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BlueDevil

College Bball Thread

By BlueDevil, in Indiana Men's Basketball

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HinnyHoosier    4,353

HinnyHoosier
Posted
43 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

http://www.zagsblog.com/2017/08/22/college-seniors-play-3-3-tourney-final-four-100000/
College seniors will get a chance to play for 100,000 in a 3 on 3 tournament at Final 4


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Interesting. It'll be odd knowing these guys are still in college competing for cash prize even though they've exhausted athletic eligibility. It should make the games pretty competitive though.

 

..... Will this be another chance for bracket pools?! Lol

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colonel06    1,913

colonel06
Posted
This all goes on Crean for even offering a mid tier kid on their HS team. He had a few good weekends in AAU basketball and that's it. Crean fell in love, rest is history.
It was clearly obvious before he even signed that he wasn't B1G material, let alone D1 material. The fact that he thought he should've gotten more PT is a joke. Hell, Crean knew deep down that he had made a mistake of having Grant on the books for the next four years. 
Miller did the right thing by being honest. There's simply no need for him on the roster. I know it's hard to turn down an offer from IU when your other offers are crap compared to us, but at some point he had to at least question himself on whether or not he could do this.
 
Wish him luck in the future, I figured he'd be at Grace College by now anyways, guess he couldn't even find room there. 

I feel sorry for the kid really Actually, as a junior Sasha Stefanovic ( PU scholly fresh)was coming on stronger than Grant! Hammond Times had a Big article about it with his parents comments, etc as most of you know. Did not put IU in a good light for sure reading it.58d1b5978e2b044afe9b06e2a3b6ecb0.jpg


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reconmkd    4,185

reconmkd
Posted
Tragic news from Ball State.  19-year old Zach Hollywood, a forward on its men's bball team was found dead in his off-campus apt.  
http://www.ballstatedaily.com/article/2017/08/rmob5c8bwiaph76

Sad news for sure, may God comfort Zach's family


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ThompsonHoosier    3,413

ThompsonHoosier
Posted
Tragic news from Ball State.  19-year old Zach Hollywood, a forward on its men's bball team was found dead in his off-campus apt.  
http://www.ballstatedaily.com/article/2017/08/rmob5c8bwiaph76

According to Twitter, it has been ruled a suicide. He lost his mom last year. Truly sad news; may he rest in peace.
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reconmkd    4,185

reconmkd
Posted
41 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

https://amp.indystar.com/amp/593186001
Archie Miller article


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Just bought tickets to the Eastern Michigan game for my dads birthday, and possibly going to another game as well. I'm really pumped about the changes this year and this article just adds fuel to the fire. Can't wait for the season to start.:92:

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ALASKA HOOSIER    11,175

ALASKA HOOSIER
Posted
 
 

Harsh Reality: Indiana did not do Grant Gelon wrong, getting cut is part of sports

 

What happened to Grant Gelon sucks, and I’m not sure anyone in their right mind would try to argue otherwise.

A 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Crown Point, Indiana, Gelon accepted a scholarship offer from then-Indiana head coach Tom Crean as a member of the Class of 2016. His commitment was something of a surprise at the time; Gelon was a two-star prospect, according to Rivals, and ranked 402nd in the class, according to 247 Sports. At the time, Gelon reportedly had seven scholarship offers: Central Michigan, UIC, Toledo, Iona, Youngstown State, IUPUI and Western Carolina.

It was a reach for Crean, but it was also a dream come true for an Indiana kid getting a chance to don the cream and crimson.

Which is what made what happened this spring particularly painful.

Crean was fired on March 16th. Indiana hired Archie Miller to replace him on March 27th. Five weeks later, after a handful of workouts with the new coaching staff, Miller called Gelon into his office — the date, according to the Northwest Indiana Times, was May 3rd — and told him that he was being cut. There was not going to be minutes available, the staff said, for a sophomore that played in just 12 games last season, and that finding a place to transfer would be Gelon’s best option.

“I told them I wanted to stay,” Gelon told the Indy Star. “I told them, I’m making my mind up, I’m gonna push hard, show them what I can do, I’m here for a reason. When I said that, it was like, ‘Whoa, slow down.’ They were kind of making that sound like it wasn’t an option.”

That’s because it wasn’t.

Miller was cutting Gelon.

