Latest / Podcast on the Brink / POTB 574: The biggest IU basketball questions ahead of the 2026-27 season

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POTB 574: The biggest IU basketball questions ahead of the 2026-27 season · Podcast on the Brink

0:18
Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of Podcasts on the Brink.
0:22
Speaker 1: It's Thursday, August thirteenth, back with a new episode our
0:27
Speaker 1: good friend Tony Andrana. You knew him first from IU
0:32
Speaker 1: film room. Now you know him as sectional winning head
0:35
Speaker 1: coach at Greenwood Christian Academy Basketball. We'll get to Tony
0:39
Speaker 1: in just a second. First off, would like to remind
0:42
Speaker 1: that those of you watching over on YouTube, like the
0:44
Speaker 1: video subscriber the channel, really appreciate all the support over there.
0:47
Speaker 1: Share the video with another IU or Big Ten fan
0:50
Speaker 1: that may enjoy the content. You can even send it
0:52
Speaker 1: to a Purdue fan if you're feeling feisty that day,
0:56
Speaker 1: maybe they can come on here and listen to an
0:58
Speaker 1: episode or two. Also, for those of you listening over
1:03
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave us a rating and
1:07
Speaker 1: review five stars. Preferably appreciate the support there as well. Tony,
1:13
Speaker 1: welcome back to the show. Back to school is here.
1:17
Speaker 1: I know you've been spending some time working with your
1:19
Speaker 1: team at Greenwood Christian Academy. I understand you guys had
1:23
Speaker 1: a really good June. Think you told me before we
1:25
Speaker 1: hit record you won sixteen games, so really successful summer
1:29
Speaker 1: quickly before we talk to I some IU basketball, just
1:33
Speaker 1: kind of the the what's the outlook for you going
1:35
Speaker 1: into your second year as a head coach, And I
1:38
Speaker 1: know you're excited about the team. You're You're going to
1:40
Speaker 1: have your return some of your top players from last season,
1:44
Speaker 1: welcome a new transfer into the program, so it should
1:46
Speaker 1: be a fun year.
1:50
Speaker 2: Yes, super excited about the program that that we've got
1:54
Speaker 2: off the ground, and obviously super excited to be back
1:57
Speaker 2: here on podcasts on the brink. It's always some of
1:59
Speaker 2: my favorite times getting on here and chatting some hoops,
2:02
Speaker 2: IU hoops or GCA hoops, wherever the case may be.
2:04
Speaker 2: But yeah, I had a really successful summer with our guys.
2:09
Speaker 2: I think we were somewhere like sixteen and five, sixteen
2:12
Speaker 2: and six something around there. Got to play a lot
2:14
Speaker 2: of games, got to, like you said, ingrain some new pieces,
2:18
Speaker 2: get some guys that are older, you know, graduated just
2:21
Speaker 2: two seniors from our sectional championship run, and really looking
2:25
Speaker 2: forward to a great successful season. We didn't get moved
2:28
Speaker 2: sectionals and so that'll be a little bit different, get
2:31
Speaker 2: to play some new new foes, but excited about that
2:34
Speaker 2: new opportunity and just excited to continue running the GCA
2:38
Speaker 2: basketball program.
2:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's terrific. Looking forward to fall in from
2:43
Speaker 1: Afar this season. Hopefully you'll be able to silence the
2:47
Speaker 1: social media critics who've questioned your coaching last spring. I
2:52
Speaker 1: think you had some fun with that. So that was
2:53
Speaker 1: pretty awesome to see from Afar IU basketball obviously the
2:57
Speaker 1: topic here, as usual on podcasts on the Brink. Was
3:00
Speaker 1: a busy summer for IU in general. We had three
3:05
Speaker 1: open practices that a couple of us in the media
3:08
Speaker 1: got to attend. There was an exhibition game and assembly hall.
3:10
Speaker 1: There were four games for the Feasts Suit America games
3:14
Speaker 1: down in Lima, Peru that were I think less competitive
3:18
Speaker 1: than most expected, although admittedly I don't think anyone kind
3:22
Speaker 1: of knew exactly what to expect at the competition level,
3:24
Speaker 1: but we quickly found out after Indiana got down there
3:28
Speaker 1: that it was going to be pretty smooth sailing. But
3:32
Speaker 1: big picture, I know, the last time we had you
3:34
Speaker 1: on was after Indiana got I think six transfer portal
3:36
Speaker 1: commitments in the span of three days in April. The
3:39
Speaker 1: roster is a little bit more solidified at this point.
