KoB2011

I agree with you that it wasn't an either/or. I think Malik committing means JG or Logan is probably on the outs, yes.

I think it's a bit of an assumption that JG would be ahead of Reneau, no? We've seen a few flashes from JG, but he averaged 4 PPG as a sophomore with plenty of chance to earn a lot of minutes.

Is now an okay time to revisit the staff disarray and turmoil that is hurting the program?

This staff is so freaking good, love what they're doing.

Glad he has that length because he'd get beat of the dribble every play. He can't play on the perimeter at all at this point in time - we've seen two different coach staffs arrive at that conclusion, and both needed help on the wing.

I'd vastly rather him play the 5 than the 3.

It's not, he's going to be a good shooter for us. Doesn't mean he'll be a sniper, but the kid is a three level scorer and playmaker.

I'd add Christian Watford to that conversation. He made 48% from deep his senior year on 125 attempts.

Agree to disagree on the last play being bad defense, but I think any team to ever play basketball would've closed out hard on Smart there. It was an open, set, catch and shoot three. I mean it looked like they gave him no where to go, Tatum just did a great job of making himself available and Smart executed a tough pass.

I really thought they were going to get off a terrible shot once Smart didn't shoot the first look - what a great find by him and a phenomenal job by Tatum of making himself available on the cut.

Honestly, yes. We had a ton of close games and a team that was figuring how to win and play together on the fly, with a new coaching staff. I think there’s a good chance we are running back 3-4 of the starters and I expect us to make a big jump to top 3 in conference based on who I think will be here.

I agree with everyone saying Bates has work to do to start, I could definitely see Kopp, Trey, or DD over him if he doesn’t have a big summer. I well be really surprised if JHS doesn’t start, though.

I totally get that, but I also think we are once again limiting ourselves on playmaking and shooting at the 2 and 3 with that lineup. This team needs more dynamic guys on offense and our best shot at that is JHS and Bates being able to start. Our best lineup last year, by far IMO, was X, RP, Trey, Race, and TJD and that was because you had so many playmakers. I think JHS and Bates have the potential to be at least as good as RP and Trey as playmakers combined, but better scorers. We shall see.

To add to this about freshman starting, every single guy historically ranked above JHS at IU has started, and a decent chunk of guys below him, too. Essentially, if he doesn't start he would be the highest ranked IU recruit ever to not start as a freshman. I'm with you, I think it's a pretty fair bet that he is going to start Day 1.

I was just looking back through past classes to see where guys were ranked, trying to figure out how many top 75 guys may be in our rotation next year.... I honestly don't think I realized just how putrid our recruiting was under Archie. The only guy who played all four years for Archie was Al Durham, and he was a Crean commit and ranked 230.

That seems to be the MSU connection I was missing, then. Thanks!

That may be, I don't remember his recruitment at all. I'm just saying, he's from Ypsilanti which is basically Ann Arbor.

UM is more home than MSU. Is there some Sparty connection there?

The roster looks great but I don’t really understand how you’re slotting guys in. Reneau probably plays just about every backup minute available behind TJD and Race. JHS slides to point and Galloway is probably first guy off the bench for anyone 1-3.

95% sure it’s lottery protected again next year, and would convert into a second the following.

I hear you and like JG’s potential, but I don’t think he has anything on Race other than athleticism. I would personally take Race in a shooting contest all day at this point in their careers. I mean Race averaged 11 and 8 with a steal and a block, and was honorable mention all league. How many games has JG even done what Race averaged? Hint: It’s 1 time ever.

Race has a sizable lead in The Who is better category and has shown steady improvement in his time here. Anything’s possible, but right now Race starting seems like an incredibly safe bet. I also don’t really see why JG would transfer, he’s not going to find a major program ready to contend that offers him anything more than we are. JG has a lot of untapped potential but so far that’s really all it is.

Race is going to start next year because he is significantly better at basketball at this point than Jordan Geronimo. Does that work for everyone?

So if we were to get Davis, would the line be that "help is on the way"?

Hulls was certainly elite but so was Blackmon, Yogi, and Zeisloft at a minimum. Could make a case for a few guys that shot a lower volume after Hulls too. Crean did a pretty good job of putting a lot of guys who could really shoot on the floor.