Latest / Podcast on the Brink / POTB 536: Excitement for IU football and a new era for men's basketball with Galen Clavio

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POTB 536: Excitement for IU football and a new era for men's basketball with Galen Clavio · Podcast on the Brink

0:18
Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of Podcast on the Brink. Tuesday,
0:22
Speaker 1: August nineteenth. Indiana wraps up its exhibition tour in Puerto Rico.
0:27
Speaker 1: Last week had a ton of coverage of that on
0:29
Speaker 1: Inside the Hall. We had Josh pose on for two
0:33
Speaker 1: episodes down there. Those were very well received episodes. Josh
0:36
Speaker 1: did a great job of covering the team down there
0:39
Speaker 1: in Puerto Rico. This week's guest on Podcasts on the
0:42
Speaker 1: Brink Galen Clavia. Before we get to Galen, one of
0:45
Speaker 1: my favorite guests to have on the show. Please, if
0:48
Speaker 1: you haven't done so, please take a minute to leave
0:50
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0:52
Speaker 1: us a five star rating over on Spotify. Those watching
0:54
Speaker 1: on YouTube, subscribe to the channel like the video. I've
0:58
Speaker 1: noticed the last couple of weeks getting a lot more
1:01
Speaker 1: likes on our video podcast episodes, so it's always good
1:05
Speaker 1: to see. So thank you for that support. Continue to
1:06
Speaker 1: do that, Galen, I was looking back at my notes.
1:09
Speaker 1: October twenty eighth was your last appearance on this podcast.
1:12
Speaker 1: We were talking about Indiana's triumph down in Knoxville, Tennessee.
1:18
Speaker 1: We were thinking what top ten, top fifteen team, and
1:21
Speaker 1: here we are with another reset of IU basketball. I
1:26
Speaker 1: guess to start out, first of all, how you doing.
1:28
Speaker 1: I know you got a lot going on with school
1:30
Speaker 1: starting next week there in Bloomington and your duties with
1:33
Speaker 1: the media school, So thanks for taking the time.
1:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh great, great doing well. Thank you for having
1:37
Speaker 2: me on. I can't believe it's been that long. It
1:39
Speaker 2: feels like it's been It feels like it was not
1:41
Speaker 2: that long, let's put it that way.
1:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, I guess how surprised are you that we're
1:47
Speaker 1: kind of back at this point now after another four years.
1:49
Speaker 1: It feels like obviously there was there was nine years
1:52
Speaker 1: of cream, so that was a longer tenure for an
1:55
Speaker 1: IU basketball coach, and then we've kind of had these
1:58
Speaker 1: successive four years for coaches and another reset, and I
2:02
Speaker 1: feel like some of us maybe kind of fall into
2:04
Speaker 1: that trap of now there's a new coach and now
2:06
Speaker 1: there's reason for optimism again, but you don't really know
2:08
Speaker 1: what's going to happen. I'm just curious your thoughts on
2:12
Speaker 1: ending up back in this spot and if you're surprised
2:14
Speaker 1: at all that here we are again.
2:17
Speaker 2: If I recall my October appearance last year, I think
2:22
Speaker 2: we talked quite a bit about how there was Even
2:25
Speaker 2: though they looked good at Tennessee, there was a big
2:27
Speaker 2: wait and see aspect because there had been a lot
2:30
Speaker 2: of trust lost in Mike Woodson and that whole project
2:34
Speaker 2: because of what had happened in the previous spring. So
2:37
Speaker 2: I wasn't shocked when it went the way that it
2:39
Speaker 2: did last year. And I remember talking with some people
2:42
Speaker 2: before the season and saying, well, if X and Y
2:46
Speaker 2: round into shape, and if they can integrate Ballo into
2:48
Speaker 2: the offense, then I think they'll be more competitive than
2:53
Speaker 2: they were. Unfortunately, it never really happened, and it was
2:57
Speaker 2: one of those classic I guess you can as much
3:00
Speaker 2: as you can call a classic Woodson team after only
3:02
Speaker 2: a four year stint, but it seemed to have a
3:05
Speaker 2: lot more potential than what actually ended up happening in
3:09
Speaker 2: real life. And so I think it's more disappointing than
3:13
Speaker 2: surprising that we're back at this level. And it's again
3:17
Speaker 2: I think we've burned a lot of bridges, just like
3:22
Speaker 2: overall in terms of how people view IU basketball, and
3:25
Speaker 2: that really extends to all different levels, and so it's
3:30
Speaker 2: an interesting spot to be in inasmuch as last year,
3:33
Speaker 2: while I would say maybe not as bad feeling as
3:37
Speaker 2: the previous year was, just as frustrating in a lot
3:41
Speaker 2: of ways. And you know, it's left us in a
3:44
Speaker 2: spot where I think for a lot of IU fans
3:46
Speaker 2: it's like, all right, seriously, we're back at this level again.
3:50
Speaker 2: And I understand anybody that feels that way at this point.
3:55
Speaker 1: So last year, maybe going into the season there was
3:59
Speaker 1: a bit of a distraction because of the football season
4:03
Speaker 1: was going on. It kind of feels the same way
4:04
Speaker 1: a little bit this year because there's so much excitement,
4:06
Speaker 1: even maybe more so excitement at this time of year
4:09
Speaker 1: going into football because a lot of people didn't know
4:11
Speaker 1: what to expect with last year's football season. And you know,
4:14
Speaker 1: the joke's always been football has been something to pass
4:17
Speaker 1: the time before basketball and Bloomington. It's not really that
4:20
Speaker 1: way anymore now after just one season of Kurt Signetti.
4:24
Speaker 1: I'm curious, you know, somebody that lives in Bloomington. You
4:26
Speaker 1: followed that program, the football program for such a long time,
4:30
Speaker 1: and you've got students now coming back to campus and Bloomington,
4:33
Speaker 1: and we're covering football for the first time this year,
4:35
Speaker 1: and inside obviously not as in depth as we do basketball,
4:38
Speaker 1: but we are going to add some football coverage and
4:40
Speaker 1: excited about that. But what's the feeling just that you've
4:43
Speaker 1: gotten thus far on campus, Just in terms of the
4:46
Speaker 1: excitement leading into this fall sports season with football.
4:49
Speaker 2: It's very high, you know. And this is something that
4:52
Speaker 2: isn't just limited to campus. It's something that we see
4:55
Speaker 2: in most of the social media circles. It's certainly something
4:58
Speaker 2: I hear about when I talk with people, Like, there's
5:00
Speaker 2: legitimate hype and excitement about IU football, and there should be.
5:05
Speaker 2: This is one of those programs that, yes, they had
5:07
Speaker 2: a magic carpet ride last year with the way that
5:10
Speaker 2: everything went. But where I think this is different is
5:14
Speaker 2: not only did they retain a lot of the top
5:16
Speaker 2: players from last year who demonstrated that they were playing
5:20
Speaker 2: at levels that have led them to be first team
5:23
Speaker 2: All country. I mean there's like two or three IU
5:25
Speaker 2: defensive players between Mikhal Kamarad, Angelo Ponds and Aidan Fisher
5:31
Speaker 2: that are getting ranked among the best in the country.
