Kdug

A draft would first require athletes to be considered employees and paid directly by the schools, then it’d require the athletes to unionize, then it’d need to be agreed upon through a collective bargaining agreement. That’s extremely unlikely, or at least a very long ways away.

Just realized this stat, but we outshot Iowa from 3. We were 8-22, they were 6-22. 6 more points on the same number of attempts. I definitely did not have that on my bingo card.

Tough to tell with Malik. Looked like an ankle, probably a sprain. Didn’t look horrible on the replay and he walked (limped) off the court on his own power, but those sort of injuries can linger.

Good win, but costly with the injuries. I feel really bad for X. I know he’s not everyone’s favorite, but that seemed like it might be the end of his college career. What a terrible way to go.

Ware has been a beast on the boards tonight

Get out of here with this BS. X did nothing wrong there. If anything, he made a great play

Wow. I think he just broke his arm

I hate the rule that “they need to call it to be able to review it”. Because now there has to be enough evidence to overturn it. It’s so stupid

Our guards need to learn that you don’t need to foul Perkins when he attacks the rim. We have Ware back there who’s blocking everything

Cupps had an open look in the corner, but he just doesn’t even look at the rim on offense.

Galloway has been horrible

Perkins flops every time he attacks the basket. Galloway didn’t even come close to fouling him there

Shouldn’t be a flagrant here either. BUT, if that were XJ on defense he probably gets ejected.

If this is a flagrant one I might quit watching college basketball. Ridiculous that they’re even reviewing this

Mbako! Love the heady play

All things considered, that was one of our better half’s of the year. The defense was excellent for the most part. Sandfort hit some shots, but it felt like some of them were heavily contested and you just tip your cap and keep playing. Ware is completely owning the paint on defense. One of the issues with this team this year is playing a full 40 minute game. We’re halfway there, need the same effort and execution in the second half.

Don’t love fouling when we would’ve got the ball back

Having Ware back makes a huge difference inside on defense

Is that Anthony Leal or Steph Curry? Tough to tell, they look too similar

As a point guard or combo guard yeah. But Knect is more of a 2 or 3, and we had a clear opening at the 3. We filled that spot with Mbagko, who a lot of recruiting analysts said would fit better as a 4. With Knect in particular, I’d be surprised if he didn’t come here because of playing time concerns.

What’s easier?

I don’t think anyone ever really publicly says that NIL is the main reason for picking a school. But from what I remember hearing and reading, I’m pretty sure IU basketball is in the top 10-15 range in terms of men’s basketball NIL resources. That inherently means we’re outspending a majority of college basketball programs. It’s not like IU is only targeting 5 star players who don’t care about NIL.

I know this was a hypothetical scenario, but if Knect had similar interest in IU and Tennessee and we lost because we evaluated him that low on our NIL roster, that’d be borderline negligence by the staff. He always looked like a perfect fit that could slide right into the starting lineup as either a 2 or 3 and give us a lead scoring guard. But if I remember that recruitment right, I don’t think he ever seriously considered IU.

We weren’t recruiting in the same league as Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, and UNC before NIL. Meanwhile we just won a head to head recruiting battle with Kansas for Mbagko, and we just got Ware who was one of the more sought after players in the portal. I’d be very surprised if both of them didn’t get significant NIL commitments - so I don’t think it’s accurate to say IU isn’t getting in NIL bidding wars. Woodson definitely deserves credit for the improved recruiting. But I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’ve had some of our highest rated out of state recruits in a long time right after NIL became a thing.

The portal plus NIL has definitely given more power to big schools, at least in terms of being able to reload on talent. A school like IU can now outbid a lot of other schools for high level players. And a lot of those high level players can be experienced college players instead of high school seniors.