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POTB 564: Talking IU basketball's transfer portal additions with Tony Adragna · Podcast on the Brink

0:18
Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of Podcast on the Brink, Thursday,
0:24
Speaker 1: April sixteenth. It's been a eventful week for IU basketball
0:31
Speaker 1: in the Transfer Portal. To help us break down these
0:36
Speaker 1: six transfer Portal editions that the program has made thus far.
0:41
Speaker 1: Tony good friend of the show. You know him from
0:45
Speaker 1: his work with IU Film Room. He's also the head
0:49
Speaker 1: coach at Greenwood Christian Academy Boys Basketball Sexual Champs. I'm
0:53
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna introduce you that way, Tony, until you're
0:58
Speaker 1: either win another one or you're thrown next spring. Hopefully
1:01
Speaker 1: it's the former, not the latter. Welcome back to the show.
1:04
Speaker 1: It's been only a couple of weeks since we last spoke.
1:07
Speaker 1: Good to have you back on. I knew like when
1:09
Speaker 1: things were going to start to take shape here with
1:12
Speaker 1: the rash. I wanted to have you back on, but
1:13
Speaker 1: didn't realize it was going to be so quickly. What's
1:16
Speaker 1: been your initial reaction to this, this run of commitments
1:22
Speaker 1: three on Monday, one on Tuesday, and then two more
1:25
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. Who knows there could be more today tomorrow.
1:28
Speaker 1: Don't really know. At this point, they seem to be
1:30
Speaker 1: coming fast and furious.
1:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, first of all, thanks for having me back on.
1:37
Speaker 3: Always a pleasure getting some hoops with you here on
1:40
Speaker 3: a podcast on the brink. In terms of the portal
1:43
Speaker 3: hal that Indiana's gotten, my first thought is, how did
1:47
Speaker 3: we use to wait on high school.
1:48
Speaker 2: Recruitments for years at a time?
1:50
Speaker 3: Man, these portal commitments coming fast and furious, getting six
1:55
Speaker 3: new guys in the matter of forty eight hours or
1:58
Speaker 3: wherever it was is is still somewhat new to it
2:02
Speaker 3: to us as Indiana fans and people covering the team.
2:06
Speaker 3: But it's kind of bizarre when you think about what
2:10
Speaker 3: recruiting used to be and how rosters used to be built,
2:13
Speaker 3: and how you know there was and there still is
2:16
Speaker 3: obviously this side of it high school recruiting, but you know,
2:20
Speaker 3: just seeing a roster take shape in such a short
2:22
Speaker 3: period of time, it kind of brings me back to
2:25
Speaker 3: like the Tom Crean first year, Like how different this
2:30
Speaker 3: era would have been for Tom Creane building that first
2:32
Speaker 3: team where you know he had Kyle Tabor and Finkelmeyer
2:37
Speaker 3: and then just some Juco guys and a bunch of
2:40
Speaker 3: freshmen filling out his first roster. But I'm going on
2:44
Speaker 3: a tangent now, but overall, just you know, really intrigued
2:50
Speaker 3: by the pieces that Indiana has put together.
2:52
Speaker 2: Thus far in the portal, I think that.
2:57
Speaker 3: You're going to see Indiana be more athletic, obviously stronger,
3:01
Speaker 3: and I'm sure we'll get into all that, but you know,
3:03
Speaker 3: my first thought process here is just I'm really really intrigued.
3:07
Speaker 2: By what Darren DeVries and Ryan Carr and those guys
3:11
Speaker 2: are doing.
3:13
Speaker 3: Yeah.
3:13
Speaker 1: One of the things that this kind of stood out
3:15
Speaker 1: to me is just so far, when you look at
3:18
Speaker 1: the guys that they've added, and I know we talked
3:21
Speaker 1: about this a couple of weeks ago, but last season
3:24
Speaker 1: was really built around a ton of experience guys with
3:28
Speaker 1: one year left, and you look at everyone they've added
3:30
Speaker 1: so far, all six players are going to be juniors
3:34
Speaker 1: with multiple seasons of eligibility. That stands out immediately. The
3:36
Speaker 1: other thing is the fact that everyone that they've added
3:40
Speaker 1: has a high major experience. That wasn't the case an
3:45
Speaker 1: off season ago. Do you think that was coincidence that
3:50
Speaker 1: we are at that particular point with both of those
3:54
Speaker 1: developments ringing true for this roster or do you think
3:58
Speaker 1: it's that was kind of something that they they looked
4:01
Speaker 1: at and said, we can't go all mid major guys.
4:05
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying some of those guys ended up
4:08
Speaker 1: at the high major level. Target Debris before Connor Enright,
4:13
Speaker 1: Sam Alexis got some time at the high major level,
4:17
Speaker 1: but all of them started out at the mid major level.
4:19
Speaker 1: Whereas these guys that are coming in now, I believe
4:22
Speaker 1: all six started their careers at the high major level.
4:26
Speaker 1: When you look at Bryce Lindsay, who started at Texas
4:29
Speaker 1: A and M, then went to James Madison, then to Villanova,
4:31
Speaker 1: so he's played two of his three years at the
4:34
Speaker 1: high major level. The rest of them, I believe are
4:35
Speaker 1: all strictly high major guys.
4:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wonder part of me wonders if it was
4:42
Speaker 3: some of it was circumstantial last year with Debris in
4:46
Speaker 3: the timing of when he got the job, timing of
4:48
Speaker 3: getting his staff together, timing of building relationships with agents
4:53
Speaker 3: and all of those things. But I do also think,
4:58
Speaker 3: and I think what's refreshing is that there was certainly
5:01
Speaker 3: some reflection on how this past year's roster was built,
5:05
Speaker 3: what worked, what didn't, how the conference schedule was played,
5:10
Speaker 3: and then was a clear coherent plan to go out
5:13
Speaker 3: and build a roster that could compete, you know, on paper.