5:33
Speaker 2: But they also were able to reload. They went out
5:36
Speaker 2: and they got Fernando Mendoza quarterback. They went out and
5:39
Speaker 2: got Pat Coogan to play on the offensive line, and
5:42
Speaker 2: zen Mkowski, they went out and got Jose Wheeler. I mean,
5:45
Speaker 2: they've got all these new pieces to go along with
5:47
Speaker 2: the existing pieces, and it really does feel like a
5:51
Speaker 2: program has formed, as opposed to a good team, which
5:56
Speaker 2: is oftentimes historically when you'd see Indiana do well, they'd
6:01
Speaker 2: culminate in one team that would win seven games and
6:04
Speaker 2: go to a bowl, and then they would recede and
6:06
Speaker 2: we'd start to cycle all over again. It doesn't feel
6:09
Speaker 2: that way right now, and I think a lot of
6:10
Speaker 2: people have really bought into the idea that this is
6:14
Speaker 2: a school that now does football, you know, as opposed
6:18
Speaker 2: to just being purely a basketball school.
6:22
Speaker 1: So are you expecting these first couple of games we're
6:24
Speaker 1: gonna see a full Memorial stadium? I know there's once
6:28
Speaker 1: the big ten schedule hits, there's going to be the
6:29
Speaker 1: expectation that the stadium is full. But I remember those
6:31
Speaker 1: first couple of games early on, you know Kurt Signetti famously,
6:35
Speaker 1: I think it made a comment about students leaping at
6:37
Speaker 1: halftime and then that was quickly rectified. Is the expectation
6:41
Speaker 1: kind of going into these early games that you're going
6:42
Speaker 1: to see close to full or full Memorial stadium.
6:46
Speaker 2: I think it's it's going to be a challenge to
6:48
Speaker 2: get the stadium full for those early games as much
6:51
Speaker 2: because the hotel logistics are not there in Bloomington. You know,
6:55
Speaker 2: it's I mean, it's wild out on the streets, so
6:58
Speaker 2: to speak. If you go look at hotel price is
7:00
Speaker 2: for that first weekend, it's pretty nuts. And that said,
7:05
Speaker 2: I still think we'll get close. I think it's about
7:07
Speaker 2: eight or nine thousand tickets still available for the Old
7:09
Speaker 2: Dominion game. I'm guessing that we'll get to a stadium
7:13
Speaker 2: capacities essentially fifty three thousand. I'm guessing we'll get to
7:16
Speaker 2: forty eight or forty nine, maybe more than that, depending
7:19
Speaker 2: on what the walk up looks like and what the
7:20
Speaker 2: weather is that day, which for an opening game against
7:24
Speaker 2: a non name competitor is pretty darn good. Or IU football,
7:29
Speaker 2: I think it's we could do some more hotels. If
7:31
Speaker 2: there's any entrepreneurs out there that would like to try
7:33
Speaker 2: to open one, I'm happy to go into business with
7:36
Speaker 2: you on this. But in addition to that, I know
7:40
Speaker 2: so many of people that come to IU football games
7:42
Speaker 2: come from out of town. They come from the North
7:44
Speaker 2: side of India, or they come from Fort Wayne or
7:46
Speaker 2: they come from the region. It's going to be interesting
7:50
Speaker 2: watching people get Rea cultured to the idea that they
7:53
Speaker 2: have to be down there every weekend. I think for
7:55
Speaker 2: Big Ten games, it's going to be sold out, and
7:57
Speaker 2: I think, as we saw last year with Nebraska, with Washington,
8:01
Speaker 2: with Michigan, it's gonna be IU fans in the stands.
8:04
Speaker 2: That in and of itself is a huge sea change
8:06
Speaker 2: from what it's been historically, and so the fact that
8:10
Speaker 2: they would get that close to sellouts in these non
8:12
Speaker 2: con games is pretty impressive, and I wouldn't be shocked
8:15
Speaker 2: if one or two of them actually did end up
8:17
Speaker 2: it sold out or close to it.
8:19
Speaker 1: A few more football things before we dive into hoops.
8:22
Speaker 1: But there's been obviously a lot of preseason chatter just
8:26
Speaker 1: about this whole scheduling debate in college football, and Indiana's
8:29
Speaker 1: kind of been the focus of some of it. I
8:32
Speaker 1: think some of that obviously is brought on by kind
8:35
Speaker 1: of Kurt Signetti not being shy about voicing his opinion.
8:39
Speaker 1: Also Indiana kind of changing some things around the schedule.
8:42
Speaker 1: You know. The last year, I think it was that
8:43
Speaker 1: they got out of the Louisville series this I think
8:46
Speaker 1: coming up that they've bought out of a series with Virginia.
8:49
Speaker 1: But the flip side of that is the Big ten's
8:51
Speaker 1: playing more conference games than the SEC, and so, you know,
8:56
Speaker 1: depending on how you want to look at it, I
8:57
Speaker 1: think everyone has maybe an argument that they can make
9:00
Speaker 1: with this. Where do you kind of come down on
9:01
Speaker 1: this whole situation in terms of scheduling college football? Does
9:04
Speaker 1: it need to be something where these conferences kind of
9:07
Speaker 1: align on the number of conference games that they're going
9:10
Speaker 1: to play. Does it need to be some equity there?
9:13
Speaker 1: Or do you think the system is fine as it
9:14
Speaker 1: is and we can continue to have these arguments in
9:17
Speaker 1: July and have fun on social media talking about it.
9:20
Speaker 2: I mean, we can have the arguments. I just what
9:25
Speaker 2: real incentive is there for any program like Indiana to
9:29
Speaker 2: play a tough non conference schedule when you play nine
9:33
Speaker 2: games against Big ten competition. No one's been able to
9:36
Speaker 2: adequately answer that question. You point to the SEC teams.
9:39
Speaker 2: The SEC teams play eight SEC teams, and some of
9:44
Speaker 2: them will play a Power Conference opponent. Many of them
9:49
Speaker 2: do not, you know, so it's one of the or
9:52
Speaker 2: if they're playing one, they're playing the dregs of a conference,
9:55
Speaker 2: and you know, it's one of those deals where the
9:58
Speaker 2: arguments are not really being done in good faith. And
10:02
Speaker 2: if you're an SEC partisan, of course you're going to
10:05
Speaker 2: argue that playing a weak non conference schedule should be disqualifying.
