guys).

[Hoosierfan2017]

28 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

I think we need to go young and rebuild, not reload.  Lock down the 3 freshman coming in.  Then find a few P5 sophs who don't think their current location is working out.  Add a couple of high character leaders as Jrs/Srs and start establishing something.  If we make the tornuney, great.  If not, lets at least see an arrow pointing up.  

This year would’ve been the year to try that. Making the tournament next year is a necessity if Devries wants anything more than a quick exit as head coach. 

[Alford Bailey]

We don’t have the option to go young. We weren’t exactly killing on the recruiting trail. Has to come from the portal.

[IUCrazy2]

1 hour ago, Alford Bailey said:

We don’t have the option to go young. We weren’t exactly killing on the recruiting trail. Has to come from the portal.

You can go young out of the portal though.  You get incoming sophomores and juniors.

[Golfman25]

2 hours ago, IUHoosier5 said:

I mostly agree, but you’ve got to make the tournament in year 2 if you’re DeVries. You have got to stop the bleeding. That stat of missing the tournament in 8 of the last 10 years is damning. 
 

If he wants to be here for the long haul, he needs to start the next 10 years 1/1.

Then make it with a young team.  

Just spitballing here, but wouldn't it be great to make the tourney, maybe win 1 game in the first weekend? Then reload with a few pieces of need, come back the next year and go sweet 16.  Reload again with only a few pcs. and go elite 8 and beyond.  Rather than a constant turnover of the entire roster, living on the bubble every year.    

[Golfman25]

1 hour ago, Alford Bailey said:

We don’t have the option to go young. We weren’t exactly killing on the recruiting trail. Has to come from the portal.

Last year 18 of the "top 50" portal players were So or Jr.  

[Home Jersey]

7 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

Then make it with a young team.  

Just spitballing here, but wouldn't it be great to make the tourney, maybe win 1 game in the first weekend? Then reload with a few pieces of need, come back the next year and go sweet 16.  Reload again with only a few pcs. and go elite 8 and beyond.  Rather than a constant turnover of the entire roster, living on the bubble every year.    

How has nobody figured this out yet? 

[IUHoosier5]

4 hours ago, Golfman25 said:

Then make it with a young team.  

Just spitballing here, but wouldn't it be great to make the tourney, maybe win 1 game in the first weekend? Then reload with a few pieces of need, come back the next year and go sweet 16.  Reload again with only a few pcs. and go elite 8 and beyond.  Rather than a constant turnover of the entire roster, living on the bubble every year.    

Of course it would be great given where we just finished! Start with 2 and then we’re cooking.
 

He’s got to have two guards who can create and score. Then a 3 who can hit it from outside and guard most positions. The 4 can pick and pop and the 5 can scoop up the rest. 

Wilkerson said “get it hot” and with that sort of roster you can see it 

 

Now, can they defend? Serious question  

 

You would think…

 

[hoosierhoo]

16 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I joked about Jackson Sheltad some weeks ago. I’d be happy with that. lol. But he’s from out west, near Oregon I believe.  I’m guessing he stays out west.  
 

As crazy as it sounds, I’d pass on Kwame Evans.  
 

I believe Steinbach goes pro, if not pay him a boatload. 
 

I have heard Bidunga might be available, but I don’t think we have the finances to make that happen. 
 

We are gonna have to overspend.  Hopefully this is understood.  Not proving proof of concept is a real detriment to our mojo going forward.  

Shelstad is from West Linn, OR. Same high school as Peyton Pritchard.

[Uspshoosier]

Some dates to get familiar with for the upcoming transfer portal window 

[Aaron]

To me the most important thing is not getting ‘outbid’ if you have a player you like. I would much rather have 1-2 premium players and a bunch of minimum guys than a bunch of mediocrity.

Last yr if you pay Ryan Conwell his asking price and pair him with DeVries, Wilkerson, Alexis, and a bunch of roster fillers you are probably a tournament team. Much rather that, then spread that same money amongst Conerway, Bailey, Enright, Miles who have flawed games.