3:43
Speaker 1: Just curious on some of your observations from Afar watching
3:47
Speaker 1: this team. I know they had a chance to watch
3:49
Speaker 1: some of the streaming from down in Perue, which admittedly
3:54
Speaker 1: was not the greatest production quality, but we did get
3:57
Speaker 1: to see most of those games. We got the see
4:00
Speaker 1: some highlights obviously for those who weren't at the exhibition
4:02
Speaker 1: game in Assembly Hall, there were some highlights put out
4:04
Speaker 1: of that, and obviously a box score. But I'm curious
4:07
Speaker 1: just kind of your observations on what you've seen from
4:09
Speaker 1: this team this summer and some of your thoughts heading
4:11
Speaker 1: into the fall and the start of practice.
4:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd say the stream came a long way in
4:16
Speaker 2: the week that we watched. You know, the first game
4:19
Speaker 2: was like half of it. Ye were watching some handball
4:21
Speaker 2: or something that they would cut back and forth. By
4:23
Speaker 2: the end they had a score bug. It generally didn't lag,
4:27
Speaker 2: so it got better as the week went on. But no,
4:30
Speaker 2: in all seriousness, always fun to be able to watch
4:34
Speaker 2: IU play in the summer. You know, with the new
4:37
Speaker 2: rule in the NCAA, you can go on a foreign
4:39
Speaker 2: trip now every summer. It used to be only every
4:41
Speaker 2: four years, and so I was excited to be able
4:45
Speaker 2: to watch. That's it's a perfect new rule for kind
4:49
Speaker 2: of the new way of the or lay of the
4:51
Speaker 2: land in college basketball, and certainly for Indiana. You know,
4:55
Speaker 2: back to back years where they're essentially kind of turning
4:57
Speaker 2: over their entire roster. You know, news kind of started
5:01
Speaker 2: to come out that maybe Sam Alexis was gonna play
5:04
Speaker 2: in those games, which obviously led people to think, like,
5:07
Speaker 2: what's going on there, and then he got the injunction
5:10
Speaker 2: I think into July. But you know, in terms of
5:13
Speaker 2: what I saw from the team, you know, obviously competition
5:16
Speaker 2: level wasn't great down there, but like you didn't know
5:19
Speaker 2: what to expect. Last year, Baylor played in those exact
5:21
Speaker 2: same games and lost in the championship game, so you know,
5:26
Speaker 2: there was a thought that, you know, it could be
5:28
Speaker 2: some some good competition obviously was a little lackluster, but
5:32
Speaker 2: at the same time, you know, Indiana kind of asserted
5:34
Speaker 2: their will, which was good to see that in let
5:36
Speaker 2: teams that were inferior to them hang around, you know,
5:39
Speaker 2: scored the ball at will, played good defense, got out
5:42
Speaker 2: in passing lanes, like the things you want to see
5:44
Speaker 2: when you play inferior opponents. Indiana checked all those boxes,
5:46
Speaker 2: which is great, you know, in terms of of kind
5:50
Speaker 2: of some of the highlights. Obviously, Aiden Schrell was was
5:52
Speaker 2: really solid. You know, he again, competition level was a
5:56
Speaker 2: bit lackluster, but he really asserted his will. And then
6:00
Speaker 2: and you know what caught my eye was the play
6:02
Speaker 2: of the freshman. It doesn't matter that that competition level
6:06
Speaker 2: was a bit inferior. When you're you're freshmen playing in
6:09
Speaker 2: some of your first college basketball action, you know, the
6:13
Speaker 2: lights can be bright, and we really just didn't see
6:16
Speaker 2: those guys shrink. They kind of rosie the occasion. You know,
6:19
Speaker 2: Carvalla had a thirty point game, Prince Alexander Moody looked
6:23
Speaker 2: really solid, and then Manhurtz looked good. Like all those freshmen,
6:29
Speaker 2: I think we're kind of like the excitement that that
6:33
Speaker 2: you saw coming out of those games kind of stem
6:35
Speaker 2: from that because we just haven't seen that level of
6:37
Speaker 2: kind of what you call program guys. You had those
6:41
Speaker 2: three and then you've got Trent Sisley in the mix, Like,
6:44
Speaker 2: you've got some dudes that can be like foundation of
6:46
Speaker 2: a program, which we just haven't seen Indiana have in
6:50
Speaker 2: quite some time. And you know that are at the
6:53
Speaker 2: level of those guys that are showcasing. You know, kind
6:56
Speaker 2: of those mid like top fifty to top one hundred
6:59
Speaker 2: is type play what Mike Wee Youth would define as
7:02
Speaker 2: the sweet spot of college recruiting. You know, I'm excited
7:08
Speaker 2: about that. Obviously, there's some question marks, and that's kind
7:10
Speaker 2: of what we're going to dive into here in this pod.
