@mushroomgod Don't quote me on this because no one knows for sure but a person very well connected with IU's NIL and revenue sharing setup believes IU will spend between $16 to $18 million total (NIL+Rev Share). If that range ends up being accurate, I think the following is possible/doable. Granted, roster construction is not a draft and there will be players emerge over the coming days that are not even considered as possibilities yet. This will probably look stupid in April! Nonetheless, this is an interesting exercise and you did ask so this is what I view as a realistic type of roster:
A high-end point guard would be ideal but I am quite concerned that those guys just won't be available.
1. Barrington Hargress (Colorado) - I don't know if he'll portal but he's an intriguing player. He'd be in demand and IU NEEDS a point guard, $3 million
2. Sayon Keita - international freshman - center - $2 million, high price to pay but again, desperately need a rim protector
3. Stefan Vaaks - Providence - guard/wing - $2.5 million
4. Amari Evans - Tennessee - guard/wing - $1.5 million, not good shooting numbers but high-level defender to pair with Vaaks
5. Adam Olsen - South Alabama - $1.5 million, I'd want a better rebounder but DeVries wants shooting at the 4 and Olsen can stroke it.
6. backup veteran big with rebounding and rim protection - $1.5 million, maybe Owen Freeman from Creighton/Iowa?
7. Prince Alexander-Moody - freshman guard - $500K?
8. Michael Cooper - Wright State - three years left and can play either guard spot - $750K?
9. Backup 4 - ideally this is Sisley and he progresses as a rebounder and defender - $1 million?
10. Wing shooter - could be Nick Dorn - $1 million?
11. Vaughn Karvala - rumored to be getting $750K...seems crazy but you're worth what you can get paid
12. Manhertz - $500K
13. Acimovic - $350K
There is no Lamar Wilkerson on that roster but it would unquestionably be a much better constructed and more talented unit overall and it should be a realistic haul. Price tag of something between $16 and $17 million.
@ams66 Yes, they nearly all have agents. Also, you can very safely assume that Ryan Carr and the coaching staff have a long list of names they are confident will be entering the portal. From that list, they would then decide who they want and who they have a realistic shot at landing. The players that check both of those boxes would then be vetted to make sure they are a good fit and then valuation would get determined. The portal officially opens on April 7 but, much like NBA or NFL free agency, a whole lot of the deals will be done well before that day and will merely become official/public after the 7th. As the saying goes, the portal is always open.
@bigmike Azavier "Stink" Robinson could maybe get attention from IU. I think Ronald Nored gets the Butler job and I think Robinson should stay there but if he entered the portal, I think IU would keep him as a fallback option. Finley Bizjack is certainly the better player right now from that roster, no question. For former Indiana high school guards that have multiple years of eligibility remaining, I prefer Wright State's Michael Cooper (by a pretty decent margin).
My expectations for next season's roster are similar to those of many other posters and those that write about Hoosier basketball. Nothing creative and the low point on the bar needed from portal recruitment.With Matta gone, I was wondering if there might be a few guys on the Butler team that could help IU. One that came to mind is reserve point guard and former Lawrence North Star, Azavier Robinson. Robinson was a four star that had an offer from IU but decided to play for Thad. He averaged 18 minutes per game, 6.1 ppg, 2.5 assists and shot 43.3% on 3 pointers. Pretty decent stats for his first year of college ball.
I have no idea if Robinson has any interest in entering the portal or if the current Indiana staff has any connection to him. I'd like to see a couple Indiana natives on the roster to help with in-state recruiting and he fits the description as a solid 8th or 9th man.
My primary expectation for the portal kombat is Indiana adds 5 players that can start at the Big 10 level and that 2 of those 5 starters are able to win some sort of all conference award (honorable mention, second team all conference, etc.). From the current 10 players that are on the roster only 6 return (the 3 frosh recruits + 3 from this years team). To get to 13, we have the 5 the starters from the portal + 3 incoming frosh + 3 players from last year + 2 quality reserves from the portal. If any less level of talent is added, I expect the Hoosiers to again miss the NCAA Tourney.
Other than possibly Finley Bizjack, I don't see any other player on the Butler roster that could possibly start for a Big 10 team.
When I look back at last season's roster and compare it to the conference teams making the NCAA tournament, I wonder how IU was able to win 9 conference games. The starting point guard played hard but was a relative non-scoring factor. Sam Alexis did what he could as the main big but was better suited as a bench piece. The bench was very weak. Etc., etc, etc. ....
In retrospect, it appears Scott Dolson had a fairly good idea of the current roster capabilities based on his comments to Don Fischer last week. "... I really commend Darian that we were able to put the roster together to at least get us through the season." Good gosh, sounds like the appropriate comment to make after Tom Crean went through his first season.
