BobSaccamanno

What do you think of his ability from the clips you’ve seen?

Absolutely. He might be ranked 60th or whatever by some arbitrary and unscientific BS methodology. But if you measure it based on need and scarcity, he’s like top 20.

This kid is going to be a huge factor for IU. It is so nice to have the starting center spot resolved. Hopefully recruits at the four take notice because he will make their lives easier to showcase their ability. Our next recruiting class is really interesting. I do hope we pull in a couple more guys with size. Maybe one who is mobile and versatile and another who is comfortable near the basket and protecting the rim. I don’t have much of a feel for how recruiting is going there at the big spots. Otherwise, we’ve got Gunn in ‘22 and seem to be in the mix for Avery Brown, Karaban, Rice, and Ward....Good chance we can get 3-4 good perimeter players. Imagine the upgrade we would have at guard with say Avery Brown and Rodney Rice at guard. Better skill and physical ability than we’ve been used to. But we need to get Logan some help inside. But he’s a heck of a cornerstone piece.

Good move for all parties, including the Bears. Eagles got solid compensation. Colts match Reich with Wentz and he will probably be less scattershot. Colts also didn’t have many more options. I assume if Wentz plays most of the games, that number two transforms into a number one. Bears are happy because Wentz isn’t the right fit there. They don’t have Reich to help straighten him out. The market place figured out the optimal solution. Maybe they look at Mac Jones. Washington may also be on him. If I were the Eagles, I would trade up and get a big time QB. I saw a ton of Hurts in college. He played well last year but that’s not going to be sustainable. They can easily make a move up for Wilson.

London is pretty plugged in from what I recall. Sounds like he heard something positive but not definitive.

Keep ‘em hungry and not satisfied, coach! The minute you rest on your laurels, you’re toast. Not just in sports. In life.

Good post. It’s pretty bad. Without actually counting, it seems like we have 4-6 possessions a game that get squandered because we are pressed right before the shot clock goes off. As Archie says, missed front end of a one and one is like a turnover. Well so are these! And it’s happening too often to chalk it up to just one of those things.

I had a good friend who I played sports with. His dad passed away. We must have been sophomores so around 15 as I recall. He punched a kid out in the middle of a game. I was shocked. But another friend and teammate reminded me that his dad had just died a couple of months earlier. I’m not excusing any of it but that’s a very tough thing for a young man to go through and getting angry at the world can be a byproduct.

I’m sure Rico can jump in on this because we’ve talked about it. If you’ve been an IU fan for decades, you know what you said is like an article in the state constitution. There are continually those players in state that either will be a Hoosier or Hoosier killer. You said it perfectly. It’s a constant. For many years, I now try to identify the Hoosier killer like I have PTSD. The list is endless of these guys. McIntosh is a great example. Funny, I was thinking of him too. My deal with Braden is I’m up here sitting in Chicago and not watching him play. I admit that. But from the clips and everything I’ve read about him, he’s a total bulldog. My point is that when you have 13 schollies, I think about three of them can be used like “wild cards.” Keep them available for some combination of a transfer, some stud from Europe or a decommit from elsewhere or whatever, and the bulldog, Indiana boy. I bet Braden will be phenomenal in the locker room too. The trick might be figuring out the right kid and not Loyer who I do not think is a B1G caliber player. One of the truly defining characteristics is the toughness to want to stick it to us.

How did Gelen’s football career go? I’m not an expert on Purdue football but it seems like I haven’t heard his name in years. Is Rondale still thinking first round? My hot take is David Bell will be better player and one of the highest picks in 2022. He’s an impressive athlete and football player.

From what I saw of him on streams, he has a very nice outside shot with a nice touch. Let’s not forget, he is literally IN STATE. Purdue just brought in Edey, Kaufman, and Furst at the 4 and 5 positions. That’s alot of mouths to feed. I may be wrong but my recollection is that MSU similarly has commits from very highly ranked 4’s and 5’s coming. Meanwhile IU has a center recruit and plenty of wings. But IU can sell him on being featured in our offense at the four spot. I’m not saying anything is happening but that would be my pitch. We have the biggest opportunity and it is in state if he has home state pride. What his relationship is with Archie, I have no idea.

What position were they projecting him for?

Dan is so courageous using his big platform to dog on a 17 year old kid who is obviously well intentioned and showed nothing but class and humility. Dan is in his upper 50s and that’s on his radar to mock a kid? He thinks that’s a responsible use of his platform? At his age? That’s just weak. Good for Gunn to get on board early. An IU guy all the way. His skill set screams two way player.

I am not a huge Jimmy G fan either. But at least he’s competent. He has trouble taking hits though. I brought him up because I’ve read that SF is heavily involved on Watson but maybe that all changed. You seem to be more up to date than I am. It’s hard to keep up sometimes lol. Carolina is another team who may either trade up in the draft or trade for Watson. They’d probably keep Bridgewater but maybe if you throw off a first round pick for him, they’d deal him. You put a really good team around him and he’s solid. I am just looking around the league and seeing where possible musical chairs lie.

How about Jimmy Garrapolo? To get up to the top 3 draft picks to get Wilson, that’s got to be three ones and a couple of twos. The Redskins traded three ones and a two to get up to draft Robert Griffin. But they had the 6th or 8th pick (something in that range). Falling to twentieth or wherever the Colts are would be brutal for the team trading down. They’d need a haul.

I thought Wisconsin would win the league. I have to take the L on that one. Their talent level already capped out by last year and other teams have gotten better and blown by them this year.

Funny I was just thinking that about my nephew. He starts on his high school team as a junior. His picture was in the paper today in an action shot and he’s got some kind of head band type of thing keeping his hair out of his eyes. His hair is something like Galloway’s. It has happened every generation to be fair.

Good points. Love the length and potential on both ends.

He probably has not seen us play with Penix at the helm.

None of us know whether he’s a true head case or not. Archie will be in a position to know. How he proceeds will be telling. Out of all of the possibilities for a kid being kicked off his team, the story that has come out is probably the best case scenario. It’s honestly along the lines of what I expected. The football thing seems a bit flaky and out of focus since he hasn’t played in awhile. He sounds like he needs stability and guidance. As a player, I think he’s ideal if he gets his focus and attitude in check. He’s under scrutiny now. If he makes another move after this one, he might as well carry a Scarlett letter around for being the biggest flake or malcontent of the NCAA.

Could I interest anyone in a forward rotation of Cross, Geronimo, Hunter, and Galloway? or a guard rotation of Lander, Franklin, Stewart, Phinisee and Leal?

I don’t know that you could identify a kid who could fall out of the sky and fill our needs better than Cross. And Archie loved him during the recruitment. Of course, the reason for his separation from the U is not public. I linked an article from Miami from this afternoon that brings us up to date on his career. Bottom line, Coach Larranga didn’t play him the last game even though they had a short bench. Could be a personality clash. We can speculate until we are blue in the face. Archie can find out though. If he pushes forward, then we will know he’s comfortable with whatever it was. https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/acc/university-of-miami/article248839044.html

Attorney in a law firm.

You’re a good guy and I’ve warmed up to you over the years. It’s certainly always interesting with you lol. By the way you will be happy to know I just heavily recommended a Purdue grad for our firm. Outstanding candidate.

Well fine. I heard a ton of stuff about him and how good he is. By the way, I complimented several Purdue players in my post and mentioned that Purdue is rolling in recruiting. So it’s not like I’m not being credible by just trashing Purdue. I just think I was surprised by how far he’s got to go. I did say he could turn into a good player depending on his makeup.