5:18
Speaker 3: Obviously this this all has to play out on the court.
5:21
Speaker 3: You know, we've we've done this song and dance previously.
5:24
Speaker 3: But there's obviously a clear coherent plan of action. And
5:29
Speaker 3: like I said, the refreshing part of it is that
5:32
Speaker 3: there's changes.
5:33
Speaker 2: Right, the roster is going to look vastly different. You know.
5:38
Speaker 3: The the number one knock on Indiana this past season
5:43
Speaker 3: was obviously their lack of size, which hurt their rebounding,
5:48
Speaker 3: Their lack of athleticism, their lack of a guy that
5:51
Speaker 3: guys that can attack downhill go get their own buckets
5:54
Speaker 3: outside of Lamar Wilkerson, and again, on paper, they've kind
5:59
Speaker 3: of remedied those those flaws, and so I'm really really intrigued.
6:05
Speaker 2: I think that it's been a breadth of fresh air.
6:08
Speaker 3: To kind of see a coach willing to make some
6:10
Speaker 3: changes based on what's working and what's not. And so,
6:15
Speaker 3: you know, so far, so good in terms of the
6:17
Speaker 3: portal hall for Indiana.
6:18
Speaker 2: In my opinion, what.
6:20
Speaker 1: Stands out to you with the front court they've assembled
6:23
Speaker 1: so far. Obviously they've gotten much bigger, they've gotten more talented.
6:26
Speaker 1: With Charrell, he was a twenty twenty four. I believe
6:30
Speaker 1: McDonald's all American. Spent two years at Alabama, and the
6:34
Speaker 1: thing that kind of was curious, he was Alabama's primary
6:39
Speaker 1: big last season. We looked at how they played, and
6:42
Speaker 1: he's coming into a situation now where it was almost like,
6:46
Speaker 1: I think, and this this is just speculating, so I
6:49
Speaker 1: don't know this for sure, but it almost seemed like
6:50
Speaker 1: he wanted to play with another big. The fact that
6:53
Speaker 1: Indiana went out and immediately, I mean news started to
6:57
Speaker 1: break that Sharrell was gonna likely come to Indiana before
7:00
Speaker 1: where they got the commitment from the SMU big man.
7:03
Speaker 1: So that comes out Tuesday, and then Charell's officially in
7:05
Speaker 1: the fold on Wednesday. It seemed like obviously he was
7:09
Speaker 1: on board, was playing with another big, So I'm curious.
7:13
Speaker 1: We saw the blueprint with Michigan. I think this is
7:15
Speaker 1: obviously a little bit different. Everyone's going to be comparing
7:19
Speaker 1: their roster to Michigan what they did last season. I
7:21
Speaker 1: think that's not really the way you need to look
7:24
Speaker 1: at teams and rosters moving forward in college basketball. I
7:27
Speaker 1: do agree with the approach of at least having a
7:32
Speaker 1: couple of bigs that are able to give you a
7:36
Speaker 1: chance to rebound and protect the rim and the Big ten,
7:38
Speaker 1: Indiana just didn't have that last season as well. As
7:41
Speaker 1: much as Sam Alexis tried, he was really, you know,
7:44
Speaker 1: a six six eight six eight and a half big
7:46
Speaker 1: man that was often oversized, was efficient, but wasn't really
7:51
Speaker 1: much of a shot blocking presence, was a good offensive rebounder.
7:54
Speaker 1: I wouldn't call him a lead on that end, And
7:55
Speaker 1: defensive rebounding, he was good, but didn't really have a
7:58
Speaker 1: lot of help around him. But back to of this
8:00
Speaker 1: pairing of this duo, how what do you make of
8:04
Speaker 1: just kind of those two guys both as players and
8:07
Speaker 1: then how they fit together and are do you have
8:09
Speaker 1: any concerns about maybe how that works defensively with Cherrell
8:13
Speaker 1: looking like he's gonna be playing the four.
8:16
Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, there's you know, obviously vastly different than what
8:21
Speaker 3: Indiana's front court looked like last season. You know, from
8:25
Speaker 3: a starting standpoint, a lot of Tucking Agrees at the
8:28
Speaker 3: four and Sam Alexis or Reed Bailey at the five,
8:33
Speaker 3: and and you know, just vastly undersized, especially in the
8:36
Speaker 3: Big ten and really at the high major level, whereas
8:40
Speaker 3: now you're getting uh, seven foot two and is it
8:44
Speaker 3: ye Getolu, you Getolu the prencisentiation there.
8:48
Speaker 1: And then I think, I think that's that's I think
8:51
Speaker 1: that's how I heard it too.
8:53
Speaker 3: I'm sure there will be a nickname uh at some
8:55
Speaker 3: point for for him.
8:57
Speaker 2: But then, you know, Cherrell's got over a seven foot
8:59
Speaker 2: wings ban. You know, that is just.
9:04
Speaker 3: A start change in terms of how they fit together,
9:08
Speaker 3: you know, offensively, Charrell, I'm guessing wants to play a
9:12
Speaker 3: bit more outside in showcase some of his versatility, you know,
9:16
Speaker 3: to help him get to the next level, you know,
9:20
Speaker 3: in terms of what he does. You know, from a
9:22
Speaker 3: spot up shooting standpoint, Chherill actually was in the eighty
9:24
Speaker 3: second percent tile in the country, so we can do
9:27
Speaker 3: a little bit there. He obviously will be in a
9:29
Speaker 3: lot of ball screen actions still and catching lobs at
9:35
Speaker 3: the rim.
