I'm appreciative of Dorn as he helped IU win a couple games last year with his shooting. The other parts of his game were somewhat lacking as he was not a great rebounder, passer or elite defender. He's still in the portal as of April 16. Of the Indiana players that went in the portal, Josh Harris is the only one who has signed on with a new school. He will be playing for Florida Atlantic. If the other IU guys remain in the portal a week from now that seems to make a statement regarding their level of talent.At the risk of being called a doomer, I wonder where Nick Dorn would have fit in with this group. Is he better or worse that the wings CDD is bringing in? Guess I'm still a little bummed he left and wouldn't be surprised to see him have a big year wherever he eventually lands. 6-7 225 that "can" shoot 3s is pretty attractive. Still don't understand why he slumped so spectacularly mid-season.
@bucketgetter Its a good question. And a further question on Dorn... would he have been more consistent, with better bigs, and better surrounding players? I think for a direct comparison... Mustaf is far more likely to be consistently solid, next year, than Dorn would have been for us. Mustaf was more consistent for GT, for a much worse team, as a more relied upon player, than Dorn was for an average team, with 2 other guys being the main focal points. I would probably say the same thing about a Lindsay comp too. Dorn v Harris?? Not as clear. Dorn v any of the frosh, who knows?
@openwheel Definitely all of them deserve credit for bringing these guys aboard. And yeah - wins only occur on the court. But CDD deserves his flowers. The money is obviously a key factor. But the coach has to make the final sale. I was not fully convinced that he had the gravitas to make this kind of portal grab happen no matter what the money was. He clearly was able to convince some talented players that Indiana is a good place for them.
@gthomas Just to be clear...if IU went 25-10 on the season, you would be saying Darian DeVries should be on the hot seat? For context...here are some teams with double-digit losses: Wisconsin (24-11 and a 5 seed), Kansas (24-11 and a 4 seed), Louisville (24-11 and a 6 seed), Texas Tech (23-11 and a 5 seed), Alabama (25-10 and a 4 seed), Tennessee (25-12 and a 6 seed). Purdue and Illinois lost 9 games, Iowa State and Florida lost 8.
If you offered me a record of 23-11 with a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, I am taking it 15 times out of 10. Particularly if I know that the core of the team COULD return for another season together and I was adding a dynamic shooter (at minimum) as a freshman. In a scenario like that, there is absolutely no reason to have DDV on a hot season of any kind...in my opinion. Now, if there are no major injuries and they go 19-14 or something and barely squeak into the 76-team NCAA Tournament? I would feel very differently.
I will say, I do hope IU schedules some challenging non-conference games. It does not need to be a murderer's row but I would love to see a true marquee home game (I'm just spitballing here...UConn for Mullins homecoming? St. John's for Pitino at Assembly Hall? Gonzaga? Maybe Carr knows Michael Malone enough and gets UNC on the schedule?), a secondary home game similar to the Kansas State one (Creighton, Cincinnati, N.C. State, LSU...that type of program) and then a true tough road test in addition to the games against Kentucky (Lucas Oil) and Syracuse (Gainbridge). Then your other six to seven non-conference games would be home games ideally against teams in the 100-250 range (Toledo, Bowling Green is rumored, Murray State, Middle Tennessee, Kent State, etc.).
At the risk of being called a doomer, I wonder where Nick Dorn would have fit in with this group. Is he better or worse that the wings CDD is bringing in? Guess I'm still a little bummed he left and wouldn't be surprised to see him have a big year wherever he eventually lands. 6-7 225 that "can" shoot 3s is pretty attractive. Still don't understand why he slumped so spectacularly mid-season.
you're not dooming, my guy.
i think dorn wanted a more defined role that was easier for him to see playing time for his final season. i would have liked to have him back too, if we're being honest.
as for why he slumped, he was out for basically 5 months so, to me, it wasn't shocking at all that not only did it take him time to round into shape, but that he also kind of hit a wall while facing high major athleticism for the first time...he still managed to shoot a very respectable career best 38% from 3 and 87% from the line.
I think Dorn hitting that streak of 3's was a peak in performance, an anomaly. Missing streak wasn't a slump.
I guess it goes without saying that IU is not a player in the Braylon Mullins' "auction" for his talents?
Well said! Sit back and enjoy. Watch the portal plan evolve. There's far, far more positive going on so no need for gloom and doom. Been through the highs and lows of Indiana basketball for more years than I'd care to say. DeVries will need to make it happen on the hardcourt but I'm betting better days are in the future. Fine to discuss and disagree but no need to attack as we're all on the same side. No sunshine pumper just a loyal lifetime fan.wow...didn't come on here until this morning but i'm shocked, SHOCKED, to see the resident doomers out in full force scolding anyone that's happy about an objectively good portal haul so far.
we get it...you're skeptical! to be honest, i am too until it's proven on the court, but we're 7 months away from actual games. it's fun to see how these pieces might fit in the devries system.
but more important than just the guys they added, to me, is the sign that scott dolson, the donors, along with devries and his staff had a plan from the jump to build what looks like a team that works on paper rather than just a collection of talent like we saw under the previous regime.
it's never as good as it seems but also never as bad. i just don't see the point of slapping the hand of anyone trying to have real, substantive conversation on here because it doesn't comport to your worldview on indiana basketball.
and, hey, we could be in kentucky's spot with meme's going around about mark pope, reporters ripping you because you didn't hire a gm (like iu did) and have zero portal commits and negative motion.
