IUBB vs North Carolina - Sunday, 10.18.26 @ 5:00 on B1G+ -- EXHIBITION

[str8baller]

6 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Prior performance is only relevant if the situations are similar. 

• Devries is not Woodson or Archie.
• Burton is not Conerway,
• Yigi is not Bailey,
• Sherrell is not Tucker.

and so forth.

We are going to be a success this season. We have size, scheme, depth, athleticism, shooting, and upon first glance no head cases.. 

Burton isn’t Yogi, either. Sherrell isn’t TJD or Zeller. All those guys crapped out around the S16 range. And of course, Devries has never had the non-IU tourney success Archie did nor was he as successful as Woody in their respective first years, although it was close. 
 

This is a bit of a carryover from the football board, but if you look at the college landscape it’s pretty clear dollars are getting a little scarce out there. I worry about the health of the program if these guys aren’t successful. And success is a sliding scale, so what does it mean? What’s he have to do have the AD and donors hand over another top 10-15 budget and not slide some of those dollars to a football program that’s competing for national championships? I really have no idea what that answer is, although I’d really like to. 
 

 

[Stuhoo]

8 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Burton isn’t Yogi, either. Sherrell isn’t TJD or Zeller. All those guys crapped out around the S16 range. And of course, Devries has never had the non-IU tourney success Archie did nor was he as successful as Woody in their respective first years, although it was close. 
 

This is a bit of a carryover from the football board, but if you look at the college landscape it’s pretty clear dollars are getting a little scarce out there. I worry about the health of the program if these guys aren’t successful. And success is a sliding scale, so what does it mean? What’s he have to do have the AD and donors hand over another top 10-15 budget and not slide some of those dollars to a football program that’s competing for national championships? I really have no idea what that answer is, although I’d really like to. 
 

 

Not my favorite take of yours.

If you put Zeller, a junior/senior Yogi, and a junior/senior TJD on the same team they would have been extremely likely to get well past the Sweet 16. And fwiw, Sweet 16 would be a damn fine season for IU this year. as for Devries, trying to diminish this year’s potential by comparing Devries to Archie and Woodson is not helpful at all.

I’m not saying this team is a national title contender. I’m saying that its pieces and coaching appear to be much, much better than IU has had since TJD’s senior team was a 4 seed.

[OGIUAndy]

10 hours ago, 68Hoosier said:

Listened to the game on the radio.  Still won't spring from the B10+.  

Sounded like we played well.  Was encouraged with the rebounding effort.  Does anyone know how good UNC is supposed to be this year.   

I thought the same, then found a coupon code for 50% off for a year. End up being under $50. Emily26 if anyone is interested.

[HoosierHoopster]

Watcher the first half on YouTube. We look a lot - a lot - better. Some heat check 3’s and early misses for sure and Sherrill’s integration more a stretch 4-5 early but spread the floor well which is clearly an objective and love some of the drives, the defensive effort, and ability to drill the 3. This team is going to keep developing and already plays pretty smoothly together- looking forward to noncon and the season 

[str8baller]

57 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

If you put Zeller, a junior/senior Yogi, and a junior/senior TJD on the same team they would have been extremely likely to get well past the Sweet 16.

In what world is any of that remotely close to what we have on the floor?  We’d be lucky if one of Burton (whom I’m a fan of) or Sherril even comes close to those comps. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, btw. We’re not getting all 3 though. 
 

I’m not sure how I could “diminish this year’s potential” even if I wanted to. Devries results are his results. He’s responsible for both potential and reaching it, not me.
 

As for actual expectations—the crux of my post—I’m not sure about S16 being a “damn fine season.” Seems closer to “meets expectations” with the roster spend, and it would probably guarantee another big salary pool next year. Although I’d agree anything beyond that is probably icing on the cake. Of course, finishing high in conference, winning the BTT, beating the crap out of UK, etc… would all factor in. 

[Stuhoo]

41 minutes ago, str8baller said:

In what world is any of that remotely close to what we have on the floor?  We’d be lucky if one of Burton (whom I’m a fan of) or Sherril even comes close to those comps. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, btw. We’re not getting all 3 though. 
 

I’m not sure how I could “diminish this year’s potential” even if I wanted to. Devries results are his results. He’s responsible for both potential and reaching it, not me.
 

As for actual expectations—the crux of my post—I’m not sure about S16 being a “damn fine season.” Seems closer to “meets expectations” with the roster spend, and it would probably guarantee another big salary pool next year. Although I’d agree anything beyond that is probably icing on the cake. Of course, finishing high in conference, winning the BTT, beating the crap out of UK, etc… would all factor in. 

Given the past decade of IUBB, for me a Sweet 16 would be a hugely enjoyable revelation.

[HoosierHoopster]

33 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Given the past decade of IUBB, for me Sweet 16 would be a hugely enjoyable revelation.

Absolutely, and not even considering that March Madness is always, as a one and done tourney that no one can predict because, hello, it’s March Madness, not a good measuring stick on a one year basis anyway. SW 16 would be - hopefully is - a strong return statement - would love to see that. But the conference season is the better barometer.

[jermhoosierfan]

12 hours ago, HoosierHoopster said:

Absolutely, and not even considering that March Madness is always, as a one and done tourney that no one can predict because, hello, it’s March Madness, not a good measuring stick on a one year basis anyway. SW 16 would be - hopefully is - a strong return statement - would love to see that. But the conference season is the better barometer.

