Names of guys, with eligibility, on teams that lost yesterday, that were impressive:
Francis Folefac, Freshman, Sienna... 6-7, active, was productive overall against Dukes bigger athletes
Gavin Doty, Sophomore, Sienna... 6-5, high volume shooter/scorer. Averaged 18 and 7, impressive for a guard/wing.
Cam Gillus, Junior, Howard... 5-11, probably too small, but a bull of a guard, stat stuffer, had 21, 5, and 4 on Michigan.
Trevian Carson, Junior, NDSU... 6-3, Strong, efficient guard. Averaged 12 points, 6 rebounds. Looked confortable against MSU.
TJ Power, Junior, Penn... 6-9, scorer, was at Duke initially... didn't have a good game against Illinois, but he'll go back to P4, I'm sure.
Frankquan Sherman, Junior, Kennesaw... 6-7 bull of a forward. The exact type of player we needed this past year.
John Blackwell, Junior, Wisconsin... I know this is unlikely, but he'd be an elite guard worth spending big on, if he wanted to leave Wisky.
Larry Johnson, Freshman, McNeese... 6-7 guard. Not a great shooter. But scored a lot for a freshman, good athlete, active. Great name.
Henri Veesaar, Junior, UNC... pipe dream... but maybe Hubert gets canned, and Veesaar portals instead of NBAs?
Jonathan Powell, Soph, UNC... played for DeVries at WVU. Good athlete, has some length. Coached by Brooks Cupps in high school.
Robert Wright, Soph, BYU... this would be my top, top, choice if for some reason he portalled. I'd pay him 4-5 million, and figure the rest out.
Josh Dent, Soph, St Marys... 6-3 guard, solid and efficient. Gotta think a St Mary's guard would fit well in DeVries offense.
Marcus Millender, Junior, Georgia... Small lead guard... strong, solid, proven SEC player.
@iunorth Good stuff here...of course, just taking a one-game sample is not a good way to form a target list but I completely understand what you are getting at in this post and it is appreciated! A few notes off of your list:
Doty - I think McNamara is going to be named the Syracuse head coach in relatively short order. If that happens, Doty probably goes with him.
TJ Power - cool redemption arc and I imagine he'll wrap it up in the Big East or ACC...good for him.
Sherman - he's a really good rebounder (22.2 defensive rebounding rate, 13.7 offensive rebounding rate)...undersized for the Big Ten and DeVries wants his 4 to be able to stretch the floor but he was fun to watch.
Blackwell - he'd be a great get and there are rumors that he'll be entering the portal...Michigan, Duke and Kentucky are the schools to watch apparently (I don't know much about this one as IU has never been mentioned with him)
Larry Johnson - scoring wing/guard that is probably going to get a lot of money from someone like Will Wade at NC State...not a good fit for IU's offense, as you mentioned.
Rob Wright - I really hated the way he left Baylor (signed a deal, took some of the money and then bolted for BYU) and he said last night that if he is playing collegiately next season, he'll be at BYU. Good player but I don't think he'll be an option.
Josh Dent - I like where your head is at here. Dent is a very solid player and if he entered the portal, I would be very intrigued. Truthfully though, he should stay at St. Mary's.
Good observations though!
@tjinman1987 Very much just one game observations, with very quick glances at season long stats to make sure it wasn't just one game anomalies. If guys like Sherman don't fit DeVries style, and thusly he won't know how to coach them... then probably not worth him bringing them in. But I'm going to completely flip to torches and pitchforks status if he brings in a bunch of skilled, non physical, non "dawg" guys again. Sherman, a couple of the guards I mentioned, physical bulls... dawgs... we need a few of those types of guys.
Would Garland be a better Backup than Drake or might Drake be moving on? I'm thinking Prince who seemed to drop in rankings due to an injury can be a solid surprise contributor that could help at PG as he gets further from his recovery and can also play off the ball. Maybe Im wrong but thought I read something about an ACL injury that set him back. IMO, IU needs to get one of the top PG's from the portal and go with one or the other between Drake or Garland or similar from Portal.
@hoosiers94 But does chicago AAU produce talent?
I couldn't tell you exact numbers but I'm sure it does. Not like it used to ,but the sheer numbers.
@sig Not anything definitive or scientific, but when my oldest played Chicago AAU teams, even the highest level circuit teams, it was never a worry or concern about how good they'd be. Parts of Michigan, parts of Ohio, Indy, Salt Lake, Atlanta, DC... to name a few, when they had high level circuit teams, you knew you were likely in for a butt whoopin. Not the case with the Chicago teams he faced the last couple years. Might just be the age groups, but Meanstreets and Mac Irvin weren't overly strong for 26s... at least that I saw. Those aren't the only Chicago teams, but they're often a couple of the headliners.
@sig Garland is way, way, way better than Jason Drake. I'd be shocked if Drake was on IU's roster next season and even more shocked (and disappointed) if he had a part in IU's roster next season.
Cade Bennerman from Northwestern went into the transfer portal. Didn't play during 2025-26 and was red shirted by Collins.. Negatives: 7'0" and 200 pounds and saw no time on the floor for the Wildcats during the 2025/26 season. Positives: a year of work with Collins and his staff, also offered by Michigan, and appears to have a good attitude. Rod Clark should be familiar with Bennerman from his Tennessee days as Bennerman played high school ball in Nashville.
As a high schooler, ESPN ranked Bennerman as the #6 senior in the state and number 40 center nationally. For 2025, 247 Sports ranks Bannerman #2 in its list of top basketball recruits in Tennessee.
Seems to be the kind of player that would benefit from playing at a mid-major. I don't know all the factors involved with why Bennerman didn't see the court: injuries, development needed, work on gaining muscle, etc. If IU were to sign Bennerman, I'd assume he'd take the place of Acimovic on the roster.
(Posted by a guy who is throwing out possibilities.)
Key determinant of portal is not cockeyed optimism but realistic potential and realistic evaluation of talent. If all that's reported or talked about is how great this bunch is or will be without being accurate and honest then all we have is the same thing as this past year
After the 2024 debacle in which Indiana was supposedly one on the portal winners, most followers of IU are more than cautious with assessing portal hauls. Count me firmly in that group. I'll let the YouTube "experts" flaunt the new portal class and I'll wait until I see results on the basketball court.Key determinant of portal is not cockeyed optimism but realistic potential and realistic evaluation of talent. If all that's reported or talked about is how great this bunch is or will be without being accurate and honest then all we have is the same thing as this past year
For now I'll be entertained with following of rumors and ideas for potential members of the 2026/27 IU basketball roster. I await with anticipation the new roster but realize that ultimately my evaluation grade will not come until meaningful games are played.
@hoosiers94 See, this is a good comment. I'll limit it to people who sign with a team, but saying that each signing is the greatest thing ever is not the way to go and I don't think we have done that in the past. We'll give you their potential fit, why it makes sense or not, what are potential flaws etc. If you disagree with our assessment, we are happy to hear it.
Looks like IU is pursuing Cornell transfer guard Jake Fiegen. Averaged 17 ppg and 5 rpg while shooting 41% from three.
This year's team didn't exactly have a high bball IQ, so bringing in an Ivy Leaguer wouldn't be the worst idea.Looks like IU is pursuing Cornell transfer guard Jake Fiegen. Averaged 17 ppg and 5 rpg while shooting 41% from three.
Quick guards, 2 shooting wings and 2 physical bigs with one who can shoot is the formula. We had none of that. Guard the 2 point shot and rebound like crazy.
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