I guess it goes without saying that IU is not a player in the Braylon Mullins' "auction" for his talents?
That isn't/wasn't a real thing.
Sounds pretty dumb, huh? lol@gthomas Just to be clear...if IU went 25-10 on the season, you would be saying Darian DeVries should be on the hot seat? For context...here are some teams with double-digit losses: Wisconsin (24-11 and a 5 seed), Kansas (24-11 and a 4 seed), Louisville (24-11 and a 6 seed), Texas Tech (23-11 and a 5 seed), Alabama (25-10 and a 4 seed), Tennessee (25-12 and a 6 seed). Purdue and Illinois lost 9 games, Iowa State and Florida lost 8.
If you offered me a record of 23-11 with a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, I am taking it 15 times out of 10. Particularly if I know that the core of the team COULD return for another season together and I was adding a dynamic shooter (at minimum) as a freshman. In a scenario like that, there is absolutely no reason to have DDV on a hot season of any kind...in my opinion. Now, if there are no major injuries and they go 19-14 or something and barely squeak into the 76-team NCAA Tournament? I would feel very differently.
I will say, I do hope IU schedules some challenging non-conference games. It does not need to be a murderer's row but I would love to see a true marquee home game (I'm just spitballing here...UConn for Mullins homecoming? St. John's for Pitino at Assembly Hall? Gonzaga? Maybe Carr knows Michael Malone enough and gets UNC on the schedule?), a secondary home game similar to the Kansas State one (Creighton, Cincinnati, N.C. State, LSU...that type of program) and then a true tough road test in addition to the games against Kentucky (Lucas Oil) and Syracuse (Gainbridge). Then your other six to seven non-conference games would be home games ideally against teams in the 100-250 range (Toledo, Bowling Green is rumored, Murray State, Middle Tennessee, Kent State, etc.).
It's reasonable to be a skeptic. You can throw out all the excuses you wish, but fact is DD hasn't proven much in two seasons coaching P5. He appears to have a strong roster now, so we'll see what he's made of. It would be nearly impossible for any coach to miss the NCAAT with the money IU is spending, so that shouldn't be the bar. (It's not for me, anyway.)
I have no idea exactly how much NIL IU has in relation to the rest of the country, but I'd guess it's Top 10 given the players coming in. So, Step 1 (recruiting) has already been a success ... which is fan-f***ng-tastic. As for Step 2, if IU isn't consistently in the Top 15 (not just Top 25), competitive in the B1G, and a high seed legitimately capable of making a run in the NCAAT, I, for one, will view the season a bust.
Some may consider those expectations to be unreasonable, which I don't get. If DD is indeed a high-level coach, then he should be able to do great things with this high-level roster. If IU finishes with double-digit losses, DD should absolutely be on the hot seat entering Year 3.
you keep posting gthomas. They're just jealous because they were dead ass wrong about this past year and we were right ... bitter pill to swallow I guess. But just as Jack Nicholson said:: they can't handle the truth
wow...didn't come on here until this morning but i'm shocked, SHOCKED, to see the resident doomers out in full force scolding anyone that's happy about an objectively good portal haul so far.
we get it...you're skeptical! to be honest, i am too until it's proven on the court, but we're 7 months away from actual games. it's fun to see how these pieces might fit in the devries system.
but more important than just the guys they added, to me, is the sign that scott dolson, the donors, along with devries and his staff had a plan from the jump to build what looks like a team that works on paper rather than just a collection of talent like we saw under the previous regime.
it's never as good as it seems but also never as bad. i just don't see the point of slapping the hand of anyone trying to have real, substantive conversation on here because it doesn't comport to your worldview on indiana basketball.
and, hey, we could be in kentucky's spot with meme's going around about mark pope, reporters ripping you because you didn't hire a gm (like iu did) and have zero portal commits and negative motion.
that goes both ways
@bucketgetter Its a good question. And a further question on Dorn... would he have been more consistent, with better bigs, and better surrounding players? I think for a direct comparison... Mustaf is far more likely to be consistently solid, next year, than Dorn would have been for us. Mustaf was more consistent for GT, for a much worse team, as a more relied upon player, than Dorn was for an average team, with 2 other guys being the main focal points. I would probably say the same thing about a Lindsay comp too. Dorn v Harris?? Not as clear. Dorn v any of the frosh, who knows?
if we had a better caliber roster he may not have seen the floor
@openwheel Definitely all of them deserve credit for bringing these guys aboard. And yeah - wins only occur on the court. But CDD deserves his flowers. The money is obviously a key factor. But the coach has to make the final sale. I was not fully convinced that he had the gravitas to make this kind of portal grab happen no matter what the money was. He clearly was able to convince some talented players that Indiana is a good place for them.
I think his staff in place and Carr likely helped the situation
I guess it goes without saying that IU is not a player in the Braylon Mullins' "auction" for his talents?
now that's what I'm talking about. We should be ... obviously he may be happy where he is. And why wouldn't he be