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We are cooked!
j/k Ill check back in a week. Getting the feeling with a thousand guys in the portal this may be awhile.
Wang doesnt look like he plays inside a ton, from my extensive 30 seconds of amateur video review.
Little slow, not real athletic, but plays solid. By highlights he loves the 3 and shoots it well.
If coach (and Carr) wants him, good enough.
After the last 20+ years of IU basketball results, I'm over saying/thinking "If _________wants him, that's good enough for me". I'm not going to sugarcoat this. This guy looks like a HORRIBLE addition. He's not particularly tall, does not block shots, does not rebound, hit on 52% of his 2 pt attempts last year, cannot jump, and is slow as hell. And played for a mediocre S.F. team against mediocre competition. He has not gotten significantly better in his 3 years at S.F. We got rid of the Bosnian stiff & Harris for this guy?
Expectations were low for this position, and this has fallen way short of expectations. I can't imagine how they could have done worse. This guy will not be able to play more than a minute of game time against decent competition without having a negative impact on the complexion of the game.
If he becomes a Hoosier we will welcome him into the Hoosier family.Wang doesnt look like he plays inside a ton, from my extensive 30 seconds of amateur video review.
Little slow, not real athletic, but plays solid. By highlights he loves the 3 and shoots it well.
If coach (and Carr) wants him, good enough.
In your description of Wang it sounds like you are describing the Chinese version of Ben Humrichous.
Ben H. is 3x the player this guy is.
Putting beggars can't be choosers aside.
If you are adding a deep off the bench guy, why in the hell wouldn't you take the most athletic, quickest, and defensive minded players you can obtain?
I give no shits if players 11,12,13 can put it in the hole as an emergency option. Your F'd if you need that.
Pushing the top 7/8 to be their best is the only job of these deep bench guys.
Will not be pleased if we finish this roster with three scrubs.
IU blew its wad on the (likely) starting lineup, so I wouldn't expect other significant signings. I don't mind the recruiting strategy; it's certainly better than assembling a crew from mid-majors.
If Wang is the first guy off the bench to sub for Sherrell or Yigitoglu, that's a major problem. He a 6'9" guy that likes to play the perimeter and other than his size lacks any inside presence. Perhaps DeVries and company have additional plans to handle the lack of bigs issue.If he becomes a Hoosier we will welcome him into the Hoosier family.Wang doesnt look like he plays inside a ton, from my extensive 30 seconds of amateur video review.
Little slow, not real athletic, but plays solid. By highlights he loves the 3 and shoots it well.
If coach (and Carr) wants him, good enough.
In your description of Wang it sounds like you are describing the Chinese version of Ben Humrichous.
Ben H. is 3x the player this guy is.
Putting beggars can't be choosers aside.
If you are adding a deep off the bench guy, why in the hell wouldn't you take the most athletic, quickest, and defensive minded players you can obtain?
I give no shits if players 11,12,13 can put it in the hole as an emergency option. Your F'd if you need that.
Pushing the top 7/8 to be their best is the only job of these deep bench guys.
Will not be pleased if we finish this roster with three scrubs.
Yes.....it's a really weird addition. We have 3 legit needs with this roster. If we're short on $$, why not get the best player you can find who fulfills one of those needs. It just looks like a waste of one position on the roster. Hopefully they know what they're doing.
Posts on these forums are 99% opinion, which is exactly what mine was. I don't know how much the players cost or how much NIL IU has at its disposal, but my OPINION is that they spent quite a bit on the portalers given the going rate for such guys. It's a logical assumption.IU blew its wad on the (likely) starting lineup,
And you know this how?
For those who care, don't care or simply want some info ---
Official Prediction: Junjie Wang -> Indiana 🔮 #iubb
— David Lee (@DavidLee__6) April 26, 2026
Not a horrible addition. Hes slow and flat footed but is 6-9 and has good hands and a solid shot.After the last 20+ years of IU basketball results, I'm over saying/thinking "If _________wants him, that's good enough for me". I'm not going to sugarcoat this. This guy looks like a HORRIBLE addition. He's not particularly tall, does not block shots, does not rebound, hit on 52% of his 2 pt attempts last year, cannot jump, and is slow as hell. And played for a mediocre S.F. team against mediocre competition. He has not gotten significantly better in his 3 years at S.F. We got rid of the Bosnian stiff & Harris for this guy?
Expectations were low for this position, and this has fallen way short of expectations. I can't imagine how they could have done worse. This guy will not be able to play more than a minute of game time against decent competition without having a negative impact on the complexion of the game.
Not what I was looking for. But DeVries and Carr and staff are the most professional staff we have had for a long time. Ill go with their vision over yours, or mine.
I could see him picking up a few buckets when we need to spell guys because of fouls. We still need more defense.
,
Posts on these forums are 99% opinion, which is exactly what mine was. I don't know how much the players cost or how much NIL IU has at its disposal, but my OPINION is that they spent quite a bit on the portalers given the going rate for such guys. It's a logical assumption.IU blew its wad on the (likely) starting lineup,
And you know this how?
Words matter and there was nothing in your post that implied it was an opinion over a fact.