9:37
Speaker 2: You know, you could toll Lou. He more of a
9:39
Speaker 2: back to the basket guy.
9:41
Speaker 3: I think Indiana had the least amount of post ups
9:43
Speaker 3: in power forward this past season. You know, you could
9:46
Speaker 3: total Lou one hundred and sixty possessions in the post up.
9:50
Speaker 3: That was the ninety eighth percent tile in the country
9:52
Speaker 3: in terms of how often he was posting up. I
9:54
Speaker 3: don't think Devrez is going to go to that extent,
9:56
Speaker 3: but he is a guy that you can throw it
9:58
Speaker 3: too down low and kind of to say, hey, you
10:00
Speaker 3: go get us a bucket, which Indiana didn't have that
10:02
Speaker 3: last year. What I really think this helps with outside
10:06
Speaker 3: of rebounding on the defensive end, is so you've got Charrell,
10:11
Speaker 3: who was thirty six in the country and block rate
10:13
Speaker 3: last year. You've got Igetolu who's one hundred and fifty
10:16
Speaker 3: fifth in the country and block rate. You've got two
10:18
Speaker 3: guys that can protect the rim, both being on the
10:21
Speaker 3: floor together. So what this does is it allows your
10:23
Speaker 3: guards to get up in pressure more when you know
10:26
Speaker 3: that you have guys behind you in a back line
10:29
Speaker 3: that is going to protect the rim, even if it's
10:33
Speaker 3: not schematic. Subconsciously in your head, you know you can
10:36
Speaker 3: get up in pressure a little bit more, get in
10:38
Speaker 3: the passing lanes a little bit more, because if you
10:40
Speaker 3: do get beat, you've got somebody there that can can
10:43
Speaker 3: protect the rim. So that's what I'm really intrigued by
10:47
Speaker 3: on the defensive end from Indiana is how having guys
10:51
Speaker 3: that actually protect the rim is going to affect how
10:54
Speaker 3: they played defense, and does that allow them to pressure more.
10:57
Speaker 3: You know, Indiana was one of the lowest teams the
11:00
Speaker 3: country in terms of how often they were turning their
11:02
Speaker 3: opponents over.
11:03
Speaker 2: You know, they were essentially just packing.
11:06
Speaker 3: Everything in hoping teams would take tough twos and then
11:09
Speaker 3: trying to box out and get rebounds and really not
11:12
Speaker 3: turning teams over at all. Well, now they've got more athleticism,
11:15
Speaker 3: they've got guys that protect the rim. So I'm really
11:17
Speaker 3: intrigued to see what Debrez does defensively and if he's
11:20
Speaker 3: going to make some schematic changes that allows them to
11:22
Speaker 3: get up and pressure a little bit more, try to
11:24
Speaker 3: turn defenses or offenses over, which in turn turns two
11:27
Speaker 3: easy scores on the offensive end. It allows you to
11:30
Speaker 3: get going. So from that front court standpoint, I'm really
11:34
Speaker 3: intrigued by what Indiana is doing. I still think you'll
11:37
Speaker 3: see a lot of five out and four out one
11:39
Speaker 3: end stuff where guys are setting ball screen and kind
11:42
Speaker 3: of flowing into like a continuity ball screen type action
11:45
Speaker 3: with those guys, And so I don't foresee what we
11:49
Speaker 3: saw a lot of times with like a ballow and
11:51
Speaker 3: renewed parent renew pairing where you got two guys just
11:54
Speaker 3: kind of planning on the block and your spacing template
11:57
Speaker 3: gets jacked up. I think that Dee has a really
12:00
Speaker 3: good mind for spacing and how you want to space
12:02
Speaker 3: and balance the floor. And so I do think that
12:06
Speaker 3: this pairing it can kind of be anxiety written as
12:11
Speaker 3: Indiana fans and folks that see two bigs, because that's
12:15
Speaker 3: kind of how Archie Miller and Mike Woodson ran their offense,
12:19
Speaker 3: and the spacing always was a problem. But I think
12:22
Speaker 3: you're going to see better spacing and how they flow
12:25
Speaker 3: with those bigs under Darren Debris.
12:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, Serill can also I wouldn't say it's a strength
12:33
Speaker 1: of his game, but he can also make the three pointer.
12:35
Speaker 1: I mean it was part of at least a small
12:38
Speaker 1: part of his game last season, able to step out
12:40
Speaker 1: and take and make that shot. So I think that's
12:43
Speaker 1: another thing, and I agree with you. I think for
12:46
Speaker 1: his chances at the next level to be able to
12:50
Speaker 1: make it into the NBA, he's going to have to
12:52
Speaker 1: showcase that a little bit, and so having the opportunity
12:54
Speaker 1: to do that. And I think the other point you
12:57
Speaker 1: make is excellent because when I think back about last
13:01
Speaker 1: season and maybe what were the issues. And obviously we
13:05
Speaker 1: don't want to go back and talk about that too much,
13:08
Speaker 1: but Indiana really never created anything easy for themselves offensively,
13:14
Speaker 1: and part of that was because they couldn't turn teams
13:16
Speaker 1: over and get into transition. And so, like you said,
13:19
Speaker 1: having that rim protection, having better defensive rebounding gives them
13:24
Speaker 1: a chance to maybe do that more often next season.
