I agree with your assessment of DD. We got to hope he can turn this around as he's the coach for the immediate future. IU spent some major bucks to sign him: $6 million plus for the West Virginia buyout, a contract valued at $27 million over 6 years, plus a number of incentives that can add to the compensation. The man is being paid in the top 20 of all collegiate basketball coaches so the administration and fans should expect to see a much better product on the court. The Woodson compensation irked me as he was far overpaid for the returns produced.@hoosiers94 I was numb w the hire. Did t know enough about him, and to me, winning at Drake was similar to winning at Dayton, only he started it. His teams looked tough at WV, as I watched them beat some good teams. Overall, I liked him bc he is normal compared to the last couple guys. I still hold out some hope he will be good here, but the results as the season wore on concern me
like I said, if next yr is similar and IU is sweating to ncaa, I’ll be fully on board w cutting ties
This is not exactly portal related but it could have a huge impact on how the roster looks for the upcoming couple of seasons. Top 30 2026 prospect Quentin Coleman was released from his NLI with Wake Forest and is on the market. IU is a factor in his recruitment now and the new contenders appear to be Illinois, Texas Tech, Kansas and IU. Texas Tech already has a couple of guys that could block his path to playing time and Kansas has questions surrounding Bill Self's future. He's from the St. Louis area so it'll be tough to beat Illinois or Kansas but IU's staff does have connections in the area and they are giving it a shot.
Coleman is known as a high-level shooter with a really good competitive motor.
@tjinman1987 Lamar's year should keep IU in this recruitment, if not sway him to IU. If he's a main rotation level guy, this would be a huge get, because he'll be "cheaper" than a similar level portal player would be.
I think the BTT path we now have is very interesting, and worth watching. But I have to admit, after the last couple weeks, getting it all over with and moving on to the portal might be the best, and most interesting thing that could happen.
(Channeling Rounders) Pay hyim. Pay thyat man, hees money.Coleman is known as a high-level shooter with a really good competitive motor.
@tjinman1987 Lamar's year should keep IU in this recruitment, if not sway him to IU. If he's a main rotation level guy, this would be a huge get, because he'll be "cheaper" than a similar level portal player would be.
I think the BTT path we now have is very interesting, and worth watching. But I have to admit, after the last couple weeks, getting it all over with and moving on to the portal might be the best, and most interesting thing that could happen.
What about getting our ass kicked a 2nd time by Purdue, if we are so fortunate as to get by Northwestern, is very interesting and worth watching?
Purdue could be interesting, they are on a slide (1-3 since beating us, only win was Northwestern and only by 4). We beat them once, so I'd watch again.
I’d like to get 19 wins. Woodson never won fewer than 19.
@mushroomgod No lose situation... Purdue should beat us, who cares if they do? And if they do, on to the offseason, get a head start on the portal. But if we beat them. Not only does it bring in to play lots of laughing and pointing, it also defribs our dead NCAA hearts, and produces a faint heartbeat. And then sets up what I would say would be a winnable game against Nebraska... The odds of winning 3 in a row, with how we've looked, are very, very low. But it is an interesting path. Its basically the ONLY path I could have seen that would have given us any sort of chance to do it. And it includes a chance to beat Purdue. So, its interesting.
New excuse for next year: We squeaked into the tournament, and didn't get a head start in the portal! 🤣
I just hope we win ONE game. Ready to let the staff go recruiting...
But it would be truly embarrassing to lose our opening game. We're a step up from rock bottom if we at least win that one.
Not to be a pessimist. In theory we could beat Purdue on a neutral court. But... Not feelin' it.
For those that celebrate Championship Week, a player to watch tonight: Michael Cooper of Wright State. He's a 6'3" combo guard that played at Jeffersonville (with Tre Singleton, won a state title). He's only at Wright State because he was a late bloomer that was injured for a big part of the year. I think he's a smooth athlete and he had 25 in their semifinal win. He plays in the Horizon League Championship Game this evening (I think at 7:00).
I really like that he has three years remaining and he has the height and length to be able to play guard in the Big Ten. His advanced metrics are good on offense, particularly for a freshman. He has a low turnover rate and making 37.2% from 3 on 121 attempts (while missing a handful of games) as a freshman is very promising. Against the better opponents they played, he had 17 against Cal with an 8.6 BPM, 15 against a talented Toledo team, 12 against Butler, 21 against Miami (OH) with a +10.5 BPM. He should not be IU's lead guard next season, under any circumstances, but as a 3rd or 4th guard? I think it makes a lot of sense.
injured for a big part of the year
Big red flag for me. Better make very sure he's fully healed. Would be nice to have a team for once that didn't have a lauded recruit either sick or injured for the whole season.
@ams66 That was in high school...he's played all season (minus 4 games for an unrelated issue) as a freshman at Wright State.
In the March 10 The Daily Hoosier, Mike Schumann wrote about "recruiting happenings" taking place prior to the official opening dates of transfer portals. He cited IU football as an example of portal management. The football portal opened on January 2 and by January 5, Indiana had 8 player commitments. Portal recruitment was completed by IU football on January 14.
DeVries was hired last year on March 18 and the basketball portal opened March 24. Schumann writes that DeVries walked "into a transfer portal cycle that was largely already over." He goes on to list a number of initial challenges faced by DeVries: one assistant to help, Tucker the lone transfer, moving the family, dealing with the media, etc. etc.
In a few weeks we'll get to see if IU basketball can move aggressively at the opening bell of the portal. Last years excuse will no longer cut it.