@hoosiers94 I don't think IU has even watched/evaluated Tonagel in person a single time. I do not believe he will be a Big Ten player out of high school. Caleb Coolman is more interesting. There are limitations to his game: he's not a great athlete and that's not going to change. At his size, he probably won't be a plus-level defender and I have doubts about whether he can even be an average defender in the Big Ten. Now, those limitations could be overlooked by Big Ten teams IF Coolman is an elite shooter. That's his reputation as a prospect. However, the reality against good competition in AAU play has been that he's not currently a great shooter. If he's only an above-average perimeter shooter, Coolman is not a player IU should be spending NIL money or recruiting time to pursue.
No one asked me but I'll share what I view as a realistic 2027 recruiting class that I'd be pleased with if IU ends up taking 4 players (current open scholarship #1, Monden graduates so that's #2, two transfers out for 3/4): Chase Branham, a primary ball handler and driver type that is willing to sit behind Burton and learn with only a bit of playing time and I think J'Lyon Lyons is a guy IU could get to fill that role (#2), Jeremy Jenkins as a 4/5 hybrid...I've seen two comps that I think are optimistic but make sense: Colin Murray-Boyles, Trevion Williams (Purdue) as #3 and then I think a role that makes sense would be a great athlete on the wing that could immediately contribute on defense. For me, MJ Curry is attainable and projects as an All-Big Ten type defender. If his offensive game catches up to his athleticism, he's an NBA player.
IU needs to win for people to start caring. Basketball is dead. Football is king.
IU needs to win for people to start caring. Basketball is dead. Football is king.
thats disconcerting
@hoosiers94 IUBB has to win. They did themselves no favors missing the tournament last year. We were not invited to practice last week, so we didn’t cover it.
Football is coming off a national title and fall camp is 6 weeks away. Football is going to dominate people’s time.
We’ll have coverage of the Peru trip and are excited to see the non international players play.
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@hoosiers94 IUBB has to win. They did themselves no favors missing the tournament last year. We were not invited to practice last week, so we didn’t cover it.
Football is coming off a national title and fall camp is 6 weeks away. Football is going to dominate people’s time.
We’ll have coverage of the Peru trip and are excited to see the non international players play.
have any of you visited any of the AAU camps/ tourneys. Lots of recruiting going on... TJ gave us some tidbits last week. Anyone going to Charlie Hughes this weekend?
I'm mostly referring to the other posters. Not the staff. Usually even in this time of year there is some basketball banter going on. And we've been losing for 30 years so that never stopped anyone before ..
@hoosiers94 Football has never gone 27-2 over 2 seasons before though. I get what you’re saying, but most of the fan base wants to talk football right now.
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@thehoosierhuddle These last two seasons have been a dream in football. My late father would have enjoyed outscoring Purdue 122-3 in two seasons. But my family and I still root for basketball. We want to really see it come back and be extremely competitive.
While I regarded God as a tyrant I thought my sin a trifle; But when I knew Him to be my Father, then I mourned that I could ever have kicked against Him. When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin; but when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against One who loved me so, and sought my good.” C. H. Spurgeon
@vanpastorman nobody is not rooting for IU basketball. Just because they’re not talking about it doesn’t mean they’re not still fans.
They want to talk about things that excites them and right now it’s football.
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@vanpastorman nobody is not rooting for IU basketball. Just because they’re not talking about it doesn’t mean they’re not still fans.
They want to talk about things that excites them and right now it’s football.
It's going to take a while for the IUBB fanatics to come to terms with being relegated to second place.
Well, it looks like Dusty May sure helped traffic on this forum.
I doubt it. I think a high percentage already switched.It's going to take a while for the IUBB fanatics to come to terms with being relegated to second place.
I know I did. Big basketball fan since a kid, but the disregard for football always pissed me off, knew we could win here. Didn't see winning at the level of the past two years... lol
Now, I can return to being pissed because basketball isn't all that.
But yeah, if fanatics means those more involved, and donors, I'm sure plenty are still basketball first. Which is cool. Maybe we can rise again.
Whether people like it or not, college basketball has become a 3-month sport and that is exacerbated by Indiana football being really good. I understand people will always watch their teams, but the general interest in the sport is not year-round like CFB. It is focused on Late January, February and March. That's what it has become, unfortunately.
There's also not a ton of excitement. It's another brand new team, and IU has limited access to certain outlets this summer (those who traveled to road games), which makes it even more difficult to get unique stories out on players so fans can learn about them.
IU football could have been a blessing for IUBB last year and hid some of their struggles. Right after football won, IUBB knocked off Purdue and UCLA and was sitting at 17-8 and firmly in the NCAAT. Then the wheels fell off and we are in the current situation. There are no marquee home non-conference games to get excited about either.
IU will get Michigan, Michigan State Ohio State and Illinois at home. UCLA, I guess, is a cool home game, but it's no longer a vanity game. USC and Rutgers don't really move the needle. Maryland and Northwestern are the other home games. There's just not the excitement surrounding the program that there is for football.
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@thehoosierhuddle All true... But I don't think it'll take much for our bball fan base to stir back up. We have some guys this year that, if we're winning at a better clip, the fans could really get behind. Burton, while not my first choice as the focal point lead guard, is a very entertaining player. If that skill jives with winning games, he'll bring some juice to the program. Aiden Sherrell should be fun to watch. Moody and Karvala will be fun freshmen to get to know. This team has plenty of elements that will bring people back to Assembly Hall, they just need to win. Last years team was fun to watch, in a lot of ways, but IU's basketball fanbase is still pretty knowledgeable. And I think most IU fans sniffed out that last year's team was deeply flawed pretty early on. For some, admitting that took longer than others. I spent most of the season defending CDD, but I did so while missing over half the games live.
IU is still a basketball school. Cignetti could win 3 Natty's in a row, and if Devries did anything similar, basketball would take the mantle back immediately. But one is winning at a historic clip right now, and the other is stuck in 2nd gear. What you say isn't wrong, but there's still a pretty strong gravity pulling most of us to basketball.
@tjinman1987 Its gonna be interesting how it shakes out. If the team lays an egg, I think its more than possible CDD gets fired, and we're starting over and won't see really any of them in 27-28. If they're mildly better, show improvements, make the NCAAs, etc... I could see most of the core coming back, but maybe some of the deep bench guys moving on (the 5 for 5 thing will impact this, just not sure how?)...anyway, a mild improvement, and what you predict will be a good version of what happens. If they improve markedly, that brings in to play guys like Sherrell, maybe Yiggy, playing themselves in to NBA draft considerations. If we lose either of those fellas, for whatever reasons, I would hope that CDD and the staff would focus very closely on restocking big talent.
@iunorth It probably won’t take much to reignite it, but right now it’s dormant. Like you said, you didn’t even watch half the games last year.
Basketball is now where football was. It can 100% change.
We covered only football for 13 seasons and get what you’re saying about fans coming IF they win. We spent over a decade saying the same thing.
The issue is what’s winning? For football it took 2 CFP appearances and a national title to sell out (most likely ) the season.
IUBB was 17-8 at one point last year and the place wasn’t full, not even close.
If fans are waiting for the equivalent of Cig (a sweet 16 and a title?) to get back into assembly hall, IUBB is in trouble.
They're doing themselves no favors shutting people out of availabilities, because you’re right there are something’s to be excited about. The Peru trip could be exciting, albeit Samet won’t play, but it’s something to watch.
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