13:27
Speaker 1: So that's I think something that definitely could be a
13:31
Speaker 1: huge benefit of these pickups in terms of what they
13:35
Speaker 1: added from the guard spot. Obviously, Marcus Burton is being
13:38
Speaker 1: brought in to kind of run the show average I
13:42
Speaker 1: think over thirty two to thirty three minutes a game
13:45
Speaker 1: over his career at Notre Dame. So when you kind
13:47
Speaker 1: of look at what might be available still in terms
13:49
Speaker 1: of point guard backup minutes or what else Indiana needs
13:52
Speaker 1: moving forward, I don't know. Obviously, there's the caveat that
13:56
Speaker 1: Burton's got to stay healthy. Was hurt last year. I
13:58
Speaker 1: think he had another injury in a previous season where
14:01
Speaker 1: he missed some games. But if all goes as planned,
14:05
Speaker 1: he's going to be handling the bulk of the minutes
14:06
Speaker 1: at the point guard. So that really in terms of
14:10
Speaker 1: what they need to do. From a backup situation, I'm
14:12
Speaker 1: not sure that there's a huge need for an impact
14:15
Speaker 1: guy could be Prince Alexander Moody playing some spot minutes.
14:18
Speaker 1: There could be the need to go out and get
14:19
Speaker 1: another backup that that is just comfortable playing, just you know,
14:25
Speaker 1: when they get the opportunity. So I'm not sure exactly
14:28
Speaker 1: how that balances out. But with Burton, you know, you
14:33
Speaker 1: use the term point guard when you identify him, but
14:35
Speaker 1: you really look at what he does. As a freshman
14:38
Speaker 1: at Notre Dame, his assist rate was actually pretty good,
14:40
Speaker 1: but then the last two seasons he kind of morphed
14:43
Speaker 1: into more of a score first guard, which is fine.
14:48
Speaker 1: You know, I think he can still be the piece
14:51
Speaker 1: that distributes, and I think he'll be more willing to
14:54
Speaker 1: do that with a more balanced team other guys around him.
14:56
Speaker 1: I think at Notre Dame maybe at times he did
14:58
Speaker 1: that a bit out of necessity because there wasn't a
15:01
Speaker 1: lot around him at times to be able to score.
15:04
Speaker 1: So I'm really curious to see how that that works
15:06
Speaker 1: in terms of him balancing the scoring and uh, the
15:11
Speaker 1: playmaking for others. But I just like the fact that
15:14
Speaker 1: when you watch him on film. Uh, he's relentless in
15:18
Speaker 1: terms of how he likes to attack offensively. He's super
15:21
Speaker 1: aggressive trying. You know, he'll he'll he'll stop on a
15:25
Speaker 1: dime and get a shot up in somebody's face. You know,
15:28
Speaker 1: he'll be compared obviously Yogi Ferrell being a small, smallish
15:32
Speaker 1: guard from Indiana. I don't know that that's a great comparison,
15:36
Speaker 1: but he is a guy that is going to I'd
15:40
Speaker 1: be pretty surprised if he wasn't Indiana's leading score next season.
15:43
Speaker 1: Let's put it that way.
15:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think get the nowl on the head.
15:47
Speaker 2: He's very much a scoring point.
15:49
Speaker 3: Guard in terms of how he creates shots. Generally he's
15:56
Speaker 3: going to create it for himself more than others. But
15:58
Speaker 3: you know, still, like you said, the assists rate, he'll
16:01
Speaker 3: get guys going. You know, he's he's what I just
16:05
Speaker 3: define as as a dog like he just is like
16:07
Speaker 3: he just gets after it. Like you said, he's relentless
16:11
Speaker 3: in how he pressures the defense. And I'll be interested
16:14
Speaker 3: to see what he does with some better pieces around him.
16:16
Speaker 3: You know, he was he's kind of been a shrew's disciple,
16:21
Speaker 3: if you will. He went from Penn State to Notre
16:23
Speaker 3: Dame with Shrewsbury and and hasn't always had the most
16:27
Speaker 3: talent around him or guys that could shoot around him.
16:29
Speaker 3: So certainly again on paper, he's he's got a great
16:32
Speaker 3: opportunity to play with some better players here in Indiana.
16:35
Speaker 3: So I'll be intrigued to see what he does in
16:37
Speaker 3: terms of running the show. But I do think what
16:41
Speaker 3: is great is they're also pairing him with a combo
16:43
Speaker 3: guard in Bryce Lindsay, who can also take some pressure
16:47
Speaker 3: off of burden.
16:47
Speaker 2: You know, Burton being the lead.
16:49
Speaker 3: At Notre Dame, he was always gonna get a lot
16:53
Speaker 3: of pressure and the defenses are gonna be able to
16:55
Speaker 3: key on him. Well, now you know in Indiana he's
16:58
Speaker 3: got another back where made in Bryce Lindsay, that can
17:01
Speaker 3: stretch the floor, can knock it down, has a volleyball
17:04
Speaker 3: line range. When you have guys that can do those things,
17:08
Speaker 3: it's gonna stretch the defense. It just naturally, you know,
17:11
Speaker 3: guys aren't gonna be able to sit in gaps as much,
17:13
Speaker 3: and then that just opens the floor up for a
17:15
Speaker 3: guy like Burton who can who's trying to attack Downhill,
17:19
Speaker 3: is trying to stop him pop it is playing off
17:22
Speaker 3: of ball screen actions. And you know, in ball screens,
17:24
Speaker 3: your ball screen coverage isn't usually just two guys. You've
17:27
Speaker 3: got the help side defense that's that's sitting on the
17:30
Speaker 3: nail or they're in tagging position. Where now, if you've
17:35
Speaker 3: got a Bryce Lindsay or whatever in the corner and
17:37
Speaker 3: the taggers guarding him, they're gonna start shying over and
17:40
Speaker 3: it's going to open up the role. So, like, I know,
17:42
Speaker 3: I'm kind of talking in circles here, but it seriously
17:45
Speaker 3: will having another backcourt mat and guy like Lindsay or
17:49
Speaker 3: even a Harris or Moustafo we haven't even talked about yet.