He was not cutting his scholarship, mind you. The Indiana student-athlete bill of rights protects players from losing their tuition due to poor performance on the court or the field. Gelon would still be getting his education paid for if he opted to remain at Indiana, he just wouldn’t be playing for the Hoosiers. Gelon’s departure opened up a scholarship for the Hoosiers that eventually went to Race Thompson, a four-star power forward that reclassified into the Class of 2017 in order to enroll at Indiana this year.

“Coach Miller believes honesty in evaluating talent, while often difficult, is the appropriate measure to take at all times and in the best interest of each player,” a statement released by the Indiana athletic department read. “Grant was made aware that our staff believed his abilities were not of the caliber that would allow him to receive playing time of any kind in the future for the IU program.”

I feel for Gelon here. I really do. Getting cut sucks, and everyone reading this now has probably gone through it at some point in their life. It happens all the time, in every sport, at every age group. Once you get to a level in athletics where you’re playing in more than your hometown rec league, it gets competitive. If you’re not good enough, you don’t make the team. That is how this works. Gelon found that out the hard way.

And frankly, what Miller did is not uncommon. It’s called running a player off, and it happens all the time at every program. Gelon had a bad enough season as a freshman that there is no guarantee that he would have kept his spot on the team had Crean kept his job. Simply put, he is not a Big Ten basketball player. I’d wager that two out of every five transfers at the Division I level are the result of a player transferring out of a school — either because he was forced or because the writing was on the wall — to a lower level, one more in line with his skill-set.

That’s what happened with Gelon. He’s now at State Fair Community College in Missouri, where he’ll spend a year before looking to climb his way back into the Division I ranks, most likely at the low-major level.

And no matter how many interviews that he or his family gives, you won’t find me saying that Indiana handled this the wrong way.

Was Miller callous?

That wouldn’t surprise me. He’s not the type of guy to mince words, and there really is not a good way to sugar-coat, ‘You are not good enough for us.’

But Gelon was not having his scholarship taken away. Indiana was living up to their promise of paying for his education. They did not do him wrong. The staff gave him more than a month to prove himself as a player and, eventually, made the decision he would not be in their plans moving forward.

So he was cut. That opening allowed a four-star power forward to enroll this year.

That’s the harsh reality of life in the Big Ten.

And there’s nothing wrong with the coach of a basketball team doing what Miller and Indiana did.

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MoyeNeeded    3,073

MoyeNeeded
Posted
By Rob DausterAug 22, 2017, 12:07 PM EDT    

Harsh Reality: Indiana did not do Grant Gelon wrong, getting cut is part of sports

  What happened to Grant Gelon sucks, and I’m not sure anyone in their right mind would try to argue otherwise.
A 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Crown Point, Indiana, Gelon accepted a scholarship offer from then-Indiana head coach Tom Crean as a member of the Class of 2016. His commitment was something of a surprise at the time; Gelon was a two-star prospect, according to Rivals, and ranked 402nd in the class, according to 247 Sports. At the time, Gelon reportedly had seven scholarship offers: Central Michigan, UIC, Toledo, Iona, Youngstown State, IUPUI and Western Carolina.
It was a reach for Crean, but it was also a dream come true for an Indiana kid getting a chance to don the cream and crimson.
Which is what made what happened this spring particularly painful.
Crean was fired on March 16th. Indiana hired Archie Miller to replace him on March 27th. Five weeks later, after a handful of workouts with the new coaching staff, Miller called Gelon into his office — the date, according to the Northwest Indiana Times, was May 3rd — and told him that he was being cut. There was not going to be minutes available, the staff said, for a sophomore that played in just 12 games last season, and that finding a place to transfer would be Gelon’s best option.
“I told them I wanted to stay,” Gelon told the Indy Star. “I told them, I’m making my mind up, I’m gonna push hard, show them what I can do, I’m here for a reason. When I said that, it was like, ‘Whoa, slow down.’ They were kind of making that sound like it wasn’t an option.”
That’s because it wasn’t.
Miller was cutting Gelon.
He was not cutting his scholarship, mind you. The Indiana student-athlete bill of rights protects players from losing their tuition due to poor performance on the court or the field. Gelon would still be getting his education paid for if he opted to remain at Indiana, he just wouldn’t be playing for the Hoosiers. Gelon’s departure opened up a scholarship for the Hoosiers that eventually went to Race Thompson, a four-star power forward that reclassified into the Class of 2017 in order to enroll at Indiana this year.
“Coach Miller believes honesty in evaluating talent, while often difficult, is the appropriate measure to take at all times and in the best interest of each player,” a statement released by the Indiana athletic department read. “Grant was made aware that our staff believed his abilities were not of the caliber that would allow him to receive playing time of any kind in the future for the IU program.”
I feel for Gelon here. I really do. Getting cut sucks, and everyone reading this now has probably gone through it at some point in their life. It happens all the time, in every sport, at every age group. Once you get to a level in athletics where you’re playing in more than your hometown rec league, it gets competitive. If you’re not good enough, you don’t make the team. That is how this works. Gelon found that out the hard way.
And frankly, what Miller did is not uncommon. It’s called running a player off, and it happens all the time at every program. Gelon had a bad enough season as a freshman that there is no guarantee that he would have kept his spot on the team had Crean kept his job. Simply put, he is not a Big Ten basketball player. I’d wager that two out of every five transfers at the Division I level are the result of a player transferring out of a school — either because he was forced or because the writing was on the wall — to a lower level, one more in line with his skill-set.
That’s what happened with Gelon. He’s now at State Fair Community College in Missouri, where he’ll spend a year before looking to climb his way back into the Division I ranks, most likely at the low-major level.
And no matter how many interviews that he or his family gives, you won’t find me saying that Indiana handled this the wrong way.
Was Miller callous?
That wouldn’t surprise me. He’s not the type of guy to mince words, and there really is not a good way to sugar-coat, ‘You are not good enough for us.’
But Gelon was not having his scholarship taken away. Indiana was living up to their promise of paying for his education. They did not do him wrong. The staff gave him more than a month to prove himself as a player and, eventually, made the decision he would not be in their plans moving forward.
So he was cut. That opening allowed a four-star power forward to enroll this year.
That’s the harsh reality of life in the Big Ten.
And there’s nothing wrong with the coach of a basketball team doing what Miller and Indiana did.