10:11
Speaker 2: But from my perspective, there's no reason why a Big
10:16
Speaker 2: Ten team at this point should be engaging in that
10:18
Speaker 2: unless they have such an overwhelming talent advantage that they
10:21
Speaker 2: really feel like they need to test themselves. But I'll
10:23
Speaker 2: note last year Notre Dame ends up in the national
10:26
Speaker 2: title game, did not play a particularly difficult schedule, and
10:31
Speaker 2: it clearly didn't have that much of an impact in
10:33
Speaker 2: terms of their ability to play in the playoffs. So
10:35
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what playing tough non conference games is
10:39
Speaker 2: really supposed to give you if it doesn't make a
10:40
Speaker 2: huge difference in how your team plays, and all it
10:43
Speaker 2: does is potentially endanger your ability to make a playoff.
10:46
Speaker 2: Given the criteria that college football uses to bring teams
10:50
Speaker 2: into the playoff, which is a committee making subjective decisions,
10:54
Speaker 2: I think Indiana is doing exactly what they should be doing,
10:57
Speaker 2: and it's hilarious to me that Indiana has gotten the
11:02
Speaker 2: ire of not just SEC fans, but these national sports
11:05
Speaker 2: writers who act like some kind of crime against college
11:07
Speaker 2: football is being committed. And I'm just like, guys, are
11:10
Speaker 2: you going to talk about Penn State's non conference schedule
11:12
Speaker 2: this year? Like at all? Go look at that. It's embarrassing.
11:16
Speaker 2: It doesn't get talked about. Why because Indiana is new
11:20
Speaker 2: to the ball and there is a real old money mentality,
11:24
Speaker 2: not just among teams, not just among fans, but among
11:27
Speaker 2: media that cover college football. It's unfortunate and to me,
11:32
Speaker 2: it's almost like a fake debate point at this point.
11:34
Speaker 2: And it probably won't matter anyway in three years because
11:37
Speaker 2: we'll probably end up in the middle of another round
11:39
Speaker 2: of realignment. But it is hilarious that Indiana keeps getting
11:42
Speaker 2: talked about on a daily basis with this, and all
11:45
Speaker 2: it's doing is getting Indiana in the minds of more people,
11:48
Speaker 2: which is exactly what you would want out of this
11:50
Speaker 2: whole process.
11:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, it would have been totally fine last year if
11:53
Speaker 1: it was Ohio State with the credentials in Indiana, had
11:56
Speaker 1: people whre have looked at the scores that they that
11:58
Speaker 1: they beat some of the I think that was the
12:00
Speaker 1: most frustrating thing. I was you know, watch not covering
12:02
Speaker 1: the team, but it was interesting because I checked out
12:06
Speaker 1: some of those early games last year because it was
12:09
Speaker 1: a new coach and it was a new you know,
12:13
Speaker 1: a new beginning, and I wanted a chance to see
12:15
Speaker 1: if it was going to be any different because I've
12:17
Speaker 1: watched AU football over the years and you kind of
12:18
Speaker 1: get to that week five or six, it's I got
12:21
Speaker 1: what we've seen this story before. Well it felt different
12:23
Speaker 1: from the beginning last year, and it was actually a
12:26
Speaker 1: really great story, Like a lot of these national writers
12:30
Speaker 1: could have embraced the fact that there was this Indiana
12:32
Speaker 1: team that look at the program's history and look at
12:35
Speaker 1: what it's done over this long period of time, and
12:37
Speaker 1: it was really just a great story just in terms
12:39
Speaker 1: of that turnaround and improbable. I mean, I don't have
12:42
Speaker 1: a list of the most improbable college football seasons in
12:45
Speaker 1: the last twenty twenty five years at the major conferences,
12:47
Speaker 1: but it had to be up there. And instead of
12:50
Speaker 1: embracing it, it felt like, as the season went along
12:53
Speaker 1: and they realized, well, there's a chance Indiana could make
12:55
Speaker 1: the playoffs, it's like, we don't want to give up
12:58
Speaker 1: one of these spots that one of these traditional Powers
13:01
Speaker 1: could have had to good old Indiana. You know, their
13:05
Speaker 1: story was cute for five or six weeks, but now
13:07
Speaker 1: they're continuing to win, they might actually crash the party.
13:09
Speaker 1: So that to me was the most disappointing thing about it.
13:11
Speaker 1: And it's kind of the opposite in what college basketball.
13:13
Speaker 1: There's every year in March of Cinderella's and all these
13:18
Speaker 1: national guys right about these Cinderella teams, and it's like
13:21
Speaker 1: the greatest thing, and we can't wait to see fifteen
13:23
Speaker 1: beat two or we can't wait to see sixteen beat one.
13:26
Speaker 1: And in this case, it was actually a really good
13:28
Speaker 1: story with a program that it wasn't like Cutney Corners
13:33
Speaker 1: with what it did last year. This was a lot
13:34
Speaker 1: of guys from the Portal obviously that were under recruited,
13:37
Speaker 1: and obviously the James Madison guys rank coming up a level,
13:41
Speaker 1: and it was just really you know, I don't know
13:47
Speaker 1: if you simulated, if you simulated the season one hundred
13:50
Speaker 1: times in a video game, it would have never happened.
13:53
Speaker 2: It's one of the greatest stories in American sports history.
13:57
Speaker 2: I mean, Indiana the most down trot of teams. You know,
14:01
Speaker 2: they trade losing his program in FBS history back and
14:05
Speaker 2: forth with Wake Forest and Vanderbilt, like that's how bad
14:08
Speaker 2: they are. Like, however bad you think Northwestern is in basketball, historically,
14:14
Speaker 2: that's Indiana in football. And you know it wasn't just
14:18
Speaker 2: that that program rose out of nowhere, out of no expectations.
14:23
Speaker 2: You know, the most optimistic expectations from national writers last
14:25
Speaker 2: year were like five wins and you know, to boat
14:29
Speaker 2: race almost the entirety of their competition through the first
14:33
Speaker 2: ten weeks, and to do so with a coach that
14:36
Speaker 2: had this remarkable backstory like Kurt Signetti, had to do
14:39
Speaker 2: it with a lot of the emotional and skill core
14:43
Speaker 2: of the team being a bunch of guys that came
14:45
Speaker 2: from a non power for team in James Madison. To
14:51
Speaker 2: do it in a year when the playoff expands and
14:54
Speaker 2: suddenly there's opportunity, that should have been a story that
14:58
Speaker 2: the nation embraced, the college football writers embraced, and they
15:02
Speaker 2: did as you pointed out for a little bit. What
15:04
Speaker 2: I found fascinating last year in this whole debate was
15:07
Speaker 2: this idea of who gets to be the underdog? Who
15:10
Speaker 2: gets to have the underdog story? As much focus was
15:14
Speaker 2: on Indiana and their schedule Boise State, no one questioned
15:20
Speaker 2: their you know, winning their conference and being in the playoff.
