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Braden Smith Commits to Purdue


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43 minutes ago, HoosierJax said:

Any up dates on Smith? I would have thought IU would be reaching out with the new staff.

With the portal full of talent maybe that is our attention for now. Makes me wonder how much emphasis coaches will put in recruiting HS kids when you can get fully developed young men out of the portal every year. I mean I know it won't stop recruiting all together but it is going to play as big if not bigger part of roster management then ever!

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29 minutes ago, ledies22 said:

Isnt the free for all open transfer market done after this year (assuming they vote and pass it for even this year)? My understanding is that the transfer rules will go back to "normal" as in the requirements for sitting out a year will resume.

I assume wrong thread?

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1 hour ago, ledies22 said:

no, i guess i didnt reply to dgambill's comment above. But i have seen the concerns everywhere. People stating that these transfer rules are going to change the game. But isnt the current transfer rules temporary?

At the moment it is temporary but that will likely change. The NCAA will vote to implement a permanent 1 time transfer waiver rule. They were supposed to vote on this, along with the NIL rules, last spring but punted.

The transfer rule is expected to pass.

Whether it will be a clean slate as far as the waiver is concerned when the rule passes or if the players who transfer this year will no longer be eligible for another waiver remains to be seen.

So the transfer market will remain a big deal but might not be quite as crazy as this year.

As for Braden, I wonder what Woodson's thoughts are on him. Since he can't comment I guess we'll find out depending on whether he gets and offer or not. He is an intriguing player but the high majors might just start using low and mid majors as their development leagues for players like him who could be viewed as a risk of a wasted scholarship.

Edited by go_iu_bb
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1 hour ago, go_iu_bb said:

At the moment it is temporary but that will likely change. The NCAA will vote to implement a permanent 1 time transfer waiver rule. They were supposed to vote on this, along with the NIL rules, last spring but punted.

The transfer rule is expected to pass.

Whether it will be a clean slate as far as the waiver is concerned when the rule passes or if the players who transfer this year will no longer be eligible for another waiver remains to be seen.

So the transfer market will remain a big deal but might not be quite as crazy as this year.

As for Braden, I wonder what Woodson's thoughts are on him. Since he can't comment I guess we'll find out depending on whether he gets and offer or not. He is an intriguing player but the high majors might just start using low and mid majors as their development leagues for players like him who could be viewed as a risk of a wasted scholarship.

There's no risk here in my eyes. I think he's the best player in the state for 2022. 

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1 hour ago, btownqb said:

There's no risk here in my eyes. I think he's the best player in the state for 2022. 

This will tell us a lot about how CMW intends to recruit. Will he recruit pure talent or will he recruit to a prototype that fits how he wants to play. I'd like to think that he will be flexible in this respect.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's quite likely that the extra year of eligibility plus the change to the transfer portal will hurt the recruitment of players like this. Right now IU doesn't have a lot of scholarships to hand out for this class. They currently have 2 open and no seniors as far as eligibility is concerned. Depending on who they use those 2 scholarships on this year (or if they don't use them), they'll have 0-2 scholarships available for the '22 class. 

There will probably be transfers out of the program but that is hard to plan for. Will the coaching staff take the Crean approach and over-sign or will they wait for the spring and just try to replace though the portal? Either way, I think only the top candidates get scholarship offers from IU and, while he sounds like a solid player, I don't think that includes Smith.

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35 minutes ago, go_iu_bb said:

It's quite likely that the extra year of eligibility plus the change to the transfer portal will hurt the recruitment of players like this. Right now IU doesn't have a lot of scholarships to hand out for this class. They currently have 2 open and no seniors as far as eligibility is concerned. Depending on who they use those 2 scholarships on this year (or if they don't use them), they'll have 0-2 scholarships available for the '22 class. 

There will probably be transfers out of the program but that is hard to plan for. Will the coaching staff take the Crean approach and over-sign or will they wait for the spring and just try to replace though the portal? Either way, I think only the top candidates get scholarship offers from IU and, while he sounds like a solid player, I don't think that includes Smith.

I would imagine some 4th year seniors will choose to either try to go pro or play their 5th years elsewhere. But you’re right - there are a lot more factors and moving parts than in the past that can be hard to plan for. 

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37 minutes ago, Hippopotamo said:

I would imagine some 4th year seniors will choose to either try to go pro or play their 5th years elsewhere. But you’re right - there are a lot more factors and moving parts than in the past that can be hard to plan for. 

I haven’t tried to figure out scholly counts, and IMO it’s so boring and fuzzy I don’t even bother.  Xavier said in some quotes that he will be playing at IU “for his final year.”   Guys like Trayce, Stewart, and Race may be gone but you never know.   

I suspect when all is said done, we will have four to five guys in that class.  Gunn and 3-4 others.  

We still have the two spots to fill in now.  That’s going to be interesting. 

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2 hours ago, Hippopotamo said:

I would imagine some 4th year seniors will choose to either try to go pro or play their 5th years elsewhere. But you’re right - there are a lot more factors and moving parts than in the past that can be hard to plan for. 

You are both spot on. If the transfer portal and extra year didn’t exist, I think he would be a Hoosier. Never know though 

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2 hours ago, BobSaccamanno said:

I haven’t tried to figure out scholly counts, and IMO it’s so boring and fuzzy I don’t even bother.  Xavier said in some quotes that he will be playing at IU “for his final year.”   Guys like Trayce, Stewart, and Race may be gone but you never know.   

I suspect when all is said done, we will have four to five guys in that class.  Gunn and 3-4 others.  