Getting to the S16 would be Chef's Kiss, but getting to the semis of the B1G tourney would make me happy.  The B1G tourney would be the measuring stick I would prefer to use, but I understand that March Madness is what most all of HoosierNation will be using seeing we haven't been in it much which is just stupid ridiculous.  

[HoosierHoopster]

1 hour ago, jermhoosierfan said:

Getting to the S16 would be Chef's Kiss, but getting to the semis of the B1G tourney would make me happy.  The B1G tourney would be the measuring stick I would prefer to use, but I understand that March Madness is what most all of HoosierNation will be using seeing we haven't been in it much which is just stupid ridiculous.  

Yeah for me it’s regular season conference play / record - but yes it sure would be nice to get the monkey that is the B1G tourney off our back, sad that we have such a poor BiG tourney record, no reason now, assuming health, we can’t change that 

[DChoosier]

14 hours ago, str8baller said:

In what world is any of that remotely close to what we have on the floor?  We’d be lucky if one of Burton (whom I’m a fan of) or Sherril even comes close to those comps. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, btw. We’re not getting all 3 though. 
 

I’m not sure how I could “diminish this year’s potential” even if I wanted to. Devries results are his results. He’s responsible for both potential and reaching it, not me.
 

As for actual expectations—the crux of my post—I’m not sure about S16 being a “damn fine season.” Seems closer to “meets expectations” with the roster spend, and it would probably guarantee another big salary pool next year. Although I’d agree anything beyond that is probably icing on the cake. Of course, finishing high in conference, winning the BTT, beating the crap out of UK, etc… would all factor in. 

I’m on the side of thinking a sweet 16 team “being a fine season”.

Have my IU basketball expectations eroded over the years? Yes!

Sweet 16 would be a GREAT step for a program that has only been to the tourney 3/10 past seasons, has finished 9th or 10th in the Big Ten 7/10 seasons (!!!), has a 5 game losing streak to Nebraska and an unfathomable 7 game losing streak to Northwestern. 

Do we have a large roster spend? Yes we do but so do a lot of other teams. Beyond the sweet 16 would obviously be very exciting but I’d still call a sweet 16 a fine season. Hell, even hearing our name being called on selection Sunday will be fun.

[jermhoosierfan]

1 hour ago, DChoosier said:

Hell, even hearing our name being called on selection Sunday will be fun.

This is the sad state of the program in the last 10 years.  Sigh

[Stuhoo]

2 hours ago, jermhoosierfan said:

This is the sad state of the program in the last 10 years.  Sigh

Absolutely the case. So let's make it a happier situation starting now:

• Make the touranment safely
• Go above .500 in conference games
• Have a few 'marquee' wins
• Make it past the round of 32

That would be the best year we've had in a decade. I think we have the roster pieces to do that, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Prognosticators clearly aren't always right, but their predictions reflect a baseline for reasonable expectations. Those prognostocators have us pegged as about the ninth best team in the B1G, so my hopes are a bit on the optimistic side. However, after seeing us dog walk a UNC team that had just destroyed a top 15 USC team I am feeling irrationally optimistic.

[GloryDays]

On 10/18/2026 at 6:12 PM, WayneFleekHoosier said:

He’s been really impactful in this game.  He’s going to help us a ton.  And having Alexis to back him up is ideal.  

 Yeah,not a great phrasing with my original post but I do think there will be games where we have to go small because of foul trouble and its nice to have that flexibility with this roster . 

 I was frustrated with the quick fouls and know that was a problem for him in the past.The rebounding alone is a major upgrade.

[Demo]

Good for these guys. And this needs to become a completely unremarkable thing again.

[Home Jersey]

Just now, Demo said:

Good for these guys. And this needs to become a completely unremarkable thing again.

Saw a hilarious tweet where Rabby erroneously said JBJ was at the game. Nope, just a vaguely similar looking, but much pudgier, middle aged dude. 

[go iu bb]

Just now, Home Jersey said:

Saw a hilarious tweet where Rabby erroneously said JBJ was at the game. Nope, just a vaguely similar looking, but much pudgier, middle aged dude. 

Tbf, the Assembly Hall crew claimed it was him on the scoreboard, as well. I'm not sure if Rabby was going by that or if he just made the same mistake.

[LIHoosier]

Maybe they were doing the look alike thing during the media break (shrug).

[str8baller]

8 hours ago, DChoosier said:

Do we have a large roster spend? Yes we do but so do a lot of other teams.

And almost all of those teams have made the S16 or better in the NIL era (or canned their coach). Thus, me saying that would be good expectation to have. We could, of course, have a good season and get upset in the first round or something and nobody would be too mad if we won the BTT instead.  
 

We can quibble about the semantics of if “fine” is really that far apart from “meets expectations.” But I think I’ll depart the ship on just making a 72 team tournament as enough. We technically did that last year except the number was 68 instead of 72, and people sure seemed frustrated. We ought to be better in year 2 than year 1. 

[Pryght]

On 10/18/2026 at 6:53 PM, Home Jersey said:

In no way trying to take away from the performance tonight, but I don't believe UNC prepared a scout / game plan like IU did (could be mistaken, but DDV clearly stated we would after Butler and I've seen no comments from Malone anywhere about doing similar). 

Hard not to come away happy with what we're seeing tonight. 

In Malone's postgame, he confirmed that UNC prepared a scout.  Bodes well for IU.

[Demo]

3 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

Saw a hilarious tweet where Rabby erroneously said JBJ was at the game. Nope, just a vaguely similar looking, but much pudgier, middle aged dude. 

JBJ enjoying it a bit.