It is critical this yr if you have the same 10 million dollars, you give 2 stars 6-7 million and spread the rest out amongst the others. It does no good to have a bunch of mid players at less. Better off to have two 10/10 and a bunch of 3/10 than a lot of 6/10 outside Wilkerson as team did this yr.

 

[Alford Bailey]

Potential for seven scholarship players to return and I think all seven will transfer. Very likely a total rebuild.

[AH1971]

2 hours ago, Aaron said:

To me the most important thing is not getting ‘outbid’ if you have a player you like. I would much rather have 1-2 premium players and a bunch of minimum guys than a bunch of mediocrity.

Last yr if you pay Ryan Conwell his asking price and pair him with DeVries, Wilkerson, Alexis, and a bunch of roster fillers you are probably a tournament team. Much rather that, then spread that same money amongst Conerway, Bailey, Enright, Miles who have flawed games.

It is critical this yr if you have the same 10 million dollars, you give 2 stars 6-7 million and spread the rest out amongst the others. It does no good to have a bunch of mid players at less. Better off to have two 10/10 and a bunch of 3/10 than a lot of 6/10 outside Wilkerson as team did this yr.

 

The hope is that with three incoming freshman + retention of 3-4 current players there’s more money to spread out between less players. We were paying close to or more than 7 figures for our 6th and 7th players last year.

[BGleas]

3 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

The hope is that with three incoming freshman + retention of 3-4 current players there’s more money to spread out between less players. We were paying close to or more than 7 figures for our 6th and 7th players last year.

This is an area you'd hope Carr should be a real asset. 

Not just getting a head start on portal recruiting, but as part of that managing whether we keep guys like Dorn and Miles for example. 

It's now not just whether they can help, but it's also whether we overpaid for them last year. Analyzing what's on the market and what it's costing. 

You of course want some roster continuity, but if we overpaid (just for discussion, not saying we did) role players last year, then maybe you let some of them walk because you can get better role players this year for less. 

It's essentially cap management at the college level. 

[AKHoosier]

2 hours ago, Aaron said:

To me the most important thing is not getting ‘outbid’ if you have a player you like. I would much rather have 1-2 premium players and a bunch of minimum guys than a bunch of mediocrity.

Last yr if you pay Ryan Conwell his asking price and pair him with DeVries, Wilkerson, Alexis, and a bunch of roster fillers you are probably a tournament team. Much rather that, then spread that same money amongst Conerway, Bailey, Enright, Miles who have flawed games.

It is critical this yr if you have the same 10 million dollars, you give 2 stars 6-7 million and spread the rest out amongst the others. It does no good to have a bunch of mid players at less. Better off to have two 10/10 and a bunch of 3/10 than a lot of 6/10 outside Wilkerson as team did this yr.

 

I've definitely become a believer in the strategy of paying big for 2 players, then just let the chips fall where they may with the rest of the roster. 

A rising tide lifts all boats.

I still trust Devries' ability to coach up the players who aren't your top level types, and that he would figure out a way to max out everyone's talents.

Problem this year is we didn't have any top level players. Wilkerson maybe. 

[Unexpectedflash]

For being as terrible as they were last year Notre Dame has some interesting players. Everyone knows Haralson but Brady Koehler is super intriguing as well. 6’10 freshman from Cathedral that shot 38% from 3 but also seems to have a lot of rim protecting potential. Wonder if he’ll enter the portal but feels like the type of big man that would thrive in our system 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

7 minutes ago, AKHoosier said:

I've definitely become a believer in the strategy of paying big for 2 players, then just let the chips fall where they may with the rest of the roster. 

A rising tide lifts all boats.

I still trust Devries' ability to coach up the players who aren't your top level types, and that he would figure out a way to max out everyone's talents.

Problem this year is we didn't have any top level players. Wilkerson maybe. 

Except it should be 3.  A Pg/Combo, Wing/PF, C.

 

Partner that with needs.  Shooting, athleticism, defense.  NBA has been doing this forever.  
 

Run offenses for 3 shot makers.  Eliminate wasted/low percentage players/plays/shots.