15:23
Speaker 2: I mean, go look at what Boise State did. Yes,
15:24
Speaker 2: they played at Oregon, good for them. They also played
15:28
Speaker 2: the likes of Utah State and San Diego State and
15:30
Speaker 2: Nevada and San Jose State in Wyoming, and no one
15:33
Speaker 2: batter than I, no one said well even though they,
15:35
Speaker 2: you know, were an automatic qualifier, they don't belong. There
15:38
Speaker 2: was oh, look at Boise State and Ashton Genti and
15:41
Speaker 2: what they've accomplished. So there really is. I think it
15:45
Speaker 2: was a real missed opportunity to talk about a great
15:49
Speaker 2: story and it wasn't uniform. I mean, Nicole Auerbach did
15:52
Speaker 2: a great story on NBC Sports profiling Signetti and the
15:56
Speaker 2: Hoosiers late in the season. You know, they got a
15:58
Speaker 2: lot of attention, kind of begrowudging they paid to them
16:00
Speaker 2: when they did make the playoff. But this is how
16:04
Speaker 2: it works at that level. And the thing one of
16:06
Speaker 2: the things that I found hilarious in the arguments against
16:10
Speaker 2: the playoff historically and against revenue sharing and all the
16:12
Speaker 2: things that I have in college sports was this idea of, oh,
16:16
Speaker 2: this might hurt competitive balance, and then you look at
16:19
Speaker 2: the top twenties of college football for the last twenty
16:23
Speaker 2: five thirty years, where's the competitive balance. It's the same
16:27
Speaker 2: cluster of teams doing everything. So I love the fact
16:30
Speaker 2: that Indiana not only did what they did, but they've
16:34
Speaker 2: come back and said we're not going anywhere. Will they
16:36
Speaker 2: have the same level of success last year for you
16:39
Speaker 2: this year as they had last year. I don't know,
16:41
Speaker 2: but I think their position to be able to do so.
16:44
Speaker 2: And I think it's fascinating that there seems to be
16:45
Speaker 2: this much preemptive attention to trying to knock Indiana down
16:49
Speaker 2: a peg. It's very you know, if you listen to
16:51
Speaker 2: Men and Blazers, you know, the podcast that covers English
16:54
Speaker 2: Premier League, you know, they'll always they'll always mention this
16:57
Speaker 2: thing about how there's this mentality about instead of celebrating
17:01
Speaker 2: other successes, we try to knock the successful down a
17:04
Speaker 2: peg to you know, if we feel like they've gotten
17:07
Speaker 2: too successful. That's kind of like how it feels with
17:10
Speaker 2: Indiana and the national press right now. But I think
17:12
Speaker 2: Indiana should embrace it, because hey, how often do we
17:15
Speaker 2: get to play the villain in things? Right?
17:18
Speaker 1: Take the free publicity right and take the take them moment.
17:21
Speaker 1: I'm going to season shifting gears obviously to hoops. We
17:25
Speaker 1: saw last season with football. The thing that changes obviously
17:30
Speaker 1: getting couraged signetty because it's not just about changing the
17:34
Speaker 1: coach or not just about changing the players. The coach
17:36
Speaker 1: is the one that is the CEO of the program.
17:39
Speaker 1: He oversees everything. He had the blueprint of how to
17:41
Speaker 1: flip this thing. So now basketball changes into the hands
17:44
Speaker 1: of Darren Deries. I'm curious just from your thoughts on
17:49
Speaker 1: your early impressions of how he's handled from March I
17:52
Speaker 1: think it was eighteenth until now. I can just tell
17:55
Speaker 1: you from my perspective, which is a media perspective, things
17:58
Speaker 1: that I've been encouraged by. Obviously, having an open practice
18:02
Speaker 1: is something we hadn't had for the last eight years.
18:04
Speaker 1: We actually got to see a little bit behind the curtain.
18:06
Speaker 1: It wasn't anything you know, secret that that we saw.
18:10
Speaker 1: It was an hour of workouts, but it was It
18:13
Speaker 1: was a just an opportunity to see something we hadn't
18:16
Speaker 1: seen really since the Tom kreen Aer so appreciated for that.
18:19
Speaker 1: Had a chance to sit down with Darreon Debrees and
18:21
Speaker 1: talk to him in his office for thirty five minutes.
18:23
Speaker 1: Again the last two coaches that never happened. Again, this
18:26
Speaker 1: is from the media perspective, but I think people also
18:28
Speaker 1: have to understand our perspective is to bring information to
18:32
Speaker 1: the fan base, and that really wasn't happening over the
18:34
Speaker 1: last eight years. And so I think those have been
18:37
Speaker 1: things that I've noticed so far that have been welcome changes. Also,
18:42
Speaker 1: just listening to the way he talks about running a program,
18:46
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of buzzwords. There's not a lot
18:48
Speaker 1: of things that you look at and say, well, he
18:51
Speaker 1: doesn't really mean that, he's just saying that. It seems
18:53
Speaker 1: like he actually does have a concrete plan for how
18:55
Speaker 1: he wants to do things. He has a style that
18:59
Speaker 1: he's recruiting to trying to bring players in. Obviously, wants
19:01
Speaker 1: to play up tempo and shoot a lot three pointers.
19:05
Speaker 1: He has brought in the pieces to do that. I'm curious,
19:07
Speaker 1: just from your perspective watching these first what five six
19:11
Speaker 1: months of how things have gone, what have been your
19:14
Speaker 1: impression so far?
19:16
Speaker 2: My impressions have been very favorable, And I think what
19:20
Speaker 2: the vibe I get off of Devirees is this is
19:23
Speaker 2: an exceedingly normal type of guys as coaches go. You know,
19:28
Speaker 2: I think all coaches are. You're a little bit crazy
19:30
Speaker 2: just because of the way you have to approach and
19:32
Speaker 2: think about what you do for a living. But my
19:36
Speaker 2: perspective on how he's approached the job, how he's approached
19:40
Speaker 2: his duties, not just talking to media, but also talking
19:43
Speaker 2: to fans. I mean, we saw him down at Huber's,
19:45
Speaker 2: we saw him, I saw him down at French Lick.
19:48
Speaker 2: You know. I think he's grown more comfortable even in
19:51
Speaker 2: this short time in communicating in a way that fans
19:56
Speaker 2: can grasp to a point where honestly, I remember sitting
19:59
Speaker 2: there at Hubert hearing him talk and it's like, well,
20:02
Speaker 2: this guy talks like a Midwesterner and that's going to
20:05
Speaker 2: resonate with a lot of the fans. And I think
20:07
Speaker 2: that that's something that's frankly been missing from Indiana coaches
20:11
Speaker 2: for a long time. You know. Mike Woodson talked from
20:15
Speaker 2: way up here all the time, you know, and that
20:18
Speaker 2: was perhaps earned, but still came across as somewhat arrogant
20:23
Speaker 2: perspective on his knowledge of the game of basketball and
20:27
Speaker 2: how it would translate at the college level. And I
20:29
Speaker 2: don't think that that resonated with fans at the end
20:31
Speaker 2: of the day, its ctaally didn't resonate with media. Archie
20:34
Speaker 2: Miller was just so distant in the way that he
20:38
Speaker 2: presented himself, and you just never got the feeling that
20:41
Speaker 2: Archie had command of things. He acted like it, but
20:45
Speaker 2: you never really felt like it was there. Tom Crean
20:47
Speaker 2: was all over the place all the time, you know,
20:51
Speaker 2: Mike Davis was very removed but also oftentimes didn't know
20:56
Speaker 2: how to really say things. And Bob Knight was more
20:58
Speaker 2: like a religious figure to people as opposed to being
21:00
Speaker 2: someone who was really communicated to you straightforward. It's just
21:04
Speaker 2: all of the things that you don't want in terms
21:07
Speaker 2: of normalcy and how you present yourself and present your program.