During this time frame of evaluation it has been reported that Miller and staff reached out to several schools trying to find a landing spot for Gelon. Most were not interested. This includes all divisions of basketball. Of the few that did show interest, they passed on him after speaking with his mother. She apparently had harsh comments towards our program and how her son was treated by the incoming staff even after our staff did the best that they could do in finding a school that could offer him playing time. The word is that Gelon tried to pull the trigger on the transfer first as to make CAM feel pity and keep him on the team and it backfired. All this per Rabjohn.

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VeevlandBrowns    134

VeevlandBrowns
Posted (edited)

@JSHoosier They run a lot of good stuff, and they do it well, good screens, cuts, sending the offense through the high post. Varied.

That matchup zone is really hard to teach, hard for kids to pick up, and hard to execute. Dana Altman was masterful in the tournament.

He's a good, solid coach. Not a Hall of Famer. 

 

Edited by VeevlandBrowns

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VeevlandBrowns    134

VeevlandBrowns
Posted (edited)

Just started reading "Boys Among Men" by Jonathan Abrams on a recommendation from a buddy in Grand Rapids. Great so far...the book starts with Moses Malone and works its way through all aspects of the prep-to-pro period in the 90s and 00s, starting with Kevin Garnett. 

Anyway, I'm up through Tracy McGrady and what's so striking is how EVEN the shoe companies seemed to be during that period, in large part due to Sonny Vaccarro working for Adidas and getting in early with guys like Kobe, McGrady, etc. I don't know what the exact split was in those days among elite players but I'm guessing it was something close to 60/40 or so. Nike had its July camp and Adidas inherited the ABCD camp started by Sonny, and I believe the talent was well distributed between the two. MSU has landed a ton of players from the Mustangs AAU program, which is Adidas affiliated...Jason Richardson, Kelvin Torbert, Paul Davis, Drew Neitzel and a bunch of others. 

Even as recently as a few years ago, Adidas teams had a lot of talent. Up until last year the Mustangs were holding their own with Michigan kids...Appling, Denzel, Derrick Walton, and the bulk of the best 2017 players were with them two seasons ago. I remember seeing Indiana Elite about 6-7 years ago when they had guys like Zeller, Kenny Kaminski, Yogi, etc. in their program. Those days are gone. 

I just took a quick look at the RSCI Top 20 for 2017 and if my math is right, 17 of those kids are playing for Nike teams. UA has 2 and Adidas a whopping 1. Stop the fight, because it's over. The Swoosh won. 

I don't have any particular gripe with Nike and I don't think any of the shoe companies are worth rooting for (or against) but I do worry when any one entity gets a virtual lock on an element of the game. It can't be healthy for anybody. 

Edited by VeevlandBrowns
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