Who was the biggest recruit Indiana missed out on in your opinion?
- Thread starter Wall2Boogie
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Eric Montross was a big miss
Yes, but he was only there a few weeks, which is why I included him because it’s not like he played for Indiana.
Has to be Ivan Renko due to NCAA violations..
Not getting Montross was the beginning of the end for Knight. He wins another championship with him and is insulated from the end of decade stuff that resulted in his firing.
Indiana missed out recruiting for the position of President of Indiana University from '94 - 2007...and maybe more. And to top that off IU didn't even recruit for RMK's replacement...not to mention he who must not be named and then the play faster guy. It's been tough for 2 decades. But IU may have gotten the thing right with Coach Archie Miller.
Only good thing to come out of Kentucky is bourbon...and the only good thing out of Lafayette is the Subaru Outback.
Tom Ehrlich was outstanding. Too bad IU couldn’t hide their highest priority. TE would’ve taken the University in a much better direction.
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Ditto on Oscar Robertson (who went to Cincinnati and Final Foured there twice), but recently, Kyle Guy. Without Guy, Coach Tom Crean caves on in-state recruiting; Virginia does not win National Championship in 2019; other consequences.
Re Robertson:
"Robertson continued to excel while at the University of Cincinnati, recording an incredible scoring average of 33.8 points per game, the third highest in college history. In each of his three years, he won the national scoring title, was named an All-American, and was chosen College Player of the Year, while setting 14 NCAA and 19 school records.[4]"
Re Robertson:
"Robertson continued to excel while at the University of Cincinnati, recording an incredible scoring average of 33.8 points per game, the third highest in college history. In each of his three years, he won the national scoring title, was named an All-American, and was chosen College Player of the Year, while setting 14 NCAA and 19 school records.[4]"
How many more stupid bullshit posts are you gonna start on this IU board? PHUK OFF!!
IMHO....Montross comes with Bailey and there are perhaps 2 more banners hanging in the Hall. Hard to say what happens next but IU stays on top of Duke through the 90s.
Oscar Robertson, Clyde Lovelette, Louis Dampier, Rick Mount, Junior Bridgeman, Pete Trgovich, Kyle Macy, Jerry Sichting, James Master, Walter McCarty, James Blackmon, Sammy Drummer, Chandler Thompson, Ben Wilson, Glen Robinson, Rick Fox, Eric Montross, Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Sean May, Robbie Hummel, Gary Harris, Matt Howard, Kyle Guy, keeping Larry Bird at IU to play on the 1975 and 1976 IU National Championship team. Scott Skiles, Shawn Kemp, Zach Randolph, Trey Lyles, Gordon Hayward, and Dylan Windler recently. All three 7 Foot McDonald's HS All-America Plumlee brothers from Warsaw, Indiana, and the other two 7 foot McDonald's HS All-America Zeller brothers from Washington, Indiana. (National Championship difference makers: Oscar Robertson, Ben Wilson, Glen Robinson, Shawn Kemp, Eric Montross, Greg Oden, Larry Bird)
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Oscar Robertson, Clyde Lovelette, Louis Dampier, Rick Mount, Kyle Macy, Walter McCarty, James Blackmon, Sammy Drummer, Ben Wilson, Glen Robinson, Rick Fox, Eric Montross, Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Sean May, Gary Harris, Kyle Guy, keeping Larry Bird at IU to play on the 1975 and 1976 IU National Championship team.
One of the more thoughtful posts I've seen here in a while. I whittle your list down a little based on impact and the years they would have played in B-town.....The Big O, Sammy Drummer, Ben Wilson, Glen Robinson, and Mike Conley.
Can't include Bird as we did recruit him; he'd have to be a new post: Who were the biggest losses of players that left IU and ended up at a another school, Bird, Calloway, Funderburke..............
One of the more thoughtful posts I've seen here in a while. I whittle your list down a little based on impact and the years they would have played in B-town.....The Big O, Sammy Drummer, Ben Wilson, Glen Robinson, and Mike Conley.
