Good point about the fouls. Someone to eat up some minutes to get our starting big back in the game.
Are any decent or good bigs
- Thread starter bwcoach
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Only a matter of time until this happens, and in some instances, it's not a ridiculous argument. The most likely case would be someone who was poor and wanted money to help their family, declared for the NBA draft in the immediate years prior to NIL based off a wild projection and went undrafted. They could argue that had they had NIL, they would've just stayed in college and not gambled. Think I heard that revenue sharing plan was going to compensate back to like 2015, and that might be the reasoning for that.
I think that's probably still true in college. In the NBA, I think its getting to the point where its pretty much all dependent on skill. In other words, if you happen to have a 7 footer that's really damn good, like Denver does, then you use him a lot and ride him. But even Jokic, very rarely anymore posts up. Knicks, Celtics...watched for about an hour, not sure I saw a single traditional post up. And the Knicks main rotation is 4 guys 6-6 and under, and then Karl Anthony Towns. And the only big man depth they have is Mitchel Robinson. I've mentioned the Warriors before, they just took out a much larger team, playing long stretches without playing any bigs at all.
College doesn't always track or follow the NBA. But I don't think building a roster, style of play, however you want to look at it, around perimeter players is a bad approach. In fact, I think its the best approach he could have taken. But having said that, I do agree, IU likely isn't going to compete for a Natty, or even Final Four, without a rim protecting big that would fit his system.
Until I see the players in conference action, the offensive and defensive schemes, teamwork, effort, basic fundamentals, recruiting results and in game coaching adjustments, I will defer judgment. It might be into conference play in the second season before an accurate analysis can be formed.
The rumor from Bloomington is we offered him a spot but he wanted some sort of guarantee on minutes this year that coach couldn’t give his word on happening
If so then good for CDD. We should never put ourselves in a position where playing time is anything other than earned.
Yeah, I think time is earned as well.
But, I also think maybe it's an easy check by a recruit to figure out whether a coach is BS-ing them or not, especially on the schemes he's really going to run.
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But, I also think maybe it's an easy check by a recruit to figure out whether a coach is BS-ing them or not, especially on the schemes he's really going to run.
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Interesting if true. And my uninformed take on that, and the fact that he hasn't signed any more bigs, is he likely feels pretty confident and comfortable with the lineup he already has.
Also obviously could just be a principle thing for CDD to not make promises like that? Hope its a little of both.
An answer I heard a coach give a player on that question once..."Asking that question of me means you must think you're pretty damned good. If you are as good as you think you are. And if you work as hard, have a good attitude, and buy in like everyone else, then yes, I promise you, you will be playing a lot of minutes for us."
People are going to be really disappointed with Bailey's interior defensive presence. He's a wing who grew 3-4 inches late in high school and because of that, guarded the other teams 5 at the next level. He's a point forward on offense who really is a luxury at this point. Think there's plenty of options to make up for what he brings offensively in the event of an injury and in all honesty our best defensive lineups don't include Bailey on the floor.
The more games I watch...actual games and not just highlights. The more I think its possible we see a fair bit of Alexis at the "5", Bailey at the "4" and DeVries at the "3".
In fact... a starting lineup of Conerway, Wilkerson, DeVries, Bailey, and Alexis...
Dorn and Harris are designated first guys off the bench.
Harris mainly for either Bailey or Alexis.
Dorn for either Wilkerson or DeVries, depending on situation.
Enright and Drake next guys to spell Conerway and/or Wilkerson.
Alexis isn't Dikembe Mutumbo, but he has shown to be an effective shot blocker. Both DeVries and Bailey have proven to be solid rebounders. Obviously with Wilkerson, DeVries, and Bailey as the wing defenders, there would be question marks. But its possible CDD's pack line might suit all of them well? Much less need for being individually good defensively.
You couldn't be more right. This upcoming year's shortcomings will be able to be traced back to DDs staffing stumbles. This is a roster that reflects a helluva plan that fell apart out of the gate.
Underselling Jasai Miles. He rebounds his position very well and one of the better three level scorers on the roster. Our best overall lineup in my opinion is:
Alexis
DeVries
Miles
Wilkerson
Conerway
I'm more intrigued with Harris by the day. Joe Tipton listed him at 6'9 230 when he committed a few weeks (shown as 6'8 190 in his high school recruiting profile) and was averaging 17/7 prior to getting injured which appears he never fully got back on track. Had 22/7 in a win over Georgia Tech and 12/6 in a competitive game with Georgia a few nights later.
Miles doesn't seem..."bouncy"... to me. Something about watching him move, especially defensively. But you're right, he did certainly contribute, basically in all phases and at all levels. DeVries does too... he's an underrated overall defender and rebounder.
Rod Clark could be an enormous addition to this team. If even a little bit of Barnes defensive system comes with Clark, the lineup you mention could be pretty damned good defensively.