21:13
Speaker 2: And that's not a criticism necessarily, Like, you know, it
21:16
Speaker 2: worked for Night because you win a couple of national
21:18
Speaker 2: championships and you're going to be communicating that way, so
21:22
Speaker 2: it's certainly not a criticism, but it's just an interesting chain.
21:25
Speaker 2: Devrees might be the most plain spoken, straightforward coach Indiana's
21:28
Speaker 2: had in fifty years, which is pretty wild to think
21:33
Speaker 2: about now. I liked the bits and pieces I saw
21:38
Speaker 2: that came out of Puerto Rico. Obviously we didn't get
21:40
Speaker 2: a chance to see much those of us who didn't
21:42
Speaker 2: make the trip, but the clips I saw the accounting
21:46
Speaker 2: from the folks that were down there. I was pretty
21:48
Speaker 2: optimistic from what I was hearing, just in terms of
21:51
Speaker 2: the style of play, the way that they approached different
21:54
Speaker 2: aspects of the game, the fact there was such an
21:56
Speaker 2: emphasis on outside shooting. Even though the shooting wasn't really
21:59
Speaker 2: great from a percent perspective, some guys were able to
22:02
Speaker 2: show off their athleticism. I'm still fascinated to see how
22:06
Speaker 2: this works, both with this system in the Big Ten.
22:10
Speaker 2: You know, I think it's got a real chance to succeed.
22:12
Speaker 2: It looks a lot more modern. The shot charts look
22:14
Speaker 2: a lot more modern than what we've seen, but there
22:18
Speaker 2: is a talent deficit in terms of what you would
22:21
Speaker 2: normally use to evaluate the level of talent that a
22:25
Speaker 2: team has. I think that bark Torvik. There was a
22:28
Speaker 2: chart that came out the other day that aunt Wright
22:30
Speaker 2: had where it rated the talent levels of all eighteen
22:34
Speaker 2: teams in the conference. In Indiana was like second to last.
22:36
Speaker 2: I think they were only ahead of Minnesota, And you know,
22:39
Speaker 2: that's a metric that's almost certainly predicated on recruiting rankings
22:43
Speaker 2: and level of prior accomplishment. But that said, I like
22:50
Speaker 2: all the pieces and I like the way that they
22:53
Speaker 2: seem to fit together. I think that what Devrez is
22:56
Speaker 2: doing that's very smart right now is you know, there's
22:59
Speaker 2: not a lot of talk about what they're planning on
23:01
Speaker 2: doing other than we're going to play hard. I want
23:04
Speaker 2: people to leave the building being proud of what they
23:06
Speaker 2: watched when they watched EU play basketball, because look, this
23:10
Speaker 2: could be a team that surprises people and you know,
23:13
Speaker 2: is solidly in the tournament. It could be a bubble team.
23:15
Speaker 2: I just don't think we know what's going to happen
23:17
Speaker 2: when the rubber meets the road on this. But I
23:19
Speaker 2: do like the fact that the way that Derez is
23:21
Speaker 2: communicating is not lofty, it's not arrogant, it's not ego driven.
23:26
Speaker 2: It really just does feel like a guy talking basketball.
23:29
Speaker 2: And I think that frankly, that is something that IU
23:32
Speaker 2: fans want to hear. They just haven't heard it in
23:35
Speaker 2: a long time from the head coach.
23:38
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think some people saw the scores of the
23:41
Speaker 1: games two and three down there and wondered why they
23:44
Speaker 1: got down so big on both those games, and I've
23:46
Speaker 1: tried to explain to a couple of people that they
23:48
Speaker 1: were obviously not to me, my read of the situation
23:52
Speaker 1: from what Derez told us was basketball was kind of
23:54
Speaker 1: secondary on this trip. It was more about these excursions
23:57
Speaker 1: and these food tours and getting out on the water
24:00
Speaker 1: and so people. You know, I've had people ask me,
24:02
Speaker 1: are you concerned at all about the three point shooting numbers? Well,
24:05
Speaker 1: if a guy's out on a jet ski two or
24:07
Speaker 1: three hours before he's gonna play a basketball game in
24:09
Speaker 1: the ninety five degree sun, I don't think that's the
24:12
Speaker 1: preparation that they're gonna have when they actually get into
24:15
Speaker 1: the games. What was more encouraging to me was the
24:18
Speaker 1: fact that they got down big in these games and
24:20
Speaker 1: they were able to come back and figure out a
24:21
Speaker 1: way to win. Now you can have a debate under
24:24
Speaker 1: about how good Mega super Bet is. They're a team
24:27
Speaker 1: that had just come together, similar to Indiana, They've got
24:30
Speaker 1: some guys missing, but they do have a guy that
24:32
Speaker 1: was drafted in the second round of the NBA. They've
24:34
Speaker 1: got some other guys with high major talent. So it
24:36
Speaker 1: wasn't like the first team that they played was a
24:39
Speaker 1: couple of people have described them to me as kind
24:40
Speaker 1: of a Naia team. So encouraging to me was that
24:44
Speaker 1: they were able to figure out a way despite kind
24:48
Speaker 1: of the fact that maybe they weren't as focused as
24:50
Speaker 1: they would be when the regular seasons start, and find
24:53
Speaker 1: a way to win those games.
24:54
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, look, a lot of people ask me,
24:57
Speaker 2: why can't why is there no stream wise Big ten
25:00
Speaker 2: we're not broadcasting these or why is in the athletic
25:02
Speaker 2: department And it's August. It's early August when this is happening.