17:53
Speaker 3: Like those pieces around Burton should be able to unlock
17:57
Speaker 3: his game even more. And we're already talking about a
18:00
Speaker 3: guy that still very efficient eighteen and a half points
18:03
Speaker 3: per game, high volume, still an offensive rating of at
18:06
Speaker 3: one fifteen. You know, that's very impressive numbers for a
18:09
Speaker 3: guy that has had as high of usage and really
18:12
Speaker 3: was relied upon the score as often as he was.
18:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Notre Dame was actually pretty solid last season
18:18
Speaker 1: early on when he was available. You know, they played
18:21
Speaker 1: some really tough competition. I know they were I believe
18:24
Speaker 1: that they were in the players era out in Vegas
18:26
Speaker 1: early in the season, had some really tough opponents out there,
18:31
Speaker 1: played well in a lot of those games, and obviously
18:33
Speaker 1: him getting hurt was a big reason that their season
18:36
Speaker 1: kind of went sideways like it did. So the other
18:39
Speaker 1: thing you have to like there is assuming he gets
18:42
Speaker 1: the medical red shirt for last season, which I think
18:44
Speaker 1: he just played in ten games, so I think that
18:46
Speaker 1: would be a formality that does. He has two years,
18:49
Speaker 1: so I think he's not a guy that you look
18:52
Speaker 1: at and say he's gone to the NBA after a year.
18:55
Speaker 1: So he's a guy that you have to hopefully hope
18:57
Speaker 1: that comes in, really likes being in Bloomington, likes being
19:01
Speaker 1: a part of the program, sees how things are, and
19:04
Speaker 1: is a guy that hopefully you can not only use
19:07
Speaker 1: for next season, but beyond. I think that that would
19:09
Speaker 1: be a huge thing. Obviously that in a couple of
19:12
Speaker 1: years will have Chase Branham coming in, but I think
19:14
Speaker 1: the idea of having those two playing together for a
19:16
Speaker 1: year was also pretty exciting. So not to look too
19:19
Speaker 1: far ahead, I know we haven't, you know, not even
19:21
Speaker 1: gotten to next season, but you know, I think that
19:23
Speaker 1: that really stands out just when you look at the
19:25
Speaker 1: potential impact out of him for a couple of seasons.
19:28
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the other three editions as well.
19:30
Speaker 1: You kind of mentioned Lindsay a little bit that one
19:33
Speaker 1: kind of came out of nowhere seemingly yesterday. But this
19:38
Speaker 1: is a guy that obviously started his career at Texas
19:41
Speaker 1: A and m went to James Madison, believe was the
19:44
Speaker 1: freshman of the year in his league as a kind
19:45
Speaker 1: of a red shirt freshman there, and then moved back
19:47
Speaker 1: up to the high major level last season at Villanova.
19:49
Speaker 1: So this will be his fourth school in four years.
19:51
Speaker 1: But he had twenty five last year in an NCAA
19:55
Speaker 1: tournament game, made six to three pointers. So this isn't
19:57
Speaker 1: a guy that hasn't done it on the on the
20:00
Speaker 1: big stage. He has done it. He's a Baltimore kid,
20:03
Speaker 1: so you know he's gonna come in with a ton
20:04
Speaker 1: of toughness. I have to assume there that Kenny Johnson
20:07
Speaker 1: was the connection there with same with with Mustaf a
20:11
Speaker 1: kid that has roots to the same area. He was
20:14
Speaker 1: at Georgia Tech for a couple of years. He's a
20:16
Speaker 1: guy that I know Indiana fans are going to remember
20:18
Speaker 1: from the Woodsonnari he was a guy that they targeted,
20:21
Speaker 1: had him on campus for visits, ultimately chose Georgia Tech.
20:24
Speaker 1: But he's gone there, got better over a couple of seasons.
20:28
Speaker 1: Really hard to judge these guys when they're playing on
20:31
Speaker 1: poor teams, poor situations. I mean, admittedly the coach, theret
20:35
Speaker 1: Georgia Tech, David Sodomyer, gets let go. But Mustov was
20:38
Speaker 1: a guy you know watching on film. He's another guy
20:40
Speaker 1: that just plays with a lot of aggression, plays hard.
20:43
Speaker 1: I think whether he's coming off the bench or whether
20:46
Speaker 1: he's starting in the starting line up, I think he's
20:49
Speaker 1: going to be a guy that gives you energy. He's
20:51
Speaker 1: got some link to him, He's got some athleticism. I
20:53
Speaker 1: like the fact that he can get into the lane
20:55
Speaker 1: and draw fouls, get to the line. You know, I
20:58
Speaker 1: don't think you can really projectice three point shooting at
21:00
Speaker 1: this point because the volume wasn't really high enough to
21:03
Speaker 1: say definitively that he's a good shooter but can't make
21:06
Speaker 1: the occasional three pointer. But I love the fact that
21:08
Speaker 1: he can put pressure on the rim and draw fouls.
21:11
Speaker 1: And then Darren Harris was the guy that going back
21:14
Speaker 1: to the season, another kid with team takeover tie. So
21:18
Speaker 1: another Kenny Johnson connection here played, you know, at a
21:22
Speaker 1: high school that Johnson was once, I believe, the associate
21:25
Speaker 1: head coach at Paul the sixth. So he's a guy
21:30
Speaker 1: who's top forty coming out of high school, goes to
21:33
Speaker 1: Duke and was part of that recruiting class that included
21:37
Speaker 1: I think three lottery picks, Canipple and Flag were in
21:39
Speaker 1: that class. And then you know, people are gonna say, well,
21:43
Speaker 1: he didn't really do anything at Duke, but look at
21:45
Speaker 1: what was in front of him at Duke. So maybe
21:48
Speaker 1: I wrote that Indiana's kind of buying low here on
21:50
Speaker 1: a guy that was a former top forty kid and
21:52
Speaker 1: they think can shoot the ball and really come in
21:55
Speaker 1: and make an impact. I'm really super intrigued by him because,
21:59
Speaker 1: you know, you watch his high schoo film. There was
22:01
Speaker 1: a lot of really good schools that wanted to get him.
