Sure, many of the guys were 0/1/2* coming out of high school, but I'd argue that, RIGHT NOW, the Hoosiers are loaded with 4/5*.
Cig has many secret sauces, but perhaps the key ingredient is that he recruits people, not just players. High IQ. Disciplined. Team focused. And those guys just dismantled and embarassed a team littered with 5*.
Yeah, Kirk even said that during the game. His was something like, Enough of the talent gap talk. This IU team is loaded with talent.
he said "now" present day these kids are all that. Maybe out of high school they weren't but they are now
There are always gems to be found that are underrated coming out of HS just like there are always 4* & 5* busts.
Having a good eye for talent and identifying those gems is the moneymaker. Think about how Tom Allen was able to bring in guys like McFadden that were relative unknowns. He had so much more failure with seemingly chasing star ratings regardless of how they performed.
Cig’s productivity philosophy on transfers has been very successful
It is hard for many to wrap their mind around that we are doing this without the “blue chip ratio”. I still find myself nervous when playing the bluebloods because of the ill conceived “talent gap”. Cig is reconditioning our way of thinking with every win. This is why I have had to refrain from even questioning who they recruit because what Cig does works and it works well. So, I no longer stress who we pursue at all. Even if Sales doesn’t come I feel good about the team we will put on the field. It was nice to see that Sales put the eyeballs on our victory though. 😆
I fear with our time split between recruiting thes kids and preparing for Oregon, we are at a little disadvantage that we didn't have last year as we lost in first round. Hope not
@hoosiers94 Cig is too organized and efficient to worry about that, because Oregon has to manage it as well. I would say it is more of an unfair advantage for us because Cig is just so good at this. Not to say Lanning isn’t a good coach because he is obviously fantastic, but when it comes to the fine details of planning a schedule I think Cig is not just elite at time management, but a unicorn.
I would imagine that with both the OC and the DC for Oregon leaving to take HC jobs they would be looking out for their new teams this week, which means others will have to work the Oregon portal needs which takes away even more from their prep. Gotta be tough for them.I fear with our time split between recruiting thes kids and preparing for Oregon, we are at a little disadvantage that we didn't have last year as we lost in first round. Hope not
I wonder if Cignetti hasn't moneyballed age and production at lower levels much like Beane et al. discovered undervalued talent with OBP and other sabermetrics. He might also be great at evaluating grit and kids with a chip on their shoulder, but that seems hard to measure.
A 22-23 yr old who has worked his ass off for 4 years in a college weight room, development, experience, etc. who came in as a 2 or 3 star can out-produce a 4-5 star 18-year-old, even if that kid is a hard worker. That 4-5 years at that age translates to a lot more strength and bodies are still filling out. But the stars still matter for talent differential among similar-aged kids coming in, all other things being equal, I think. There's a reason 5-stars end up in the NFL at a much higher rate than lower-rated recruits.
Latest Post: Anyone remember La Bamba restaurant Our newest member: Doug Beder Recent Posts Unread Posts