@tjinman1987 Great thoughts TJ! I love the overall list, but on the macro view, I'd look to switch a couple of the likely main rotation guys that are more "skill" oriented, with more length and physicality. I keep having this recurring thought that DeVries offensive system, combined with a good blend of a couple guys that can stroke it, and a couple guys that are legit paint/rim attackers, would be VERY productive. And then those same paint/rim attackers would improve our defensive efforts as well.
Nice hypothetical list for all to think about within our individual "reality perspectives."@mushroomgod Don't quote me on this because no one knows for sure but a person very well connected with IU's NIL and revenue sharing setup believes IU will spend between $16 to $18 million total (NIL+Rev Share). If that range ends up being accurate, I think the following is possible/doable. Granted, roster construction is not a draft and there will be players emerge over the coming days that are not even considered as possibilities yet. This will probably look stupid in April! Nonetheless, this is an interesting exercise and you did ask so this is what I view as a realistic type of roster:
A high-end point guard would be ideal but I am quite concerned that those guys just won't be available.
1. Barrington Hargress (Colorado) - I don't know if he'll portal but he's an intriguing player. He'd be in demand and IU NEEDS a point guard, $3 million
2. Sayon Keita - international freshman - center - $2 million, high price to pay but again, desperately need a rim protector
3. Stefan Vaaks - Providence - guard/wing - $2.5 million
4. Amari Evans - Tennessee - guard/wing - $1.5 million, not good shooting numbers but high-level defender to pair with Vaaks
5. Adam Olsen - South Alabama - $1.5 million, I'd want a better rebounder but DeVries wants shooting at the 4 and Olsen can stroke it.
6. backup veteran big with rebounding and rim protection - $1.5 million, maybe Owen Freeman from Creighton/Iowa?
7. Prince Alexander-Moody - freshman guard - $500K?
8. Michael Cooper - Wright State - three years left and can play either guard spot - $750K?
9. Backup 4 - ideally this is Sisley and he progresses as a rebounder and defender - $1 million?
10. Wing shooter - could be Nick Dorn - $1 million?
11. Vaughn Karvala - rumored to be getting $750K...seems crazy but you're worth what you can get paid
12. Manhertz - $500K
13. Acimovic - $350K
There is no Lamar Wilkerson on that roster but it would unquestionably be a much better constructed and more talented unit overall and it should be a realistic haul. Price tag of something between $16 and $17 million.
TJ, as the portal this year is so time compressed, would you expect a number a signings to be announced within the first 5 or 6 days?
this is a portal target thread. i come here to read about potential targets and peoples thoughts on those players.
there are plenty of threads where the same few posters are complaining endlessly already in some sort of weird feedback loop.
can we keep this one about portal targets and basketball?
@bigmike I do think things will move pretty darn quickly. I'm not sure how many signings will be "official" in 5 or 6 days but I think you'll see a flood of official visits lined up for the first few weekend of the portal being open and then a bunch of signings becoming official right after that weekend. By April 21 (2 weeks), I would imagine the top-end of most rosters will be set.
This isn't the thread to complain about coaching and team performance. It's about discussing Portal battles and what's happening or might happen. There are other threads to air your grievances with IUBB please keep it there. Going forward those posts will be removed from here to allow the people who want to read the updates, read them more easily.
Thank you for reading Hoosier Huddle
There are 61 D-1 players in the portal as of 11:30 am March 18. The D-2 list is already pushing 500.
@mushroomgod Don't quote me on this because no one knows for sure but a person very well connected with IU's NIL and revenue sharing setup believes IU will spend between $16 to $18 million total (NIL+Rev Share). If that range ends up being accurate, I think the following is possible/doable. Granted, roster construction is not a draft and there will be players emerge over the coming days that are not even considered as possibilities yet. This will probably look stupid in April! Nonetheless, this is an interesting exercise and you did ask so this is what I view as a realistic type of roster:
A high-end point guard would be ideal but I am quite concerned that those guys just won't be available.
1. Barrington Hargress (Colorado) - I don't know if he'll portal but he's an intriguing player. He'd be in demand and IU NEEDS a point guard, $3 million
2. Sayon Keita - international freshman - center - $2 million, high price to pay but again, desperately need a rim protector
3. Stefan Vaaks - Providence - guard/wing - $2.5 million
4. Amari Evans - Tennessee - guard/wing - $1.5 million, not good shooting numbers but high-level defender to pair with Vaaks
5. Adam Olsen - South Alabama - $1.5 million, I'd want a better rebounder but DeVries wants shooting at the 4 and Olsen can stroke it.
6. backup veteran big with rebounding and rim protection - $1.5 million, maybe Owen Freeman from Creighton/Iowa?
7. Prince Alexander-Moody - freshman guard - $500K?
8. Michael Cooper - Wright State - three years left and can play either guard spot - $750K?
9. Backup 4 - ideally this is Sisley and he progresses as a rebounder and defender - $1 million?
10. Wing shooter - could be Nick Dorn - $1 million?
11. Vaughn Karvala - rumored to be getting $750K...seems crazy but you're worth what you can get paid
12. Manhertz - $500K
13. Acimovic - $350K
There is no Lamar Wilkerson on that roster but it would unquestionably be a much better constructed and more talented unit overall and it should be a realistic haul. Price tag of something between $16 and $17 million.