25:08
Speaker 2: This team has never played together in a competitive environment
25:11
Speaker 2: against another team before. And it's not just the basketball
25:15
Speaker 2: aspects that you have to build. You have to build
25:18
Speaker 2: a sense of a spree of corps. You have to
25:20
Speaker 2: build camaraderie. You have to build a sense of trust
25:23
Speaker 2: and belonging. And I know there's fans out there that
25:26
Speaker 2: I see on message boards who don't seem to think
25:28
Speaker 2: that stuff matters or isn't important. It is. I mean,
25:32
Speaker 2: this is just any good management or leadership book is
25:38
Speaker 2: going to talk about the need to form social bonds
25:42
Speaker 2: amongst your team, whether it's in corporate America or whether
25:45
Speaker 2: it's happening on a basketball floor. And I think what
25:49
Speaker 2: you said is exactly right, Like, you know, the wins
25:51
Speaker 2: and losses were not important. You know. It's it's funny
25:56
Speaker 2: because I think it would have been hilarious if I
25:58
Speaker 2: you had gone down streamed it but not kept score
26:01
Speaker 2: and just been like, well, we're just going to play
26:02
Speaker 2: like play by play and not worry about the final score.
26:05
Speaker 2: People would have freaked out about that, but it would
26:06
Speaker 2: have been just as useful. So I could care less
26:11
Speaker 2: about the outcome of a game in early August amongst
26:15
Speaker 2: a group of guys that hadn't been on the court
26:17
Speaker 2: at the same time playing live bodies on the other end.
26:20
Speaker 2: But what I did care about was they got to
26:22
Speaker 2: get themselves in some situations where they had to dig
26:25
Speaker 2: themselves out. That does matter. That will carry over as
26:28
Speaker 2: you start to get into practice, you know, when it
26:30
Speaker 2: gets started here in a month, month and a half,
26:32
Speaker 2: whatever it is, and that'll carry over to the start
26:34
Speaker 2: of the season. It's I just I think to some degree,
26:40
Speaker 2: and it's not just unique to eye you people. The
26:44
Speaker 2: access that you now have in the digital era creates
26:48
Speaker 2: this expectation that you have to evaluate everything all the time,
26:53
Speaker 2: and you don't. And so if you're one of those
26:55
Speaker 2: fans that feels like you do, it's okay, take a
26:59
Speaker 2: step back. We're here to help support you. You don't
27:02
Speaker 2: have to worry about every single second of what you
27:05
Speaker 2: see on a floor, especially in August and September, in October.
27:09
Speaker 2: Wait till the actual games start. That's when you should
27:12
Speaker 2: start getting concerned. But right now, this is about a
27:14
Speaker 2: group of guys coming together learning how to play with
27:18
Speaker 2: each other. It's about a group of coaches, some of
27:20
Speaker 2: them have coached with each other and some of whom
27:22
Speaker 2: have not. Figuring out how to work together and how
27:25
Speaker 2: to work with those players and figuring out who's in
27:28
Speaker 2: what roles and what's going to make the most sense.
27:30
Speaker 2: That takes a lot of time, and these sorts of
27:33
Speaker 2: trips are invaluable to making that happen. So you know,
27:37
Speaker 2: there's no guarantee it's going to happen as we've seen.
27:40
Speaker 2: I mean, I use gone on trips and done things
27:42
Speaker 2: and they haven't really led to coalescing. But let's give
27:45
Speaker 2: this some breathing room. Is my perspective on all of this.
27:48
Speaker 2: And I was thrilled that we got some nice comebacks,
27:51
Speaker 2: but ultimately it wouldn't have mattered if they've lost by
27:53
Speaker 2: twenty in all those games.
27:55
Speaker 1: Right in terms of just the roster and what you've
27:58
Speaker 1: been able to read and see. You probably watch videos
28:01
Speaker 1: of some of these guys from the transfer portal stuff
28:03
Speaker 1: in the spring. Is there a guy or too that
28:05
Speaker 1: that maybe stands out that intrigues you going in the season.
28:09
Speaker 1: You want to see how their game translates to the
28:12
Speaker 1: big ten.
28:14
Speaker 2: There's like, is all of them a good answer? I mean,
28:17
Speaker 2: it's I would say the guys I feel like, to
28:20
Speaker 2: some degree we know that Wilkerson and Connorway and Tucker
28:25
Speaker 2: Degrees are going to be kind of the core of
28:28
Speaker 2: this team. I was really fascinated by what we saw
28:31
Speaker 2: out of Red Bailey because that's a guy who him
28:35
Speaker 2: and Connor right are kind of the two players where
28:37
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't totally know if what you do
28:40
Speaker 2: is going to translate to the big ten level on
28:42
Speaker 2: a night at night out basis for two different reasons.
28:45
Speaker 2: You know, I mean, Bailey is it's really you know,
28:48
Speaker 2: he had success obviously at his previous stop, and the
28:54
Speaker 2: numbers look good, but you know, you look at the
28:56
Speaker 2: numbers and you're like, well, gosh, he you know, he
28:59
Speaker 2: didn't have a ton of rebounds, and I don't understand
29:03
Speaker 2: how he fits within this system if he's going to
29:05
Speaker 2: be around the perimeter all the time. And then even there,
29:07
Speaker 2: he didn't shoot a lot of threes, but he hit
29:09
Speaker 2: a lot of threes percentage wise. But I was really
29:13
Speaker 2: encouraged by what I saw there and I'm curious to
29:14
Speaker 2: see how that works with Enright. You know, Indiana hasn't
29:19
Speaker 2: had a true irritant at that position in a long time,
29:24
Speaker 2: and I think that that's been something that's been missing
29:26
Speaker 2: from the DNA of Indiana. Like we've had We've had
29:30
Speaker 2: a lot of we haven't had a lot of on
29:32
Speaker 2: court behavioral problems for the opposition. We've had some on
29:35
Speaker 2: court behavioral issues for Indiana. I mean, as much as
29:38
Speaker 2: DeVante Green had his adherents and his fans, like, he
29:42
Speaker 2: created a lot of problems, but you know, and then
29:44
Speaker 2: he would solve some of the problems and then create
29:45
Speaker 2: or other ones and that's that's just kind of how
29:48
Speaker 2: he was as a player. But we've always kind of
29:50
Speaker 2: been envious of these players that just annoyed the hell
29:53
Speaker 2: out of you on other teams, and we haven't had
29:55
Speaker 2: a whole ton of those guys recently, so I am
29:58
Speaker 2: curious to see if his if the rest of his
30:01
Speaker 2: game can match up to that, because that's a great
30:04
Speaker 2: weapon that you can hopefully utilize throughout the course of
30:07
Speaker 2: the year. And then, honestly, like a lot of the
30:10
Speaker 2: a lot of the the other players that are in
30:12
Speaker 2: the mix, I just don't entirely know yet what to
30:16
Speaker 2: make out of, you know, like a Sam Alex is
30:19
Speaker 2: going to be a guy you can get regular minutes
30:20
Speaker 2: out of, you know, you you know, Trent Sisley, I
30:24
Speaker 2: liked what I saw. I liked the energy. If he's
30:27
Speaker 2: ready to play right away, that's been the big question
30:30
Speaker 2: mark because I've heard I heard mixed reviews about whether
30:32
Speaker 2: people thought he would actually be able to hit the
30:35
Speaker 2: ground running. So and honestly, I could go that way
30:39
Speaker 2: for almost every player on the roster at this point,
30:41
Speaker 2: like outside of that three I said at the beginning,
30:43
Speaker 2: I have a lot of questions about how everybody reconciles
30:47
Speaker 2: on the floor. So I'm I'm actually kind of looking
30:49
Speaker 2: forward to it because from my perspective, it's so rare
30:53
Speaker 2: that you get to get introduced to a bunch of
30:55
Speaker 2: guys at once. It's less rare now in the portal,
30:58
Speaker 2: but uh, we don't really. We won't know till probably
31:02
Speaker 2: Game ten who we can rely on on the floor,
31:05
Speaker 2: who's got what tendencies. It's gonna be really interesting to
31:08
Speaker 2: watch that all unfold.
