Hippopotamo

If Tamar was from Indiana he’d be incredibly hyped. I’m so glad we have him. 

Really fortunate it’s his non shooting hand. 

Class of 22 is always going to be tough with a new staff. 23 will be the big class IMO. 

World Wide Wes

6 minutes ago, dgambill said:

There’s an app or something like that called Cameo…basically you put your services up to be rented by the hour for appearances.

Cameo is for recorded videos, but every celebrity basically sets their own prices. 

Woodson also said that our non-con would be weaker this year, and I think it makes perfect sense. 

15 minutes ago, dgambill said:

Agree and disagree. This is his moment to put himself in that elite group of players at the top. If he is to lead his team to a championship he could officially put himself in that elite group of guys like Kawhi, D Wade, Paul Pierce…show he can be the man and not the sidekick. I mean I look at the Clippers and even without Kawhi his team is more talented then Phoenix imo. I don’t get this excuse he doesn’t have as good a team. They are the favorite in my opinion. I can’t say he has played exceptionally well the whole series. They’ve basically gone how he has and he has been up and down with his performance. Better or worse the Clippers will go how he goes and if he carries them then he should get great credit but if he doesn’t well it’s going to come down to how he finishes this series off.

Paul George isn’t a #1 option on a title team in my opinion. He’s played way more minutes than any other player in the playoffs and the Clippers are exhausted. Overall I think he’s done great considering the circumstances. 
 

I also personally disagree on your Phoenix assessment. I feel like the Clippers are the better team with Kawhi, but without him I think the Suns are better. I probably view CP3 more highly than most because I feel like he’s elevated that team to a whole other level. 

West Virginia is one of the most successful college programs of all time. Arguably the best program without a championship. 

1 hour ago, BGleas said:

I would say CP3 has more to lose. I think people get who Paul George is. Nobody expects Paul George to be LeBron James or Michael Jordan, they expect him to be more the Robin. 

So sure, PG could vault himself into the James, Durant, Kawhi conversation in terms of current perception if he led the Clippers to a title, but I don't think people expect it.

For CP3, while he is towards the end of his career, there are people that call him the best point guard of all time, and most others at least have him in the top 3. 

But if when his career is over, can you really call him the greatest compared to Magic, Isiah, etc., if he not only doesn't win a title but never even gets to a Finals? Even Stockton got to 2 finals. 

Steve Nash is a 2-time MVP and doesn't get into that discussion because he never even made a Finals. 

CP3 needs this. 

I totally agree, but also want to add that I think PG gets a pass this year with Kawhi being out this series and the fact that PG has played well and clearly given it his all. 

I wish I still lived in upstate New York! I’d love to watch IU destroy Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. 

9 hours ago, olsontex said:

It's not surprising in the sense of how much appeared to be telegraphed the past few days, but on a personal level it doesn't make much sense to me.  All of our opinions are subjective on the relative advantages of different schools and for me I'd rank Syracuse in a tie with VT at the bottom of the list.

Academically Syracuse is a decent school, with a somewhat noteworthy basketball tradition.  There is reasonable consistency in their program but there is also nothing to get all that excited about, especially in recent years.  I know it feels hypocritical as an IU fan to comment on the lack of recent relevancy of another school, but oh well I don't care.  The truth is the last time Syracuse made any noise on the national stage was 8 years ago in the 2013-2014 season.   Since then they've missed the tournament 3 times in 7 years and been seeded 10, 11, 8, and 11 in years they made it in.  Yes, they happened to reach the Sweet 16 3 times but nothing more.  That last sentence encapsulates pretty much everything appealing about their program.  They managed to win more than 1 game in the tournament a few times.

Please tell me 2 wins vs. 1 win in the tournament isn't the in a vacuum deciding factor for the overall merit of a program.

It's too early to say if Taylor has an NBA future, but like an overwhelming number of players I'd guess no.  NC, UVA, and IU are all superior to Syracuse from an academic standpoint and arguably offer a bigger basketball stage (certainly no less).  In the case of UVA it's many tiers ahead academically and in the case of NC it's many tiers ahead in terms of national exposure.   In IU you've got a better academic school, a bigger national basketball presence, and current buzz/momentum exceeding just about every other school in the country.

It just leaves me scratching my head.  As adults we have the benefit of life experience so it's a bit silly to try and place ourselves inside a kids head.  Still, I'm left wondering what the heck he could have seen or perceived that led him to think Syracuse is a better option for both his short term development and long term prospects.

The last time IU made the NCAA Tournament Syracuse made the final 4. Not sure we can look down on their program right now. 

If we signed every single player who visited IU we’d have 45 players on the roster every year. You literally can’t have all of them pick IU. 

If Houston’s owner wasn’t so spiteful Harden would be crushing it on the 76ers right now. Him and Embiid would be such a great pair. 

Just as a follow-up to my earlier comment, I looked at 247 rankings for Indiana in 2022 and 2023 (excluding out of state La Lumiere kids) and here are the current rankings for Indiana players:

2022 - 21 (Washington), 119 (Gunn), 126, 128, 144, 170, 214, 227, 245, 247. 
 

2023 only ranks the top 75 for now - 

10 (Gibbs-Lawhorn), 23 (Fears), 55 (Hooks)

2023 is still early and could have some real players, but 2022 is really lacking elite talent outside of Washington. It makes perfect sense for Woodson to look out of state for the 2022 class. 

Apparently the 2022 and 2023 classes in Indiana are historically bad, so it makes sense for IU to spread the footprint for those years. 

I wish it was one of two ways: expand it to 6 teams, OR keep it at 4 teams but don’t have playoff until after all the bowl games. 

If Tamar Bates was from Indiana he’d be way more hyped. I think it’ll work to our/his advantage, and I couldn’t be more thrilled that he’s in an Indiana uniform. 

Duncomb’s hair looks incredible. We could use that blue collar grit. 

Because of the max contracts, LeBron is actually severely underpaid compared to the value he brings to a team and to a city. Cleveland’s economy went way up when he was on the Cavs, and it went down when he left. I’m not a fan of all his dramatic antics, but he’s also at worst the 2nd best basketball player of all time and an incredibly hard worker.

I’m sure they’ll offer congrats when he commits to a new school. 

It seems like with Kentucky struggling a bit it might make them want to renew the the rivalry with IU. 

One of the valuable things I see in someone like Braden Smith is it seems like he’s willing to go to IU and sit on the bench for a couple years without transferring. 

A class of Smith, Washington, and Gunn would be good to me

9 hours ago, FKIM01 said:

ummmm...200 divided by 13. 😜

No, each player is going to play 3 minutes per game. 

@BGleas You might be my favorite poster on this side. Every time you post it’s just straight facts. 

The NBA is unfathomably more popular than College Basketball, and it’s really not close at all. I’m a fan of both and I can see why people prefer one over the other, but it’s just so painfully obvious which one is more popular to an extent that even arguing about it is asinine.