Great stuff. Very interesting.
Without getting into specific names, I agree that we need the best PG and C available, regardless of background. I would call those guys "pure mercenaries". As to the rest of the portal portion of the roster, I'd like to see us get guys with some connection to Indiana, IU, DeVries, the asst coaches or Carr. My reasoning is that I think there are very few coaches, eg a Pitino or Bruce Pearl or, apparently, Dusty May, who have the chops to thrive with a roster or pure mercenaries. Devries talks a lot about 'connection' and is said to be a player coach. He needs to get his 'culture' established and this year's team did very little toward that end. Also, IU fans cared nothing about the individual players on this year's roster, given no common background and the players seemingly not buying in 100% to the program.
I think Dorn is an interesting case. He's hard to read. If he's not 100% bought in, he's not worth $750000-$1M when you consider his D, rebounding, and ball-handling.
What's going on with Freeman at Creighton? Was he hurt? His #s per time played were really good---more blocks than Alexis and way more rebounds. But he only played 12M/game on a mediocre team, and there wasn't a big on the roster who was obviously better. He's always seemed to have a 'different' personality, but if no issues I've love to see him here.
That's positive news if IU has $16 to $18 million to spend for basketball players. Indicates continuing financial commitment to basketball despite all the prior lackluster seasons. With the current staff, Indiana should be able to field a quality roster for 2026-27.
@mushroomgod Don't quote me on this because no one knows for sure but a person very well connected with IU's NIL and revenue sharing setup believes IU will spend between $16 to $18 million total (NIL+Rev Share). If that range ends up being accurate, I think the following is possible/doable. Granted, roster construction is not a draft and there will be players emerge over the coming days that are not even considered as possibilities yet. This will probably look stupid in April! Nonetheless, this is an interesting exercise and you did ask so this is what I view as a realistic type of roster:
A high-end point guard would be ideal but I am quite concerned that those guys just won't be available.
1. Barrington Hargress (Colorado) - I don't know if he'll portal but he's an intriguing player. He'd be in demand and IU NEEDS a point guard, $3 million
2. Sayon Keita - international freshman - center - $2 million, high price to pay but again, desperately need a rim protector
3. Stefan Vaaks - Providence - guard/wing - $2.5 million
4. Amari Evans - Tennessee - guard/wing - $1.5 million, not good shooting numbers but high-level defender to pair with Vaaks
5. Adam Olsen - South Alabama - $1.5 million, I'd want a better rebounder but DeVries wants shooting at the 4 and Olsen can stroke it.
6. backup veteran big with rebounding and rim protection - $1.5 million, maybe Owen Freeman from Creighton/Iowa?
7. Prince Alexander-Moody - freshman guard - $500K?
8. Michael Cooper - Wright State - three years left and can play either guard spot - $750K?
9. Backup 4 - ideally this is Sisley and he progresses as a rebounder and defender - $1 million?
10. Wing shooter - could be Nick Dorn - $1 million?
11. Vaughn Karvala - rumored to be getting $750K...seems crazy but you're worth what you can get paid
12. Manhertz - $500K
13. Acimovic - $350K
There is no Lamar Wilkerson on that roster but it would unquestionably be a much better constructed and more talented unit overall and it should be a realistic haul. Price tag of something between $16 and $17 million.
Evans' rebounding #s are pretty damn good.....what would you think of Elyjah Freemon opposite Vaaks? 3" taller than Evans and not the rebounder but 33% on 3s as a true soph up from D2 with a moderate # of attempts. Started 1/2 the time for a mediocre Auburn team. IU was in his last 3 last year with Auburn & Tennessee. Certainly wouldn't argue with Evans, who looks like a much better Jasai Miles.
Back in January 2025, Owen Freeman as an Iowa Hawkeye outplayed Mackenzie Mgbako. Iowa crushed IU, 85 - 60. Checking the box score, Freeman 16 points to 6 for Mac. Freeman also won the rebounding battle 12 to 6 plus had 4 blocks and 3 steals. For 2024, Freeman and Mgbako were Big 10 Co-Freshmen of the Year,
Watching a game about a month ago it was mentioned by the announcer, Freeman had battled a knee injury for the season which limited his playing time at Creighton. The injury supposedly occurred during a pick-up game.
That's positive news if IU has $16 to $18 million to spend for basketball players. Indicates continuing financial commitment to basketball despite all the prior lackluster seasons. With the current staff, Indiana should be able to field a quality roster for 2026-27.
I guess not super surprising given this is Dolson's boy and Scott does not want to be made to look like a fool after two years. He is going to get the Woodson NIL bump but if next year is not good I doubt his third year will see another big increase.