7:13
Speaker 2: But overall, I mean, I think when you look at
7:16
Speaker 2: the summer from an Indiana perspective, like I would think
7:19
Speaker 2: Darren Devrez has to be pretty pleased with what he
7:22
Speaker 2: was able to accomplish in terms of getting his roster set,
7:24
Speaker 2: going to play some games, getting the temporary injunction for Alexis, Like,
7:29
Speaker 2: all of those things are all positive. So I'd have
7:32
Speaker 2: to think he's walking away from the summer pretty encouraged.
7:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the biggest question mark right now, just
7:38
Speaker 1: in terms of the roster is is this injunction gonna
7:42
Speaker 1: be held up? Is there gonna be some type of
7:45
Speaker 1: permanent eligibility restored for all of these twenty twenty two kids.
7:50
Speaker 1: I think that's really the biggest question mark hanging over
7:52
Speaker 1: the entire sport of college basketball. How in your mind
7:56
Speaker 1: does having Alexis next year change the I don't want
8:02
Speaker 1: to say the floor the ceiling for this team, but overall,
8:07
Speaker 1: how big of a variable is that in determining kind
8:10
Speaker 1: of the outcomes for Indiana next year, whether he's available
8:13
Speaker 1: or not available to play? And also just this chaos
8:16
Speaker 1: in general in college sports right now. I know, you know,
8:21
Speaker 1: the college football playoffs ever been more popular. NCAA tournament
8:26
Speaker 1: ratings are fine overall. I think we keep saying this
8:29
Speaker 1: every year though, just the chaos that exists in the
8:31
Speaker 1: sport is not sustainable, but yet the popularity continues to climb.
8:36
Speaker 1: So maybe we're off the mark and saying that, and
8:39
Speaker 1: maybe it's just kind of the new system we're thriving
8:41
Speaker 1: in this chaos, but it just seems like an unhealthy
8:44
Speaker 1: way for college sports to continue to operate having all
8:47
Speaker 1: of this uncertainty. And I think the NCAA is actually
8:50
Speaker 1: to blame for a lot of this, because in this
8:52
Speaker 1: particular case, they could have made a better decision in
8:57
Speaker 1: terms of either the timing of when this was all
8:59
Speaker 1: going to be introduced, or they could have just gone
9:02
Speaker 1: ahead and given a blanket waiver to all these kids,
9:05
Speaker 1: because in the grand scheme of things, if you're gonna
9:07
Speaker 1: do it for the twenty twenty three kids, why not
9:09
Speaker 1: just go to twenty two eight two? And I think
9:11
Speaker 1: I think they thought, from their standpoint, can we're kind
9:14
Speaker 1: of opening up, you know, a can of warm. See
9:16
Speaker 1: if we say twenty twenty two can come, then are
9:17
Speaker 1: some of these guys from twenty twenty one that are
9:19
Speaker 1: maybe sitting at home going to come back and say, hey,
9:21
Speaker 1: I had a red shirt ear in there somewhere, I
9:23
Speaker 1: didn't actually play a five year Like what can I
9:25
Speaker 1: get a waiver? So I understand there has to be
9:27
Speaker 1: a cutoff point. But the NCAA's record in court cases recently,
9:32
Speaker 1: if you're you know, keeping score at home, is not
9:35
Speaker 1: very good. So in this case, it seems like Alexis
9:39
Speaker 1: is gonna be able to play, and a lot of
9:40
Speaker 1: these guys are going to be able to play.