If Miles does establish himself as a core starter, main guy at one of the wing positions...I think that's probably nearly as important as finding a rim protecting big. It pushes more DeVries minutes towards the "4", which makes us deeper at the 4/5 spots. And would make us deeper 1-3...as I think all Enright, Dorn, and Drake are capable contributors as well.
He doesn't look any less bouncy than Dorn. Dorn is almost exclusively catch and shoot. Really struggled scoring off the dribble and was wildly inefficient. Miles DR% of 19.1 last season would tie only Josh Harris (his former teammate) for anyone on the roster next year.
He's much stronger physically, and uses that strength to get inside more...but Dorn looks quicker and more bouncy, to me. Similar overall length though. Dorn is much more perimeter focused, but isn't 1 dimensional by any means. Dorn's Offensive rating is a fair bit higher.
Glad we have them both.
If Harris can develop more of a perimeter game then he could be paired with Alexis against certain teams….with Devries, Wilkerson, Conerway.
FWIW it looks like the 7-footer from Cincy is still in the portal. (Aziz Badaongo iirc). Not sure if he has any official eligibility left, or if he can play at the B1G 10 level, but Drew Adams should know better than anyone. Maybe he wouldn’t cost that much and could fill the “Michael Durr” role off the bench. Probably a long shot but imo makes as much sense as bringing back both Goode and Leal.
Two thoughts on such a rumor.
First it implies tha Hoiberg guaranteed him minutes which I find hard to believe. No Big Ten school needs to guarantee anyone minutes.
Secondly, if he or his agent is asking schools for guarantee minutes it tells me they are unsure the player is good enough for the league. Thst would worry me. Good players aren't worried about competition.
That's ridiculous. Tell me about the staffing stumbles. Let the dude build a couple of rosters. Paying bigs isn't the way.
He was offered a scholly, money wasn’t the issue.
Perhaps the Goode AND Leal rumors were premature. It looks like DeVries is still hunting... Not the 6'9+ guy that everyone wants, 6'8 and 215lbs wing, ranked #28 in 247 Composite. Reclassifying. IU Is trying to get a visit, but we're up against "the brotherhood" and others.
I very much doubt we pull Wilkins away from Duke's "brotherhood," yet it's encouraging to learn that DeVries is still searching for players aside from Goode/Leal.
I agree, Hoiberg is not going to promise him minutes, not with Mast being back, Curtis will be a back-up. Hoiberg is building a pretty competitive team.
But what you and IndyRes are saying, makes the roster appear even thinner, not ways that we might overcome the lack of frontcourt depth. You're talking about the fact that the guy who I'd expect to be our primary frontcourt backup, already getting more minutes to overcome Bailey's known weakness in defending posts. I just think not addressing what everyone pretty much sees as a deficiency in this roster was a miss. Might have been circumstances, but I'd like to have seen one more true post guy on this roster, especially a rim protector/rebounder. That's the most glaring piece that seems to be missing.
I'm confident CDD will be a good bit better than CMW or CAM, but Crean...? What, we won a couple B10 titles under him, made a couple S16 and for much of one season had us as the #1 ranked team in the land. If you're already annointing CDD as better than that, I think you've got your crimson colored specs on.
It's why I'm trying to be objective in citing roster weaknesses, and I agree that he had staffing stumbles. Most coaches focus on getting a complete staff first, presumably so they have more help assembling the roster. With how things panned out, he wasn't able to do that because the season was still going on for several teams and the portal was open and he needed a full roster. I want to believe CDD is "the guy", but I've tried to get on the wagon for all of our coaches and after 25 years of mostly disappointments, I'm trying to be more objective with this. I was addressing a whole bunch of posts/comments so not directed at any 1 person.
Interesting.
This place is like Groundhog Day. With each new hire it seems certain that we will substantially improve over the guy being fired.
I think its a missing piece. But doesn't necessarily have to be a "glaring" miss. And obviously DeVries isn't worried enough about it to stretch on a big. All we know as of now is that IU has had the money, and the roster spot, to add a couple more bigs. If the rumors are true on why Curtis didn't choose IU, its a clue that maybe DeVries thinks we're in decent shape in terms of main rotation bigs.
Alexis, Bailey, Harris, and Sisley...with a guy like DeVries playing a lot of minutes at the "4"... is plenty of depth, and versatility.
I'd love for him to find a Chinleyu or Tugler type guy. Or a developmental guy like those two, for practice purposes. But as far as actual minutes and game play, I don't think we're nearly as thin as you do, at any position.
I think it's going to be glaring if any of the 3 of Bailey, Alexis or Harris go down for a multiple game stretch with injury. I'm trying to evaluate CDD fairly and have said much of it may have been this year's crops of bigs, but I don't think there's one poster here who wouldn't feel better if we had a Federikox2, or another 6'10"+ post guy on this roster. No reason to defend him, I'm trying to be objective not critical, but I think it is the biggest hole/vulnerability in this roster.
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