Can't include Bird as we did recruit him; he'd have to be a new post: Who were the biggest losses of players that left IU and ended up at a another school, Bird, Calloway, Funderburke..............
Glad people mention Oscar as it sounds like we blew it with him.
Most will say Montross in 90. Especially in retrospect with Henderson going down. Plus I'm guessing most of this community was alive and aware back then (sadly history tends to turn to dust. Very few people can talk about the 40 team and 53 is becoming that way. It happens).
Davis biggest miss was Oden/Conley.
Sampson's was Hummell I'd guess.
Crean's was Gary Harris, maybe Trey Lyles.
Archie's is Brooks so far (we'll see how he plays, maybe he won't be).
For me it's Shawn Kemp. He's a head case and would have never made it two weeks here in reality but we did actively recruit him and for a talent on that 1989 team...he might have pushed us over the top of an already outstanding season that ended in the sweet 16 to eventual title runner up Seton Hall. No offense to Todd Jadlow who knew his role, but Kemp was a monster frontcourt freak.
Most will say Montross in 90. Especially in retrospect with Henderson going down. Plus I'm guessing most of this community was alive and aware back then (sadly history tends to turn to dust. Very few people can talk about the 40 team and 53 is becoming that way. It happens).
Davis biggest miss was Oden/Conley.
Sampson's was Hummell I'd guess.
Crean's was Gary Harris, maybe Trey Lyles.
Archie's is Brooks so far (we'll see how he plays, maybe he won't be).
For me it's Shawn Kemp. He's a head case and would have never made it two weeks here in reality but we did actively recruit him and for a talent on that 1989 team...he might have pushed us over the top of an already outstanding season that ended in the sweet 16 to eventual title runner up Seton Hall. No offense to Todd Jadlow who knew his role, but Kemp was a monster frontcourt freak.
Lew Alcindor
Bill Walton
Hakeem Olajuwon
MJ
no one who played only 1 yr belongs on the list, since they only had impact for 1 yr.
Montross only hurt because Knight being Knight ran off Funderburke, who imo was better than Montross before he got hurt.
fwiw, as great as Oscar was, Cincinnati never won it with Oscar. they did make the final four, finishing 3rd.
Cincinnati won it all the next two years without Oscar.
he was a really great player, but he wasn't a dominant player.
Bill Walton
Hakeem Olajuwon
MJ
no one who played only 1 yr belongs on the list, since they only had impact for 1 yr.
Montross only hurt because Knight being Knight ran off Funderburke, who imo was better than Montross before he got hurt.
fwiw, as great as Oscar was, Cincinnati never won it with Oscar. they did make the final four, finishing 3rd.
Cincinnati won it all the next two years without Oscar.
he was a really great player, but he wasn't a dominant player.
Oscar would have play his last 2 yrs, (freshmen were ineligible back then), with Walt Bellamy and Gordon Mickey, had he gone here.
from Walt's wiki page,
Bellamy chose to play basketball at Indiana University. "In the summer after my junior year of high school I played with some guys from Indiana", he said. "Indiana at the time was the closest school to the South that would accept African-Americans. It was an easy transition for me to make. Not that I was naive to what was going on in Bloomington in terms of the times, but it didn't translate to the athletic department or the classroom. Every relationship was good."[1]
Oscar wasn’t a dominant player? You better check out what’s in your coffee cup. Also, Funderburk has made very positive comments about Knight in the past. Yes, Knight was probably way too tough on him. But he was a very immature kid at the time.