9:42
Speaker 2: Yeah and yeah, as Indiana's concerned, like they have to
9:46
Speaker 2: operate in that way until they're told not to write.
9:49
Speaker 2: And so, you know, from my standpoint, I think that
9:53
Speaker 2: Alexis is a big addition for Indiana. I think it
9:56
Speaker 2: turns a question mark into kind of a strength. You know,
10:01
Speaker 2: their their back or their front court. Excuse me, seem
10:05
Speaker 2: pretty thin. Uh, you know you've got Iguitolu and then
10:08
Speaker 2: you've got Charrell, and then after that, it was kind
10:12
Speaker 2: of like, who's gonna who's gonna back them up, who's
10:15
Speaker 2: gonna play that that five spot, What if one of
10:17
Speaker 2: them gets hurt? Those types of things, and Alexis really
10:20
Speaker 2: gives you some versatility at that spot. Like I think
10:23
Speaker 2: Igtolu certainly can can have his moments where he's a
10:29
Speaker 2: strong suit to have on the floor, especially against some
10:31
Speaker 2: of these bigger Big ten teams. But say you're in
10:34
Speaker 2: the first round of the NCAA tournament and you're a
10:36
Speaker 2: five seed, You're playing a twelve seed that wants to
10:38
Speaker 2: spread you out, you know, some someone like what the
10:41
Speaker 2: Drake teams used to look like under McCollum and or
10:45
Speaker 2: the Indiana State teams under Josh Shirt. It's like, that's
10:48
Speaker 2: not a game that Egatolu is probably gonna be great
10:50
Speaker 2: in because he's gonna have to move around on the floor.
10:53
Speaker 2: But you can go at put Alexis out there, and
10:55
Speaker 2: then you've got Alexis and Charrell and and really it's
10:58
Speaker 2: just some more mobility. So from my standpoint, I think
11:02
Speaker 2: Alexis is a huge addition for the front court depth
11:05
Speaker 2: but also just the versatility of the front court as well,
11:09
Speaker 2: super important to have that. Then, Yeah, in terms of
11:11
Speaker 2: where the NCAA is at, I mean it's I think,
11:15
Speaker 2: as you've noted, like the ratings and stuff are great,
11:17
Speaker 2: but I think from like a I look at it
11:20
Speaker 2: from like a coaching standpoint, it would be exhausting having
11:23
Speaker 2: to just re recruit your whole roster every single year.
11:26
Speaker 2: Having to just create all these relationships with all these
11:29
Speaker 2: agents where half of them are slimeballs and don't know
11:31
Speaker 2: what they're doing and they're looking out for themselves like
11:34
Speaker 2: that would be absolutely exhausting. You're doing a minimal amount
11:38
Speaker 2: of coaching, which I think really lends itself to what
11:43
Speaker 2: Degrees went out and did and hired a GM, somebody
11:46
Speaker 2: that already had a lot of those relationships. I think
11:48
Speaker 2: that was it kind of under the radar addition to
11:52
Speaker 2: the staff this past season, and somebody that can handle
11:56
Speaker 2: a lot of that stuff can go out and create
11:58
Speaker 2: those relationships or nerds those relationships and just let the
12:01
Speaker 2: coach do more of the coaching. Now. Granted, Derees as
12:05
Speaker 2: the CEO, he's gonna he's gonna decide who comes in
12:08
Speaker 2: and who doesn't. But if he can hand it off
12:10
Speaker 2: to somebody and say these these are the profiles we're
12:12
Speaker 2: looking for, go start great in these relationships, Like that's
12:15
Speaker 2: something good to have. I think you're gonna see more
12:17
Speaker 2: and more of that across the college basketball landscape. But
12:21
Speaker 2: at some point, yes, we we've gotta we've got to
12:24
Speaker 2: reel this thing in. I think, you know, as much
12:26
Speaker 2: as I know people don't like Dan Hurley, like even
12:29
Speaker 2: he's noting like this just is not sustainable.
