That read more like old timey Letters From The Civil War than basketball.
Mullins
- Thread starter edub72
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Indiana kids are like the cardiovascular system of the program. You need to keep some of those arteries open.
In this case, these are the kids Woodson has had a full cycle of recruiting for. He needs to sign some. Not every year, not every kid, but he won't survive if he can't land any with a 3 yr cycle.
Woodson has only signed one freshman from the state of Indiana in 3 seasons, and that was CJ Gunn, whom was recruited by Miller before Woodson.
Langdon Hatton and Luke Goode and Payton Sparks are/were Indiana kids who transferred.
Leal and Galloway are Indiana kids who were there before Woodson.
Cupps and Duncomb were nearby in terms of recruiting just outside the boundaries a bit. And then there have been walk ons in Woodson's tenure, like Nathan Childress.
But what is missing is a TJD, James Blackmon, Yogi Ferrell, Cody Zeller, Eric Gordon, Jared Jeffries.... on and on and on.
Seems a 6'5" guard from Broad Ripple HS in Indianapolis would understand the value of recruiting in state talent.
He is yet to seal the deal.
Langdon Hatton and Luke Goode and Payton Sparks are/were Indiana kids who transferred.
Leal and Galloway are Indiana kids who were there before Woodson.
Cupps and Duncomb were nearby in terms of recruiting just outside the boundaries a bit. And then there have been walk ons in Woodson's tenure, like Nathan Childress.
But what is missing is a TJD, James Blackmon, Yogi Ferrell, Cody Zeller, Eric Gordon, Jared Jeffries.... on and on and on.
Seems a 6'5" guard from Broad Ripple HS in Indianapolis would understand the value of recruiting in state talent.
He is yet to seal the deal.
Although your statement is 100% accurate I think it greatly exaggerates the situation. Last year Bidunga was pretty much the only Indiana kid that top schools went after. We lost him to Kansas so went 0-1. Prior to the 2024 class the staff was new enough that they were behind the 8 ball due to not having the requisite 3 years (in most cases) to beg and grovel to get the kids to commit.
The 2025 Indiana class has a lot of talent, and the staff has had the required 3 years to beg/grovel/ show the love to the 16 year olds, so it will be disappointing if Woody and the staff strike out with the Indiana kids this year.
“Beg/Grovel/Show the love” includes the ability to offer big NIL, which should help. We should get a few of these ‘25 guys.
I agree that helps which one of the reasons why I said it would be disappointing if he strikes out with the 2025 kids.
That being said…..the competition (UK, UNC, UCONN) can pay them just as much as we can.
I agree with your post — this is our first full recruiting effort with a big in-state class.
Except none of those guys were in those classes, nor was anyone of their caliber. Instead of just complaining he didn't sign anyone from the state during that time, name a name you wanted who was on that level. Hard to sign what ain't there.
What about the kid who went to MSU from Marion I believe……Arrington? Think he was highly coveted yr before Bidunga
we recruited him and Bidunga. I don't fault CMW for either of those guys, but winning will fix this, imo. There will always be guys who want to go elsewhere, but if we were back in F4s and winning the B10, I believe we'd have gotten at least 1 of those 2. Our program has lost it's luster to this generation of players and not getting it back will continue to make recruiting, in state or out, harder than it should be.
I always go on a rant when Bookers name is mentioned. I've never seen less heart in a player.
Bidunga. Then there are 2 obvious talents who have started for the Boilermakers for 2 years. Burton to ND. He averaged over 15ppg as a freshman. Possibly KJ Windham, who is now at NW. Also, Robinson from Indy just signed with Butler.
I'm not saying Woodson needs to sign them all the time, but in 3 years he isn't exactly setting a good precedent. Gunn was already being recruited when Mike came onboard.
So you think it's reasonable to expect Woodson, hired at the end of March 2021 to have recruited and received a commitment from Braden Smith who committed to Purdue a month later, and Loyer, who committed the prior November? Almost might've been more reasonable to see if Eric Gordon still had eligibility left. He recruited Bidunga and of your others; easy to say we should've recruited guys after they've proven themselves in college. Burton is the only one you mentioned who might've been realistic, and he was a 5'11" PG out of Mishawaka, not exactly an IU hotbed.
See how shallow your complaint gets pretty quickly?
He also did quite a lot of "re recruiting" every offseason, and some of those guys are Indiana guys. TJD, Galloway, Leal...TJD he was able to keep for 2 years...which was basically like signing a Top 5 rated 5 star kid each year. The other 2, he chose not to push out...in fact, I think probably recruited pretty hard to stay on for this next season. And as you mentioned, he tried pretty hard on Bidunga.
Burton wasn't on really any high majors radar until very late in the summer before his senior year. And as soon as Notre Dame offered, he was off the board. Basically every regional high major school "missed" on Burton. Notre Dame was just fortunate they were in his back yard.
And now in 25', he's recruiting 3 Indiana kids hard, and has been since he got here.
UConn Could Still Land Four-Star 2025 Shooting Guard: 'Down To Three Schools'
Could the UConn Huskies snatch away one of Indiana’s top high school players expected to sign with the Hoosiers? It’s still a distinct possibility. Class of 20
I used to think he was a lock, but unless he's just scared to death of leaving home, I don't know how you pass on Hurley. 500k and a fast track to the league. UK can offer more money and maybe we have, but 5 perimeter players from UConn have been drafted and made teams the last 2 years.
Because there’s a very real chance that he’s just another “guy” at UConn. They’re still heavily recruiting Maleek Thomas who is their primary target in this class. Aidan Mahaney still has another year of eligibility left after this year and they have three other Guard/Wing players who barely played last year as top 30-60 ranked freshman on top of another top 30 ranked CG they brought in with McNeeley.
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Fair critique.
But if he doesn't sign any in state guys this year, it becomes a concern, agreed?
I'd say it's a concern anytime an employee devotes so many resources to a target or goal and misses, but it would be hard to do worse than we did in the 2024 class and yet here we sit with what I believe will be CMW's best roster and a 5 star recruit only a few spots behind where McNeeley was, so he certainly recovered well and if he strikes out with those it would depend on who we ultimately get both as HS recruits and portal guys. I think you have to blend recruits and portal guys to develop chemistry and a culture year to year, but then you can get guys like Carlyle and Rice out of the portal who have 3 years left, so they sit in both pools. Different world and I'm still not sure how to assess it, but ultimately it's the product on the floor.
I think it's important to look at who the primary recruiters are in these areas. Woody has been a closer only with the exception Haralson. I think he occasionally sleeps on their couch.
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