Beamerball

His comment about putting our hopes at a 7 out of 10 for Ware really got my eyebrows up this morning when I read that. He isn't usually overhyping things just to generate a buzz...

Good deal. I know trusted/sourced info is something we all wait for and after the whole Nick situation with his tweet I figured some intel from a well-known and reliable insider would be appreciated.

Yep, just passing along highlights. Hope I'm not doing something that isn't allowed.

Knecht zoom went very well. Good chance that things progress with IU. Ware has been talking with multiple IU players including JHS and Trey. JHS actively recruiting for IU.

On campus with Ledlum. Today and tomorrow. Visit can't officially begin until noon today. Coach Ya the lead on this one and has done a "tremendous job" and "Indiana has a legit shot here" per insdiers.

Per another site, DeLoach is not top of the list right now. My guess is he isn't an immediate take while they see how other things shake out. If he commits somewhere else, oh well.

Do you know of more specific things to come or are you just assuming based on how quickly things have picked up?

What kinds of things on Twitter?

Zoom with Love began about 45 minutes ago, give or take. Interesting to see what kind of reports we hear after it.

"That sounds a lot like Mike Woodson." - Mike Woodson

Eric Bossi suggesting the Timberlake/UNC visit did not go as well as many had hoped in UNC country. If he sets up more visits, UNC (the perceived favorite) might be in trouble. Something to keep an eye on. Here is the quote from Bossi: "However, Timberlake has yet to commit and there are rumbles of some concern out of Tar Heel land. Timberlake has yet to lock in any other visits for next week, but Kansas and Indiana have been rumored as potential spots and they’re among others like St. John’s and UCLA working to get him on campus. If Timberlake does indeed lock in visits, then it might be time for UNC to start making moves on other targets."

That is my feeling as well but it seemed everyone else thinks Love so that had me confused if there was something I had missed.

So, I tried to quickly catch up in this thread this morning. RTZ dropped a couple of hint bombs, but no one knows exactly who he is referring to other than it not being Shedrick. Love? Battle? Those are the two most obvious choices since Ledlum set an official visit so it wouldn't make sense to commit before coming on that visit.

That's my bad

If Kent State tries to turn tonight into a super physical game, similar to Rutgers but more undersized, it will come down to the whistle. If we get some calls to go our way and get some of their guys in foul trouble, that is even more positive for tonight. They have no size so they will try to use their quickness to get steals. The early whistle will tell us how the game could go early on.

I read the FG% instead of the 3PT FG%. My apologies.

X, Trey, Bates, Battle, Malik isn't a terrible place to start from. Trade Bates/Trey for Timberlake and i like it more

Agree. He had a down year this past season but still shot almost 38% from 3. Year before he averaged 17 and 6 with 37% shooting from 3.

Battle from Minnesota in the portal. IU in contact.

Woody, and the staff, had a zoom with Timberlake. Mutual interest in getting him on campus. Timing is the only hurdle.

Also, we have played 10 teams (16 games) that are higher rated defensively than Kent State. Here is that list and their rank. Rutgers (7) IU went 1-1 Kansas (11) 0-1 NW (14) 0-2 Purdue (21) 2-0 Wisconsin (30) 1-0 Illinois (36) 2-0 MSU (38) 1-1 Maryland (39) 1-1 Arizona (40) 0-1 UNC (41) 1-0 IU went a combined 9-7 against teams with a higher rated defense (according to BT) and scored on average 70 ppg. If IU scores 70 Friday night, they will win no question. To add, Kent State has played only 1 team with a higher rated defense than ours all season (Houston). They scored 44 points.

Haven't been on this site for a while but posted this on a couple of others. All I have read and heard is how "elite" Kent State's defense is, yet no one has been talking about how is Kent State going to score against us? Or better yet, how will Kent State stop/slow us down? IU Bart Torvik: Overall 33 (O: 34/D: 46) Kent State Bart Torvik: Overall 79 (O: 117/D: 45) In their 3 most recent losses: Gave up 82 points to Ball State (170 overall/121 O/243 D) (Lost 82-70) Gave up 67 points to Akron (108 overall/96 O/144 D) (Lost 67-55) Gave up 86 points to Northern Illinois (241 overall/257 O/210 D) (Lost 86-76) They gave up an average of 78 points to teams rated an average 157 on O, IU is 123 spots higher on O than that. Ball State beat them by 12 by only hitting 7 3's, but they shot 34 free throws. Lastly, in the only common opponent the two teams have played, Miami (OH) (BT: 267 overall/O: 217/D: 312): IU won 86-56 Kent State won 69-66, they scored 69 points against the 312th worst defense in the country (according to Torvik) and only had two players score in double figures. I understand not taking a team lightly but comparing them to Rutgers (36 overall/O: 161/D: 36) might be a stretch. No chance their center is as active and athletic as Cliff Omoruyi (6'11" 240), or their two lead defensive guards are as good on the ball as 6'7" 213 Mulcahy or 6'7" 200 McConnell (they aren't, their guards are 6'1" 185 and 6'3" 194). Trey (6'4" 203) and JHS (6'6" 215) will have their problems from time to time but over the course of a game, no way those smaller guards hold up against our bigger guards who have played against Big Ten/Power 5 caliber guards and ball pressure all season long. I'm sure they are a solid team, to win the MAC tournament you have to be. But I am not here to contribute to the overall hype train that is rolling for Kent State. I do appreciate it though hoping that this motivates IU and makes it less likely they overlook Kent State with the media all jumping on that bandwagon.