We still have the two spots to fill in now.  That’s going to be interesting. 

Yeah, TJD is most likely gone but that's been said for the last 2 years and he's still returning next year. I think the staff should (and probably will) recruit as though he's leaving but that still leaves 3 scholarships max at this point. None of the others are good enough to go pro right now so unless they're resigned to playing overseas or just want to get on with their non-playing careers will use that last year. 

I wouldn't take quotes about "final year" too literally. I wouldn't be surprised if just hasn't really set in yet that last season didn't count as far as eligibility is concerned. Or maybe he's just hoping to have such a great season that he'll be in the draft next year. Maybe both. My point is that I don't count them as gone until it's official or at least obvious that they are. The coaching staff should have a better feel for that than I.

I just think that Smith is on the outside looking in as far as scholarship offer from IU go. Which is too bad because he sounds like someone you want on your team.

Time will tell.

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1 minute ago, btownqb said:

That's the thing... Smith is the big fish. 

We've heard how great Yasir is....he is supposedly a pg guru with ties to top recruits. You think he is going to dig for a local diamond in the rough? He wasn't a priority for the Archie staff...you think THIS staff will prioritize him? I do think he is a great HS player...I think he will make a solid college player. But we are told we just landed this all-star staff.....I just don't think they are going to prioritize an under ranked recruit. We are going to go after the elite recruits...the ones that Archie couldn't land but we should have a shot with now that Yasir and Hunter are on staff. In a day and age where the transfer portal is so active and player movement is so easy I do think it is important to supplement your team with kids that are LOYAL to IU. That IU is where they want to go to school for more than just playing time...else we won't see any 4 year players anymore. Guys like Leal and Galloway...and I think Smith would be as well...but this kid would get buried for a few years on the rosters that Woodson is building....I do think he would stick it out but the guys that we are bringing in and targeting...I think IU will continue to look outside the state to build its team. Honestly, I'm surprised that Gunn is deciding to stay committed because I think the staff would like to use that offer on better talent. Maybe I'm wrong and even though we have Fife and Woodson who are IU legacy and one is Indiana born...I don't even think they will put the emphasis on the state that Archie did.

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2 minutes ago, dgambill said:

We've heard how great Yasir is....he is supposedly a pg guru with ties to top recruits. You think he is going to dig for a local diamond in the rough? He wasn't a priority for the Archie staff...you think THIS staff will prioritize him? I do think he is a great HS player...I think he will make a solid college player. But we are told we just landed this all-star staff.....I just don't think they are going to prioritize an under ranked recruit. We are going to go after the elite recruits...the ones that Archie couldn't land but we should have a shot with now that Yasir and Hunter are on staff. In a day and age where the transfer portal is so active and player movement is so easy I do think it is important to supplement your team with kids that are LOYAL to IU. That IU is where they want to go to school for more than just playing time...else we won't see any 4 year players anymore. Guys like Leal and Galloway...and I think Smith would be as well...but this kid would get buried for a few years on the rosters that Woodson is building....I do think he would stick it out but the guys that we are bringing in and targeting...I think IU will continue to look outside the state to build its team. Honestly, I'm surprised that Gunn is deciding to stay committed because I think the staff would like to use that offer on better talent. Maybe I'm wrong and even though we have Fife and Woodson who are IU legacy and one is Indiana born...I don't even think they will put the emphasis on the state that Archie did.

I don't think he is going to be all that underrated. I think he is going to move up. 

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18 minutes ago, btownqb said:

I don't think he is going to be all that underrated. I think he is going to move up. 

Not sure what he is at the moment...but probably will for sure. I think my point was more to the effect that this kid ABSOLUTELY should have been on the teams that Archie was building. The squads that we have seen over the past 6-7 years Smith could absolutely play on and would be an upgrade on what we were fielding. I just think that the direction this staff is going to take...the focus and footprint that the assistants specialize in...we are going to look at athletes outside the state unless they align with the style and stature that Woodson visualizes for Indiana Basketball. To me given the staff that has been put together..that is my interpretation of where this thing is headed. We will still prioritize local star top 100 talent in the state...but those kids not in the top 100...I think we are going to look to use our national recruiting profile to go after top talent or take second shots at guys we miss in the portal. Going to be a lot of second chances/second bites at the apple in the future....so using that ship on a borderline talent I think is going to be rare.

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1 hour ago, dgambill said:

Not sure what he is at the moment...but probably will for sure. I think my point was more to the effect that this kid ABSOLUTELY should have been on the teams that Archie was building. The squads that we have seen over the past 6-7 years Smith could absolutely play on and would be an upgrade on what we were fielding. I just think that the direction this staff is going to take...the focus and footprint that the assistants specialize in...we are going to look at athletes outside the state unless they align with the style and stature that Woodson visualizes for Indiana Basketball. To me given the staff that has been put together..that is my interpretation of where this thing is headed. We will still prioritize local star top 100 talent in the state...but those kids not in the top 100...I think we are going to look to use our national recruiting profile to go after top talent or take second shots at guys we miss in the portal. Going to be a lot of second chances/second bites at the apple in the future....so using that ship on a borderline talent I think is going to be rare.

I agree that it appears that is the way things are heading. I also wouldn't be surprised if P5 coaches discuss the free transfer with the athletes to get their foot in the door if the player does well then decides to transfer in the future. Something like, "We can't take you now but if play well and decide to transfer down the line, we would be interested." Or if they don't say that, they might try to maintain a relationships with the player and/or his family. Low- and mid-majors will become the development leagues and testing grounds for lower ranked recruits.

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