22:03
Speaker 1: He was really efficient, really good player on the EIBL
22:05
Speaker 1: and so you wonder, now he actually gets his opportunity
22:09
Speaker 1: to play, can he be a potential breakout guy. So
22:12
Speaker 1: I think with all three of these guys, there are
22:14
Speaker 1: different things you like about him, and again, I want
22:17
Speaker 1: to caveat all this was saying, this all has to
22:19
Speaker 1: play out on the court. You know, we've been here
22:20
Speaker 1: before you mentioned earlier. We've been here before with the
22:23
Speaker 1: Ballo Rice Carlisle class. We've been here last season with
22:25
Speaker 1: the mid major guys, where I think a lot of
22:28
Speaker 1: people thought they were going to be a tournament team.
22:30
Speaker 1: That didn't happen. So I think it's great that the
22:32
Speaker 1: fan base is excited about this. I think as people
22:36
Speaker 1: that someone that covers the team, I know you talk
22:38
Speaker 1: about the team or a fan of the team, you're
22:40
Speaker 1: excited about this. But again, it all has to come together.
22:42
Speaker 1: But I think all those three pieces specifically, there's things
22:46
Speaker 1: you can look at and point to you and say
22:48
Speaker 1: that can potentially help the team next year.
22:51
Speaker 2: Yeah.
22:52
Speaker 3: And you know, when you look at what wins in
22:55
Speaker 3: college basketball, right its size, its length, it's athleticism, it's shooting,
23:00
Speaker 3: and it's being able to stop people. Indiana has the
23:03
Speaker 3: ingredients to be capable of doing that. Whereas last season
23:07
Speaker 3: you could talk yourself into it. You know, if you
23:11
Speaker 3: if you dove into specific numbers and maybe some confirmation bias,
23:15
Speaker 3: you could talk yourself into it. But it was always
23:17
Speaker 3: caveated last year with if they make that min major
23:20
Speaker 3: to major jump, which as we know, not everybody can do.
23:24
Speaker 3: As we talked about here, all of these guys have
23:27
Speaker 3: high major production, you know, Harris being the one caveat
23:31
Speaker 3: where he doesn't have a ton of production. When he played,
23:34
Speaker 3: he did like he was hyper efficient for Duke last year.
23:38
Speaker 3: I think he had an offensive rating of like one
23:41
Speaker 3: twenty eight or something crazy like that. So he's just
23:45
Speaker 3: a guy that had now the opportunity because he's played
23:47
Speaker 3: with a lot of other elite players. I think he's
23:50
Speaker 3: he's kind of a wild card in terms of what
23:54
Speaker 3: he could do next season. You know, he could really
23:57
Speaker 3: be a breakout candidate in the Big ten, and of
23:59
Speaker 3: a guy that has had a ton of potential, a
24:01
Speaker 3: ton of skill, Like ultimately he has a ton of skill,
24:05
Speaker 3: just hasn't been able to put it together or had
24:06
Speaker 3: the opportunities. So he's one that's really intriguing to me. Mestop,
24:12
Speaker 3: I actually think I'm really intrigued to see what he
24:15
Speaker 3: can do. You know, from a spot up standpoint, he
24:19
Speaker 3: was one of the most efficient spot up shooters in
24:21
Speaker 3: the country, albeit at a low volume. But you know,
24:25
Speaker 3: he's not going to be tasked with what he was
24:26
Speaker 3: tasked with at Georgia Tech, and so, you know, he
24:30
Speaker 3: was kind of a guy that was relied upon to
24:32
Speaker 3: do a lot. And if he is a guy that's
24:35
Speaker 3: able to stretch the defense, stress the defense from the
24:38
Speaker 3: three point line, that opens things up for him too
24:40
Speaker 3: then shot fake rip goo go dunk on somebody, which
24:43
Speaker 3: he has the skill set to be able to do.
24:46
Speaker 3: You know, the one thing that you mentioned is his
24:49
Speaker 3: ability to draw fouls is really strong. I think something
24:54
Speaker 3: that the staff is going to have to work with
24:55
Speaker 3: him on as his rim efficiency. You know, I think
24:58
Speaker 3: he was like twenty fifth percent time in the country
25:00
Speaker 3: last season in terms of finishing at the rim. So
25:03
Speaker 3: he's just a guy that you know, they're gonna get
25:04
Speaker 3: him in the weight room and just try to work
25:07
Speaker 3: on his balance and strength and then his finishing. But
25:10
Speaker 3: if he can take a leap at his finishing ability,
25:13
Speaker 3: he can get to the rim.
25:14
Speaker 2: As good as anybody.
25:15
Speaker 3: Like he's very very strong at getting to the rim,
25:17
Speaker 3: just got to be able to finish through contact.
25:20
Speaker 2: As you mentioned, getting to the getting to the foul
25:22
Speaker 2: line is good with him.
25:23
Speaker 3: So that's really exciting then Bryce Lindy, you know, is
25:28
Speaker 3: the Indiana fan base. I think anytime somebody from JMU
25:31
Speaker 3: decides to come aboard at this point you got to
25:33
Speaker 3: just sign off on it and be excited about it.
