DD should tell him we need a decision today - then move on, save some money, grab Rancik and Reibe.
@jj_mcclure I guess as long as the IU staff knows what he's doing, that's really all that matters. Pure speculation on my part... there were reports he wants to play more of an expanded, "4" like role, for his next team. So he could have been waiting for IU to land a true center. We have that now, so maybe it is a done deal, and its just a matter of finalizing all the details, and making the announcement...???
Most of the other reasons for him not publicly committing yet are not great. So I hope its more of the above reasons, than it is him waiting for others to offer similar money.
@iunorth I think that is the most likely scenario. Especially since MSU seems dead and there is seemingly no smoke anywhere for any other school. However, if there is no announcement today or tomorrow at the latest - then there is most likely some kind of obstacle to coming aboard. So then Rancik and Reibe (at least one of them) become critical additions.
@iu_bball_lifer Yeah... if we get to the weekend without a Sherrell commitment, I can't see that as anything other than a bad sign. More pure speculation on my part... with the "Yig" signing, I would think Reibe isn't much of a possibility... whether we get Sherrell or not. Reibe will get multiple millions, from someone, to be an anchor starter, I would suspect. Rancik though, with how successful we've been in the portal thus far, I halfway expect him to commit tomorrow after his zoom call. Hope so. He'd be a very good bench...tall guy... Like Bailey would have been, I think... as long as he has either Sherrell or Yig to play alongside while he's in, I think he could be very valuable on both ends of the floor for us. But also similar to Bailey, he shouldn't ever be our main post player.
Alex Bozich on Sebastian Rancik:
"Listed at 6-foot-11 and 220 pounds on his official bio by the University of Colorado, Rancik is a native of Bratislava, Slovakia, who played high school basketball at JSerra Catholic School in San Juan Capistrano, California.
A member of the 2024 recruiting class, he was regarded as a four-star prospect and the No. 121 player nationally by the 247Sports Composite. He chose Colorado over offers from a long list of schools, including USC, Arizona State, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, TCU, San Diego State and others."
From several sources, Rancik is said to be a good defensive player.
... there were reports he wants to play more of an expanded, "4" like role, for his next team. So he could have been waiting for IU to land a true center. We have that now, so maybe it is a done deal, and its just a matter of finalizing all the details, and making the announcement...??? ...Hope so, for the reason being wanting to play the 4.
But you can only show a guy how you expect to use him, and if he isn't fully bought in to doing anything the coach feels is required to win, then lets move on. Maybe he won't be good playing as a 4 the way he envisions it. Coach's call.
Sebastian Rancik has cancelled his IU visit. He visited FSU and is now headed to Kentucky for a visit instead of IU and then will wrap it up with BYU. Kentucky has NOT had a good portal season and I'd guess they are entering desperation territory and plunked down a gigantic offer to bring Rancik. In addition, I'm still confident Aiden Sherrell is joining and IU now has a true center so Rancik might not have seen clear path to 30+ minutes per game.
We'll see what IU's plan is for a backup big. I would not be surprised to see an international prospect or two get linked with Indiana.
Hopefully, Aiden Sherrell becomes official today.
@tjinman1987 Didn't want him anyway... Bailey 2.0... ha ha! Actually kinda bummed, I think guys like Rancik, as long as we also get the Sherrell's of the world, raise our floor, and ceiling quite a bit.
@tjinman1987 I'm not very informed, but I assumed when we signed this big, that we'd be out of it for Sherrell. I think there's certainly room in the rotation, but it was more room in the wallet that I was thinking of. You're hearing that we are still after and in it for Sherrell?
@tjinman1987 And I wouldn't worry a ton about Kentucky (not that you are)... they're still in on Rob Wright, and some other high end guys. And Stokes is still considering them from the HS world. They're also returning a couple good players too.
I wanted Rancik too. Oh well, good luck to him. Maybe it means we couldn't raise our offer because somebody else is accepting...
@kkott I read an article recently that made some compelling points that most of the reported NIL budgets for football and bball, are well less than what most teams rosters end up making. They used Florida as an example... citing that the total "earnings" for that roster was likely well north of 20 million. I've also read some things about programs putting more "long term" deals in place with influential companies agreeing to pay annual installments to players over many years. Braden Smith, I believe, has multiple deals like this in place.
Long story, short... IU likely has quite a lot more money available for all these signings than anyone has reported they might.
@iunorth Guess it will be another long day of hitting refresh on this thread!
@kkott For sure... I'm not nearly as sold on Aiden Sherrell being as good as it feels like he's now being made out to be... but he sure is important for IU. He's a "dude", and we need a few more of those!
Sebastian Rancik has cancelled his IU visit. He visited FSU and is now headed to Kentucky for a visit instead of IU and then will wrap it up with BYU. Kentucky has NOT had a good portal season and I'd guess they are entering desperation territory and plunked down a gigantic offer to bring Rancik. In addition, I'm still confident Aiden Sherrell is joining and IU now has a true center so Rancik might not have seen clear path to 30+ minutes per game.
We'll see what IU's plan is for a backup big. I would not be surprised to see an international prospect or two get linked with Indiana.
Hopefully, Aiden Sherrell becomes official today.
A post on another site says Sherrell's brother is still following all the IU commits on social media.......