Attending the Lindenwood game tonight is Trevor Manhertz a 6'8" 185 lb. 4 star shooter out of North Carolina. Originally 2026 class but re-classified to 2027. Two things hit me when I checked out his videos: the kid can shoot but man is he thin. The re-class decision was made to provide time for physical development. Looks like he needs a couple years to develop his body in order to play basketball at a higher level. Don't know where this one will go but IU is obviously interested.
Ehh, frame is something I don't worry too much about. One of the great things about bball, players come in all shapes and sizes. So many skinny guys who have been great, Reggie, Tayshaun Prince, Iverson and Durant among them. If the coaching staff wants him, I'll assume he's a player!
seems like iu is interested *because* he could reclass back to '26.
you're right though...super thin.
i don't worry too much about a kid until he's had a full year in a college s/c program.
but sign me up all day for a 6'8 kid that can shoot. as much as some people don't like how hunting 3's have changed the sport, that's how you win basketball games.
Love the addition. But we're getting to the point where not signing some "dudes", is getting concerning. You can't compete for FF's or Natty's without big, strong, athletic, versatile "dudes"
Florida... Chinleyu, Haugh, Condon... I suspect Alexis didn't break back in to the lineup after his injuries, in part, because he wasn't as physical as Chinleyu, Condon, Haugh, etc... Clayton and Martin both very strong and physical guards.
UConn... Castle was a very physical freshman wing, Clingan, Samson Johnson emerged as a physical big, Newton was a dawg, physical PG...
UConn... Sanogo, Clingan, Newton, Jackson... dudes.
Kansas... McCormack, Wilson, Agbaji, Lightfoot, even Martin and Braun were physical.
Baylor... Tchatchoua, Cital, Thamba, all their guards... all dudes.
Maybe the Virginia team is an example of a team that didn't have a lot of physical, dudes on their team? Villanova sure did with their Natty teams.
I LOVE watching this team play. But unless they rewrite recent history, they aren't going to compete with Final Four caliber teams this year. That's fine...year 1, he built a fun team to watch and follow, and one that will probably win a good amount of games. But going forward, the expectation should be competing for B10, FF, and National titles. And I think moving TOWARDS that, should be the expectation. Signing Moody, Karvala, and then if we get this kid... that's great... we need skill and shooting as well. But they need some grown ass men alongside them, or it puts a ceiling on how good we can be.
Until he lands some guys like any of the guys mentioned on the lists above, I'm going to be concerned about his approach. He could go get some 6-6 to 6-8 warriors if he wanted to.
i think that's the give and take.
iu went all in on shooting instead of athletes who can't shoot. it's a clear gamble and i think if they had gotten another pure rim protector, i may have been convinced they really had something.
i guess we'll see.
@iureactionary I'm not overly "mad" about where IU is at. I'm just now getting a little concerned that CDD doesn't necessarily value having the strength and physicality, that seems evident all truly elite teams have. Why not offer Hansberry an attractive package to follow along to IU? He could have found a 6-6 to 6-8 bruiser, somewhere. I don't remember all the guys we were mentioned with, but didn't seem like he went after all that many.
As it stands though...I'm now fully engaged and excited to watch IU basketball again. I think that's a great thing after the last couple years.
Next year at this time if critiquing the contrast to high flying programs is the result of this season I'll not hold back. So pleased with seeing effort and energy on the floor I'm going to smile for a while. Wearing proudly Crimson repeatedly.
@iureactionary Back in the day Billy Packer had a mantra of "live by the jump shot, die by the jump shot." Jump shots (3pt. shots) were always too mental for my liking, and when a team is struggling hitting them when they are 20 points ahead, I worry.
i love hansberry...i have no idea why he didn't offer him.
i'll keep saying this...i really believe in the four factors...iu sucks on the glass but have been about avg in getting offensive rebounds themselves. still, that's a huge issue and another big would really have helped.
that said, iu is currently 27th in eFG%, 39th in 3P% (39.4%), 17th in TO% are 77% from the line and 7th in assist rate.
from what i'm watching, it seems like they've gone totally vanilla on offense. i can't tell if they're holding things back or they're just all of a sudden being scouted better. probably a bit of both.
this is a manhertz thread, but i really think he fits the modern basketball that iu is playing -- one big, 3 wings and a pg.
@iureactionary Incarnate Word and Lindenwood had a game plan which definitely took away the perimeter passing of IU. Will be interesting to see how Kansas State plays the Hoosiers.
right, but i was at the marquette game and, while marquette may not actually be that good, the movement on the weak side by iu was noticable.
they got multiple open looks by either cutting, setting a back screen for the skip pass or just relocating as action was happening on the strong side. it almost felt like iu was holding stuff back the last couple games.
it was also interesting how good they still have been on baseline out of bounds and after timeouts. they seem to get almost exactly what they want.
devries talked about this after the baylor game...he just stopped calling plays or timeouts and was like, "you figure it out" to his players. it almost felt like that again but this time, when iu needed a basket, they did call a timeout and got exactly what they wanted.
@iureactionary Looking back the last couple years, IU played a number of poor games against lesser competition. (I'm trying to forget those.) Only 5 games played so far and IU is 5-0. Will have a better idea where the team is going after the next 5 or 6 games.
devries talked about this after the baylor game…he just stopped calling plays or timeouts and was like, “you figure it out” to his players.
Wasn't this what RMK would sometimes do? Not so much "you figure it out" but he would not want to call a TO if he thought the players on the floor knew what they were supposed to do in a given situation.
devries talked about this after the baylor game…he just stopped calling plays or timeouts and was like, “you figure it out” to his players.
Wasn't this what RMK would sometimes do? Not so much "you figure it out" but he would not want to call a TO if he thought the players on the floor knew what they were supposed to do in a given situation.
Knight also did a lot of coaching and play calling from the sideline during play. His quarterbacks on the court would get the instruction and run it from there.