25:37
Speaker 3: But like you mentioned, you know, I got my first
25:41
Speaker 3: like true glimpse of a full game in the NCAA
25:44
Speaker 3: tournament against Utah State, and he was absolutely dynamite. I mean,
25:47
Speaker 3: he kind of willed nova in that one was hitting
25:51
Speaker 3: Logo threes, I mean he was.
25:53
Speaker 2: He was just really really solid.
25:54
Speaker 3: And that's another thing with with every guy that they're getting,
25:58
Speaker 3: for the most part, had games in high major competition
26:03
Speaker 3: or twenty five points, thirty points like that to me
26:07
Speaker 3: also speaks volumes to You're gonna be able to share
26:10
Speaker 3: the sugar, Like there's gonna be games where one guy
26:13
Speaker 3: can take control and then another night it's another guard
26:16
Speaker 3: or it's your big guy, you can feed him.
26:18
Speaker 2: So there's versatility.
26:19
Speaker 3: You're not just relying on Lamar Wilkerson to go get
26:21
Speaker 3: you twenty five or thirty in order to be in
26:23
Speaker 3: the game. You've got multiple guys that can go out
26:26
Speaker 3: and get buckets and hopefully on the flip side, can
26:30
Speaker 3: also get out there and stop somebody. That'll be a
26:32
Speaker 3: vital part of all of this too, is getting them
26:34
Speaker 3: to come together on the defensive end, be a unit
26:37
Speaker 3: down there where they can get stops and then get
26:39
Speaker 3: out and run, which I know is what Degrees wants
26:42
Speaker 3: to do.
26:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, how about the fact with Lindsey and I think
26:47
Speaker 1: one other guy that SMU big guy, they both committed
26:51
Speaker 1: without even coming on visits. I mean that that kind
26:54
Speaker 1: of speaks to the momentum and whatever the sales pitch
26:57
Speaker 1: is in terms of how they're going to put this together,
27:00
Speaker 1: what they want the team to look like. They're they're
27:03
Speaker 1: doing a good job obviously because those I mean Lindsay
27:06
Speaker 1: was a Power five starter last year, power four whatever,
27:11
Speaker 1: you know, the league's changed so much in a year
27:12
Speaker 1: basiness with Power four, Power five. Same thing with Igatoglu.
27:18
Speaker 1: So both of those guys commit without ever coming campus.
27:22
Speaker 1: I assume they'll complete visits here, it's at some point
27:26
Speaker 1: before the summer begins and they get to work with everything.
27:29
Speaker 1: But to me, that's that speaks to kind of the
27:32
Speaker 1: planet's in place here, that that the guys are buying
27:35
Speaker 1: into that Without kind of maybe going into too much speculation,
27:41
Speaker 1: I'm curious what you think. And again, this could all
27:43
Speaker 1: this conversation could be mute, because who knows, there could
27:46
Speaker 1: be a commitment pop up here in ten minutes, or
27:48
Speaker 1: it may take a couple more days before more come in.
27:50
Speaker 1: But what do you think? What else do you think
27:53
Speaker 1: this roster could use potentially to fill out. I think
27:58
Speaker 1: it's three spots left. You know, I'm kind of looking
28:01
Speaker 1: at it as like, I don't know that there's a
28:02
Speaker 1: ton of minutes of our opportunity left. Maybe you get
28:07
Speaker 1: another guard or point guard, someone that can shoot the
28:10
Speaker 1: ball a little bit, handle the ball, has some experience.
28:13
Speaker 1: Maybe you look to the mid or low major ranks
28:15
Speaker 1: and find a kid that was pretty good as a freshman,
28:18
Speaker 1: it's looking to move up. It's willing to kind of
28:20
Speaker 1: do like a gap year and say, hey, maybe you
28:23
Speaker 1: know you're gonna come in have a limited role, and
28:26
Speaker 1: we're gonna work on your development, and then hopefully by
28:28
Speaker 1: the time you play as a you know, a junior
28:30
Speaker 1: or senior more minutes, you're gonna have a bigger role,
28:33
Speaker 1: more expanded role. And then I think the obvious, most
28:36
Speaker 1: obvious one is you know, another backup big man of
28:40
Speaker 1: some kind, whether it's a power forward or center, because
28:43
Speaker 1: obviously you can't really go into the season with just
28:45
Speaker 1: two big guys. If you have foul trouble or injury,
28:47
Speaker 1: that could really put you in a tough spot. But
28:49
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I'm thinking. Do you kind of
28:52
Speaker 1: feel the same way on those final spots and is
28:55
Speaker 1: there anything else maybe that you would look at and
28:57
Speaker 1: say this, this is something they could use.
29:00
Speaker 2: I do.
29:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm in pretty much full agreement in terms of
29:03
Speaker 3: what they want to go out and get. You know,
29:06
Speaker 3: maybe somebody that that can shoot the barack. Somebody that
29:10
Speaker 3: you know, if a team tries his zone to you, because
29:11
Speaker 3: you've got good size, you could throw out there, could
29:14
Speaker 3: stretch the defense.
29:15
Speaker 2: You know.
29:16
Speaker 3: I know that Dale Jones from Ratford is somebody that
29:21
Speaker 3: you know, it's seemingly they could get on campus. And
29:25
Speaker 3: you know, he's the guy that's again started a major level,
29:28
Speaker 3: went down to Radford average over seventeen points a game
29:32
Speaker 3: last year, and so you know a guy like that
29:35
Speaker 3: that you know, you can kind of get. I don't
29:39
Speaker 3: want to say in the bargain bin. I don't think
29:40
Speaker 3: there is a bargain bin in nil anymore. But somebody
29:43
Speaker 3: that costs a little bit less money that you know
29:46
Speaker 3: is willing to take a lesser role, but it's it's
29:49
Speaker 3: a leg up for them in terms of the the
29:52
Speaker 3: level that they're playing at. Probably a leg up for
29:54
Speaker 3: them in terms of the money that they can get.
