While many gave grief to Crean for what seemed like endless roster churn, I wonder if folks have grown accustomed to large recruiting classes and I wonder if Miller will have smaller classes than we've seen in recent years.
By my count, starting with the '09 class and ending with the '16 class, Crean brought in 37 scholarship players over 8 years. That averages out to 4.6+ additions per class. I appreciate that it's not 1982 and things have changed, but that's still a lot of people. I always got the sense with Crean that there was something of a 'tryout' mindset and that inevitably players wouldn't make the cut. That's not simply a reality of the modern transfer rate, but instead a broad recruiting approach that compelled competition and churn.
If Miller takes a scaled back approach, that sorta means that whoever he brings in isn't coming on a 'tryout' basis. Whoever we land, THAT'S our guy for the next few years. For good or bad, with Crean there was less worry if a kid didn't work out because there were two more at the same position.
I among others want to see a return to a regional recruiting focus, but I suspect Miller needs to be careful. E.g., Jallow looks really solid, but this isn't the Crean era, so if Jallow is just 'okay' (whatever that means), then he's not as obviously a great pickup. In the Crean era, that would have seemed like a no-brainer because there was so little expectation and so many other potential recruits who might also join. If Miller is more begrudging (which I think he should be), that means being more careful and more accurate in identifying those fits.
I wouldn't expect the '18 class to be ginormous. IU will likely already have something like 8 scholarship players (7 of whom will likely play meaningful minutes) when the '18 class hits campus (and maybe only one senior among them). If you add 4 more, you're adding more than will reasonably expect to be in the rotation (and that doesn't leave a ton of room for '19 kids the following year).
I'm hoping that IU lands Phinisee and Jallow, among others. But since this isn't the Crean era, and if we expect no more than 4 in the class, they've got to be the right answers (even accepting that Miller can still run kids off if they don't perform).
That's not an argument for Garlands instead of Phinisees. That's an argument for making sure (to the extent it's possible) that the Phinisees are going to be really, really good by the time they're juniors.
By my count, starting with the '09 class and ending with the '16 class, Crean brought in 37 scholarship players over 8 years. That averages out to 4.6+ additions per class. I appreciate that it's not 1982 and things have changed, but that's still a lot of people. I always got the sense with Crean that there was something of a 'tryout' mindset and that inevitably players wouldn't make the cut. That's not simply a reality of the modern transfer rate, but instead a broad recruiting approach that compelled competition and churn.
If Miller takes a scaled back approach, that sorta means that whoever he brings in isn't coming on a 'tryout' basis. Whoever we land, THAT'S our guy for the next few years. For good or bad, with Crean there was less worry if a kid didn't work out because there were two more at the same position.
I among others want to see a return to a regional recruiting focus, but I suspect Miller needs to be careful. E.g., Jallow looks really solid, but this isn't the Crean era, so if Jallow is just 'okay' (whatever that means), then he's not as obviously a great pickup. In the Crean era, that would have seemed like a no-brainer because there was so little expectation and so many other potential recruits who might also join. If Miller is more begrudging (which I think he should be), that means being more careful and more accurate in identifying those fits.
I wouldn't expect the '18 class to be ginormous. IU will likely already have something like 8 scholarship players (7 of whom will likely play meaningful minutes) when the '18 class hits campus (and maybe only one senior among them). If you add 4 more, you're adding more than will reasonably expect to be in the rotation (and that doesn't leave a ton of room for '19 kids the following year).
I'm hoping that IU lands Phinisee and Jallow, among others. But since this isn't the Crean era, and if we expect no more than 4 in the class, they've got to be the right answers (even accepting that Miller can still run kids off if they don't perform).
That's not an argument for Garlands instead of Phinisees. That's an argument for making sure (to the extent it's possible) that the Phinisees are going to be really, really good by the time they're juniors.