Hmm. Oscar's experience was a different kettle of fish:
"When Oscar’s Crispus Attucks High School became the first all-black champion in state history in 1955, Indianapolis rerouted its annual championship parade toward the ghetto, with the implication being, We don’t trust the blacks to behave themselves, so let’s keep this self-contained. Oscar never got over it. Nor did he get over Indiana University’s coach, Branch McCracken, for recruiting him by saying, “I hope you’re not the kind of kid who wants money to go to school.” (Note: If you don’t think Oscar didn’t immediately stand up and walk out of the room, then you don’t know Oscar well enough. Yes, that was a triple negative. I was due.) He chose the University of Cincinnati and had experiences that defy imagination six decades later. This stuff actually happened? His teachers belittled him in class and went out of their way to make him feel dumb. In Dallas, fans greeted him by tossing a black cat into his locker room.
"In Houston, he couldn’t check into his hotel because of a NO BLACKS ALLOWED sign … only his team stayed there anyway, with poor Oscar stuck sleeping in a Texas Southern dorm room. In North Carolina, someone delivered him a pregame letter from the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan that simply read, “Don’t ever come to the South.” In St. Louis, he and a black teammate strolled into a restaurant and were greeted by stony silence, followed by every other customer clearing out within a minute or two. Even in downtown Cincinnati, they had “colored” water fountains and a cinema that wouldn’t allow blacks as patrons … a theater that stood only half a block from where he starred for the Bearcats. Night after night, Oscar was filling a gym with fans and couldn’t even walk down the street to catch a movie"
from:
https://grantland.com/features/the-big-o-had-plenty-game-plenty-chips-shoulder/
You need to correct your mistaken recollection of Oscar Robertson.
a) He played 3 years for U of Cincinnati.
b) he was in two Final Fours.
c) he was absolutely dominant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Robertson
"with the implication being" wtf is that.
what would the "implication" have been, had the parade not been routed though the neighborhoods that team represented???
i can hear the critics now,
"City slights black neighborhoods with parade route, after Crispus Attucks' championship".
and i guess Branch should have asked Oscar, "what's your number".
you need to correct your mistaken recollection of my post.
and your definition of dominant, differs fro mine.
that said, when i said "wasn't dominant", i was comparing to the truly dominant players i've seen.
Wilt, Alcindor, Walton, MJ, Shaq, Lebron, Koby, Bird, Sampson.
yes, Oscar got to the final 4 a couple times with Cincinnati.
Cincinnati also went to the final 4 the next 3 yrs after Oscar left, winning it twice.
when you take ISU to the final game undefeated, that's dominant.
saying Oscar wasn't "dominant", was perhaps a slight on my part.
just not as "dominant", as the others i listed above.
Kind of a different twist. If Kirk Haston doesn't go pro, out of the blue, IU most likely beats Maryland for the 6th banner. Irealize this can be said about Alan H's knee and Scott M's arm but IU did make it to the Championship game and Haston was a beast.
That’s somewhat plausible, until you remember what beast Juan Dixon was in that game.
Wow that’s just unchristian of you. I only asked a question not trying to start a fight friend
I had no idea he almost went there. We had Brandon Wright and hansborgh in the bag until some how tubby let them get away. It was the beginning of the end for him unfortunately, because he was a hell of a coach
The biggest recruit we missed out on is Wall2Boogie. You wouldn’t be a Kentucky fan trolling this board and I might like you then.
Except IU had reached its quota, so to speak. Ask Cardinal Hall of Farmer Bob Gibson about that as it relates to IU basketball.
In reality, he didn’t almost go to IU. Even if he’d wanted to, which was a matter of debate, his father would never have agreed to it.
Went to high school with Montross, he used to run around with my older brother. He was never really infatuated with IU for whatever reason. Leary and Monross were very good friends and a lot of people thought Leary getting a scholarship was a ploy to entice Eric. Never ended up working out.
Indiana has missed out on several, if not most Lawrence North prospects and I’ve never understood why. Think Knight may have held a grudge against Keefer for not pushing Montross towards Bloomington. Along with missing out on Oden and Conley, IU whiffed on John Stewart (RIP) who I thought was better than Montross. Missed out on Chris Hill who was a pretty damn good player for MSU and missed out on Stephen Van Treese who won a national title at Louisville.
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