29:57
Speaker 3: But you know, ultimately it comes down to that too,
29:59
Speaker 3: Like you how much money does Indiana have left to
30:02
Speaker 3: play with, you know, and if it's a substantial amount,
30:06
Speaker 3: they might be able to go get somebody that's that's
30:09
Speaker 3: more of an impact guy that is willing to fight
30:12
Speaker 3: for minutes because they're they're making great money. Like at
30:15
Speaker 3: that point, it all comes down to to like the
30:17
Speaker 3: player in the situation and what they're looking for, but
30:20
Speaker 3: then totally agree in the backup big you know, I
30:23
Speaker 3: like the versatility that Indiana can play with. You can
30:26
Speaker 3: move sure out of the five if you needed to,
30:28
Speaker 3: if you can totally get some.
30:30
Speaker 2: Foul trouble or needs a blow or whatever.
30:33
Speaker 3: But outside of those two, you know, I wouldn't feel
30:37
Speaker 3: comfortable with anybody else playing the five right now for them,
30:40
Speaker 3: So I think you you certainly need to get some
30:42
Speaker 3: type of.
30:42
Speaker 2: Backup role there.
30:46
Speaker 3: But again, not a lot of you know, there's two
30:48
Speaker 3: hundred minutes in a game that can be dispersed, and
30:51
Speaker 3: you've got a lot of guys that like, you know,
30:53
Speaker 3: you mentioned a burden was was thirty two thirty three
30:56
Speaker 3: minutes a game eating up a lot of minutes there,
30:59
Speaker 3: so not a lot of minutes to to disperse at
31:03
Speaker 3: this point on paper again, but and also too like
31:07
Speaker 3: you've got guys like Cicily and you've got freshman class
31:10
Speaker 3: coming in that you may want to get some some
31:12
Speaker 3: minutes and things like that. So all of that is
31:16
Speaker 3: why Debreez makes the big bucks. But I do want
31:19
Speaker 3: to mention that is is that you know, it's it's
31:23
Speaker 3: really obviously the credit goes to the debrees He's the
31:27
Speaker 3: he's the CEO of the program. But I do think
31:30
Speaker 3: the Ryan Carr addition has been tremendous in terms of
31:35
Speaker 3: of just building a roster. You know, a guy that
31:38
Speaker 3: came from, in my opinion, the best front office in
31:41
Speaker 3: the NBA, and how they they were able to build teams,
31:45
Speaker 3: uh with at the Pacers were not really a free
31:48
Speaker 3: agent destination there, So somebody that just seen the inner
31:52
Speaker 3: workings of a great organization, how they operate, how they
31:55
Speaker 3: negotiate deals, and then bringing that to the college ranks
32:00
Speaker 3: in degrees is ultimately who's heading up this program, but
32:04
Speaker 3: then getting with Carr having a coherent plan and then
32:07
Speaker 3: the assistants seemingly.
32:09
Speaker 2: Playing a big role here.
32:10
Speaker 3: Right, Kenny Johnson has several connections to a lot of
32:13
Speaker 3: these guys, Drew Adams connections to these guys, So you know,
32:18
Speaker 3: Rod Clark I'm sure is playing a hand in some
32:20
Speaker 3: of these guys as well, Norton as well, So like
32:23
Speaker 3: having and then I think Schrell is uh was Carr's
32:28
Speaker 3: guy that he was kind of working at.
32:30
Speaker 2: Louisville and then he's come over to Indiana.
32:33
Speaker 3: So it just seems like a total team effort from
32:36
Speaker 3: you know, the the support staff to the assistant coaches
32:40
Speaker 3: to the head coach to the GM where they're really
32:44
Speaker 3: seemingly have a great flow to how they're operating currently,
32:48
Speaker 3: which is really encouraging to see.
32:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Tony really appreciate you carving out the time
32:54
Speaker 1: for those maybe aren't watch on video. Tony's he dressed
32:58
Speaker 1: up for the show today if you for just listening
33:00
Speaker 1: on the audio feed, and you definitely go check out
33:03
Speaker 1: the YouTube video because he's he is styling today on
33:07
Speaker 1: podcasts of the night. I told him to where his
33:09
Speaker 1: best attire and he delivered. So if you enjoy Yeah, Tony,
33:13
Speaker 1: thanks again for always making the time. We really appreciate it.
33:17
Speaker 1: As I said, being before we start recording, I think
33:19
Speaker 1: I got the I got the first interview with you
33:22
Speaker 1: about these ports, big scoop for Podcast on the Brink.
33:25
Speaker 2: Appreciate your time, absolutely always a pleasure.
33:29
Speaker 1: If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating
33:31
Speaker 1: and review over on Apple Podcasts, over on Spotify. If
33:34
Speaker 1: you're watching on YouTube, like the video, subscribe, send the
33:37
Speaker 1: video to a friend, let it let them know about
33:39
Speaker 1: the work that we're doing. Always enjoy getting more subscribers
33:43
Speaker 1: to the channel. More listeners helps us to continue to
33:45
Speaker 1: be able to do the show and grow the show.
33:47
Speaker 1: And took the week off last week kind of as
33:51
Speaker 1: a break before the storm that was the transfer portal,
33:55
Speaker 1: but expecting to continue now with more regular episodes throughout
33:59
Speaker 1: the spring as this roster continues to take shape. Thanks
34:04
Speaker 1: everybody as always for listening, and we'll be back soon
34:06
Speaker 1: with another episode of Podcast on the Break