31:10
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like the idea that it's a brand new start,
31:12
Speaker 1: and obviously you can't do that in a Obviously football
31:16
Speaker 1: it was a brand new start, but you can't completely
31:17
Speaker 1: turn over a football roster just logistically and with the numbers,
31:20
Speaker 1: you got to be able to keep some of the
31:21
Speaker 1: guys just because there's so many players. But in basketball
31:24
Speaker 1: now with the portal being able to completely flip the roster.
31:27
Speaker 1: I know there was a lot of fans that I
31:29
Speaker 1: heard from last spring, well do you think they're going
31:31
Speaker 1: to keep Rice and Tucker? Do you think they're going
31:32
Speaker 1: to keep Miles Rice? And it's like, probably not. Is
31:37
Speaker 1: it all unfolded? And it's probably for a good reason.
31:40
Speaker 1: Not that any of those guys I think we're bad
31:42
Speaker 1: guys or bad players, but sometimes you just kind of
31:44
Speaker 1: need a new direction. And I think now with the
31:48
Speaker 1: portal and being able to totally reset a program, not
31:51
Speaker 1: from a just from a coaching standpoint, from a player standpoint,
31:53
Speaker 1: they filled out the roster with quality players. Now are
31:56
Speaker 1: all of them proven high major players? Know? But you
31:58
Speaker 1: look at Tayton Connorway, who was the player of the
32:00
Speaker 1: year in the Sun Belt, led his team to a
32:03
Speaker 1: NCAA tournament appearance, played against Kentucky, so he's played against
32:06
Speaker 1: good competition. Reed Bailey was down there at Battle for Atlantis,
32:09
Speaker 1: had really good numbers. For Davidson, one of the better
32:12
Speaker 1: front court big men at the mid major level last season.
32:15
Speaker 1: Lamar Wilkerson, we saw him last season playing for Sam
32:17
Speaker 1: Houston against Indiana. Didn't play that well in that game,
32:21
Speaker 1: but I watched him in that hour practice up in
32:25
Speaker 1: Bloomington and he looked like a guy that can just
32:27
Speaker 1: score the ball from anywhere. So all of these pieces
32:30
Speaker 1: are for the most part unproven at the high major level.
32:34
Speaker 1: But I think what we've seen in college basketball now
32:39
Speaker 1: with the transfer portal, guys do have a chance to
32:41
Speaker 1: move up and have success. So I agree with you.
32:43
Speaker 1: I'm excited to kind of see this new regime. Is
32:46
Speaker 1: there just from a team perspective, is there a lingering
32:49
Speaker 1: question that you have going in the season? For me,
32:51
Speaker 1: it's obviously the front court and rim protection. I think
32:54
Speaker 1: in the Big Ten you're seeing more programs kind of
32:58
Speaker 1: shift to a more modern style play. And I say that,
33:00
Speaker 1: and then I look at what Dusty made did last
33:03
Speaker 1: season that I look at the front court he's assembled
33:05
Speaker 1: this year and Ann Arbor, and they're going to have
33:08
Speaker 1: obviously modern style play with some really talented front court players.
33:12
Speaker 1: So they're gonna be able to play a multiple ways.
33:14
Speaker 1: And you think got Michigan State historically he has always
33:16
Speaker 1: had those big, tough front lines. But I don't necessarily
33:19
Speaker 1: see a ton of dominant bigs in the Big Ten,
33:22
Speaker 1: at least on rosters going into the season. So I
33:24
Speaker 1: think it's something that Indiana is going to be able
33:26
Speaker 1: to navigate if they can rebound as a team, and
33:30
Speaker 1: obviously they're gonna have Knights where they get beat up
33:31
Speaker 1: in the post. But for me, it's a front court.
33:33
Speaker 1: Is it similar for you? Is there something else? Maybe
33:36
Speaker 1: it's a lingering question.
33:38
Speaker 2: No, it's the front court. But I'm in the same
33:41
Speaker 2: boat that you are in that. I think that if
33:45
Speaker 2: you've got shooting on the outside and you're dedicated to it,
33:49
Speaker 2: that covers a multitude sin when it comes to the
33:52
Speaker 2: front court because three points last I checked, we're still
33:56
Speaker 2: more worth more than two. And so what you get
33:59
Speaker 2: I think by reorienting around the perimeter and having mobile
34:04
Speaker 2: bigs who can rim run, who can you be in position?
34:08
Speaker 2: I mean, one of the things that I've noted as
34:09
Speaker 2: I've watched all of these videos of Devrees style offense
34:15
Speaker 2: and what Creighton has done historically, which is basically the
34:17
Speaker 2: same tree, is they will really capitalize on spacing and
34:23
Speaker 2: rolling guys to the rim rather than posting guys up.
34:27
Speaker 2: Can you live on that? In the Big Ten? We've
34:29
Speaker 2: been told no time and time again, But the Big
34:33
Speaker 2: East is just as physical and just as talent driven
34:37
Speaker 2: as the Big Ten is, and somehow teams have managed
34:40
Speaker 2: to thrive in that conference using a similar kind of style.
34:43
Speaker 2: And so the big thing I think for this upcoming
34:47
Speaker 2: year is just it's not even the lack of bigs,
34:50
Speaker 2: it's what is the actual mono a mono quality of
34:54
Speaker 2: the players going to be against the players that they're
34:56
Speaker 2: going up against on a nightly basis and overcome a
35:00
Speaker 2: lot of talent inequity by playing hard, Which is why
35:05
Speaker 2: I think Darren DeVries has really emphasized that, as any
35:08
Speaker 2: good coach frankly should. I do think there's a ceiling
35:11
Speaker 2: on what this team can probably accomplish. If you are
35:14
Speaker 2: simply talking about normal nights, like normal shooting nights, normal
35:18
Speaker 2: nights with rebounding and other aspects, it probably caps out
35:22
Speaker 2: at about a twenty one or twenty two win team,
35:24
Speaker 2: which would be great given that nobody was on this
35:28
Speaker 2: roster six months ago that's on it today. That doesn't
35:32
Speaker 2: mean that that's necessarily their limit, because I think that
35:35
Speaker 2: they have, from what we've seen, the offensive approach that
35:39
Speaker 2: could yield great nights shooting, but it's also going to
35:42
Speaker 2: yield some terrible nights shooting. That's the nature of how
35:44
Speaker 2: this stuff works. And so I look at this season,
35:48
Speaker 2: and I know people don't necessarily want to hear this,
35:50
Speaker 2: but I think it's true. I look at this season
35:52
Speaker 2: as an intermediate step type of season, a rebuild where
35:57
Speaker 2: you can't fully strip it down and start over. You've
36:01
Speaker 2: done that to some degree, but you're still going to
36:03
Speaker 2: be expected to be in the conversation for the tournament Indiana.