IU blew its wad on the (likely) starting lineup - is a statement of fact since there are no qualifiers. No assumption necessary.
And thus I asked how you knew it.
@openwheel As we sit here today, it sure seems like the type of last minute addition that has plagued IU basketball since the mid 90s. When we need athletes, that have an opportunity to improve and help in games, but would certainly help defensively in practices, if nothing else... we get guys like this. This has Priller/Gelon vibes, to me. Those types of guys work as 12th, 13th, men on already established rosters. But IU still needs quality depth. Very wary this guy provides that. He's tall. He can shoot a little bit when open. That doesn't constitute quality depth in the B10. We need athletes.
Hell, Wang's teammate, David Fuchs, would be a MUCH better fit for what we need.
And while I obviously know CDD, and the staff, know more about college bball and what they need, than any of us do on this board. Like Mushroom, I'm getting wary of having to acknowledge that when physical, B10 ready and capable post depth, is a factual, obvious need that through 1.75 portal recruiting cycles...its not obvious CDD and his staff see a ton of importance in it.
They don't have to be 7'... there are tons, and tons of very athletic, very competitive, very active 6-6 to 6-8 athletes, up and down the college basketball divisions, that would fill a better role, for this IU team, than Wang will.
I don't always get stuff right but I wrote that Arkansas was my prediction for Miika Muurinen and that was his pick. It will be VERY interesting to see how that plays out.
On Wang, there have been a whole lot of posts about how terrible of a move this is and how he will be incapable of giving IU even a minute of good play against quality competition. Everyone is welcome to their opinion but I think that is just absurdly hyperbolic. You don't even need to project it...there is actual evidence just last season that he is capable of giving competent contributions: Colorado (+5.9 BPM), Santa Clara (+2.0), Saint Mary's (+5.9 BPM), Santa Clara game two (+17.6). That's five games against decent to good competition that he was a positive player in more than 20 minutes of action. In addition, he shoots 75% from the foul line and could be in a closing free throw shooting lineup instead of Samet Yigitoglu with Sherrell at the 5.
Do I think that Wang is a good player? No. He's not a good player. Do I think he can fill a role of 8-10 minutes per game as an experienced back-up frontcourt option, hit a three-pointer here and there and not completely tank IU when he's on the floor? Yes. That's what the 8th or 9th man (roughly 20% of available minutes) in the rotation is going to be. Don't believe me? Let's look at good (not great but good) teams from this past season and see what their 8th/9th man did:
-Tennessee - Ethan Burg (1.1 BPM in 22.4% of minutes)
-Nebraska - Jared Garcia (-2.5 BPM in 16.5% of minutes)
-Virginia - Devin Tillis (2.1 BPM in 33.6%)
-Louisville - Kohl Rosario (1.5 BPM in 23.9%)
-Wisconsin - Jack Janicki (.4 BPM in 30.2%) or Will Garlock (-.6 in 14.3%)
-Ohio State - Gabe Cupps (-.3 BPM in 29.5%)
You get the point...Wang is not, by any means, perfect but he is not a bad addition for the role he will be expected to play, if he commits (as evidenced by plenty of other examples playing in similar minutes roles).
I don't always get stuff right but I wrote that Arkansas was my prediction for Miika Muurinen and that was his pick. It will be VERY interesting to see how that plays out.
On Wang, there have been a whole lot of posts about how terrible of a move this is and how he will be incapable of giving IU even a minute of good play against quality competition. Everyone is welcome to their opinion but I think that is just absurdly hyperbolic. You don't even need to project it...there is actual evidence just last season that he is capable of giving competent contributions: Colorado (+5.9 BPM), Santa Clara (+2.0), Saint Mary's (+5.9 BPM), Santa Clara game two (+17.6). That's five games against decent to good competition that he was a positive player in more than 20 minutes of action. In addition, he shoots 75% from the foul line and could be in a closing free throw shooting lineup instead of Samet Yigitoglu with Sherrell at the 5.
Do I think that Wang is a good player? No. He's not a good player. Do I think he can fill a role of 8-10 minutes per game as an experienced back-up frontcourt option, hit a three-pointer here and there and not completely tank IU when he's on the floor? Yes. That's what the 8th or 9th man (roughly 20% of available minutes) in the rotation is going to be. Don't believe me? Let's look at good (not great but good) teams from this past season and see what their 8th/9th man did:
-Tennessee - Ethan Burg (1.1 BPM in 22.4% of minutes)
-Nebraska - Jared Garcia (-2.5 BPM in 16.5% of minutes)
-Virginia - Devin Tillis (2.1 BPM in 33.6%)
-Louisville - Kohl Rosario (1.5 BPM in 23.9%)
-Wisconsin - Jack Janicki (.4 BPM in 30.2%) or Will Garlock (-.6 in 14.3%)
-Ohio State - Gabe Cupps (-.3 BPM in 29.5%)
You get the point...Wang is not, by any means, perfect but he is not a bad addition for the role he will be expected to play, if he commits (as evidenced by plenty of other examples playing in similar minutes roles).
Yeah, @iunorth you lost me with the Gelon/Priller vibes when this kid has actually played and played ok for a decent team.