Parakeet Jones

I heard we’re scheduling both of them next year.

Glad to hear.

Two and three for sure. I’m not sure where I’d set the bar for number one. My biggest concern is roster construction and recruiting. If we haven’t made in roads to building a foundation through HS recruiting and we look like we’re going to be portal or bust again, that is a deal breaker. You can build teams through the portal, but not a program. We could have a pretty good team built through the portal for next year and I’d still be skeptical of the long term if we have 0 HS recruits lined up like this year.

Walker has two years of eligibility left. I like that. I’m not going to pretend I know anything about these guys we have reached out to, but he seems like he would be a nice piece to add. You know one thing that I find encouraging about him, and I might be completely out to lunch on this, he is 6’1”. That’s a smaller guard than Woody has seemed to pursue in the past. Maybe he is broadening his thinking about what we need and adapting. At least that is my hope.

Those are snacks. Just not enjoyable ones.

No. Get some snacks. Take your shoes off. Get comfortable. We’re going to be here a while.

Which leads to a question I have been pondering, are we going to overpay so much to bring guys back that it hampers what we have to use in the portal?

Ware has to officially declare to make it seven. Six until then.

Just saw on X, Banks is in the portal too.

I always liked Sparks. I wish it could have worked.

Exactly. My worry is we just bring in a bunch of guys with one year of eligibility remaining and we are doing this all over again next year.

Wilson fell of a cliff the last couple of years. Maybe Fields gets a shot if he starts off slow. It’s not a terrible spot to be in.

Since IU is not in the tournament, I think I’m going to bandwagon watch ISU in the NIT.

I said in some thread here back around January that we were going to see just how strong our alleged NIL prowess is this off season. We are about to find out. The thing I think we all need to remember though is that we aren’t the only school with money to spend. I feel like some of our fan base thinks no one will outspend us and we’ll just buy anyone we want. It’s not going to be that easy.

If we’re going down the portal hole, I hope we take the Cignetti approach. Get productive guys from a lower level rather than guys who are disgruntled or didn’t play much on P5’s. I suppose Foster fits that bill.

I couldn’t even watch it. Too depressing. You know what is worse? I could see it being 2027 before we hear our name again.

I just don’t want to be doing this all over again next year. That feels inevitable though.

Dane Fife.

Only one year of eligibility remaining. We can’t take too many of those types.

I know. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve read in a long time.

Are you talking about Cupps? We will see in the days to come if there is any truth to that rumor, but IF he enters the portal, that transfer more than any other would signal trouble.

The Kenny Payne train will roll into town any day now.

I know he isn’t a B1G player, but I like Sparks.

We are gambling on the portal for next year. That’s a risky bet. It’s why I wish we would have just ripped off the band aid this year.

There was a lot of chest thumping after we beat three crappy teams and two average ones, but water always finds its level.