36:08
Speaker 2: What excites me about the Divies era right now is
36:11
Speaker 2: how aggressively they are recruiting and trying to bring in
36:15
Speaker 2: that next level of talent to pair with whoever's left
36:19
Speaker 2: over next year and whoever they can get in the
36:20
Speaker 2: portal that like this season's going to much and to
36:25
Speaker 2: some degree, it's like you here Kurt Signetti and football
36:28
Speaker 2: talk about how their recruiting was last year versus how
36:31
Speaker 2: their recruiting was this year, and is the way he
36:34
Speaker 2: talked about it is last year they were selling a
36:37
Speaker 2: lot of hope, they were selling a lot of promises
36:40
Speaker 2: or hey, look what we did at James Madison. They
36:43
Speaker 2: weren't selling what was going on in Bloomington because it
36:45
Speaker 2: hadn't happened yet. This year, with last year now in
36:49
Speaker 2: the books and the level of success now a lot
36:52
Speaker 2: of people, a lot of doors opened that weren't opened before.
36:55
Speaker 2: What's interesting about Devrez's recruiting is the doors have been
36:59
Speaker 2: opened for a lot of these players. And some of
37:00
Speaker 2: that is the recruiting prowess of Drew Adams and Rod
37:04
Speaker 2: Clark and the way that this staff has gone about things.
37:06
Speaker 2: But some of it is the offense and the way
37:09
Speaker 2: that this team has said they're going to play in
37:10
Speaker 2: the pedigree of this coaching staff. So what they're able
37:14
Speaker 2: to do with this collection of talent is going to
37:17
Speaker 2: be a great sell for future seasons because you can say, legitimately,
37:22
Speaker 2: we put together a team of players that were bits
37:25
Speaker 2: and pieces from all over the country, but they fit
37:27
Speaker 2: styles and they fit approaches to playing, and that's what
37:30
Speaker 2: we're going to live on the court and in the
37:33
Speaker 2: practice facility, and that's where we can plug you in
37:35
Speaker 2: and here's what it can do for you. You know.
37:37
Speaker 2: So I look at this season and I say to myself, yes,
37:40
Speaker 2: I have questions about the roles, and maybe there'll be
37:43
Speaker 2: roles and players and situations that won't work as well.
37:47
Speaker 2: But I look at that as a nice runway to
37:49
Speaker 2: bring in recruits who can help in those specific areas
37:52
Speaker 2: where Indiana looks deficient, because you could say, all we're
37:55
Speaker 2: missing out of this equation is you. Let's get you
37:59
Speaker 2: in here, and let's you elevate this system to something
38:02
Speaker 2: even greater. And look what we did even without that
38:05
Speaker 2: particular piece in place.
38:07
Speaker 1: Very well, said Galen. I know you've got to run
38:10
Speaker 1: here shortly. You got a busy week with with students
38:12
Speaker 1: arriving on campus quickly. How are things going at the
38:16
Speaker 1: maybe hopefully not too low of a question. How are
38:19
Speaker 1: things going? I know how things are going with some
38:21
Speaker 1: of your students because some of them have interacted with
38:24
Speaker 1: very closely with the last couple of years, and it's
38:27
Speaker 1: been exciting to see some of them go into the
38:28
Speaker 1: ural world, get jobs and have a new group of
38:31
Speaker 1: students that are gonna be writing for me this year.
38:33
Speaker 1: So the Media School continues to do great things. Glad
38:37
Speaker 1: that we've been able to continue to communicate on that,
38:39
Speaker 1: and you've always been gracious and helpful helping to identify
38:43
Speaker 1: students that might be a great fit friendside the hall.
38:45
Speaker 1: But just quickly, how are things going with the Media
38:47
Speaker 1: School and excited for another year to begin.
38:50
Speaker 2: Things are going great. We have never had more students
38:53
Speaker 2: in the Media School. We're about twenty five hundred students
38:55
Speaker 2: at the undergraduate level. Sports media has been doing awesome.
38:58
Speaker 2: We got over three hundred students in that program and
39:01
Speaker 2: they work on a variety of things. It's not just
39:03
Speaker 2: the folks that you guys get to know inside the hall,
39:07
Speaker 2: but it's also the behind the scenes folks that are
39:10
Speaker 2: doing production. All those big ten plus games, those are
39:13
Speaker 2: all student produced, and that's a lot of the people
39:16
Speaker 2: in this program. So we've been really proud of what
39:19
Speaker 2: our students have accomplished. A big shout out to Kara Adams,
39:23
Speaker 2: who won the LEAs A Buyington Award with the Big
39:26
Speaker 2: Ten Network as the best female student broadcaster last year.
39:29
Speaker 2: We've got a great group of students coming in this season,
39:32
Speaker 2: many of whom have already been working covering other sports,
39:36
Speaker 2: and we've one of the things that might be interesting
39:39
Speaker 2: to all your football fans now that you're covering it.
39:42
Speaker 2: We're going to have a live show from Memorial Stadium
39:45
Speaker 2: Thursday nights at eight. The IUSTV is going to be
39:48
Speaker 2: doing You can check out Crimson Cast Twitter account. We'll
39:50
Speaker 2: retweet it so everybody can watch. But some great things
39:53
Speaker 2: going on here and couldn't be happier to come into
39:55
Speaker 2: another football and basketball season and get a chance to
39:58
Speaker 2: cover everything.
39:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great to see students excited about covering football.
40:02
Speaker 1: I mean, that's one reason we're adding it this year.
40:04
Speaker 1: Josh was pretty adamant that he wanted to cover football
40:07
Speaker 1: and with the success and you know, I thought it
40:10
Speaker 1: was a great opportunity to start doing that. To look
40:13
Speaker 1: for that and obviously continue to listen to Crimson cast
40:16
Speaker 1: to back Home Network. Check everything out that they're doing
40:18
Speaker 1: over there. Galing again, thanks again for the time, and
40:20
Speaker 1: thanks for thanks for coming on the show.
40:22
Speaker 2: Thanks as always, Al, it's great to talk to you.
40:25
Speaker 1: If you enjoy podcasts on the Brink, please leave us
40:27
Speaker 1: a rating and review over on Apple Podcast, leave us
40:29
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40:32
Speaker 1: back next week with another episode podcast on the braink