12:32
Speaker 1: Team may left right, I mean, exactly how often do
12:36
Speaker 1: you see a coach come into you know, he's been
12:39
Speaker 1: grinding through his career at the lower levels. He obviously
12:42
Speaker 1: comes to prominence at Florida Atlantic, gets his first opportunity
12:46
Speaker 1: at the high major level, comes in, takes over a
12:49
Speaker 1: Michigan program that I think maybe was a little bit
12:52
Speaker 1: over exaggerated on how much of a dumpster fire was
12:54
Speaker 1: because Juwan Howard did have some pretty good teams that
12:56
Speaker 1: obviously had a really poor year, but then flips it
13:00
Speaker 1: quickly with a good portal class and then he's like,
13:03
Speaker 1: all right, two years, I want a championship. I'm out
13:05
Speaker 1: man like I like. And the other thing is he
13:07
Speaker 1: didn't take. I understand he gets a chance to go
13:11
Speaker 1: coach Cooper Flag and I think that's a great opportunity
13:13
Speaker 1: for him. But it wasn't like he took the Celtics job,
13:15
Speaker 1: or the Lakers job, or the Knicks job. He went
13:18
Speaker 1: to Dallas. I mean, it's gonna be a solid NBA
13:22
Speaker 1: job and if that's what you're aspired to, But I mean,
13:25
Speaker 1: I think that tells me that there's obviously some problems
13:30
Speaker 1: in the sport. And some people push back and say, well,
13:32
Speaker 1: Dustin may always wanted to coach in the NBA, but
13:35
Speaker 1: that's probably true, but I'm not sure he wanted to
13:37
Speaker 1: coach after two years at Michigan and winning a national championship.
13:40
Speaker 2: So yeah, no, it's it's it's one of those things
13:43
Speaker 2: that we could probably do a whole pot on it
13:45
Speaker 2: for sure in itself, but yeah, it's it's in a
13:48
Speaker 2: pretty unhealthy spot. But again, it really lends itself back
13:51
Speaker 2: to the NCAA. They knew that pay for play was
13:55
Speaker 2: going to be a thing. They could have tried to
13:56
Speaker 2: create a model that that was better than just opening
14:00
Speaker 2: floodgates to inil like in IL isn't even in IL
14:03
Speaker 2: like none of these kids are getting paid on their name,
14:05
Speaker 2: image and likeness or.
14:05
Speaker 1: Just it's never been right. I mean, yeah, they keep
14:08
Speaker 1: trying to act like it is so yeah.
14:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, it's it's not in a great spot,
14:13
Speaker 2: but it's it's still exciting. It's fun to watch, and
14:15
Speaker 2: we get to talk about it so well.
14:17
Speaker 1: I mean for people like us to talk about basketball
14:20
Speaker 1: and for me writing about basketball, I mean, the popularity
14:24
Speaker 1: is exploded because now all of a sudden, it's portal
14:28
Speaker 1: from the time the season, I mean, there's more interest
14:30
Speaker 1: in the portal, at least in Indiana. And I think
14:32
Speaker 1: this is going to change in the coming years, hopefully
14:34
Speaker 1: if they win more games and have, you know, some
14:36
Speaker 1: deeper tournament runs. But it's almost like the portal is
14:39
Speaker 1: what people are more looking forward to than the actual
14:41
Speaker 1: games by the end of the season. So that's the
14:44
Speaker 1: crazy part about it. And I think, I mean, if
14:45
Speaker 1: you look at some of these other national folks, I
14:47
Speaker 1: mean they're still doing podcasts right now talking about all
14:50
Speaker 1: these moves and all that. So I think from a
14:52
Speaker 1: from a media coverage perspective, it's made it more of
14:55
Speaker 1: a year round sport. But you're right, the same token
14:57
Speaker 1: it's got to be exhausting for these coaches. And one
15:00
Speaker 1: other thing I wanted to point out that you know,
15:01
Speaker 1: I was thinking about when you talked about just kind
15:03
Speaker 1: of re recruiting your team. I think one of the
15:05
Speaker 1: smart things that Indiana did, at least in this portal
15:07
Speaker 1: cycle as compared to last, was recruit some guys who
15:11
Speaker 1: have multiple seasons of eligibility so that they're not going
15:15
Speaker 1: to have to do a complete roster flip. And you
15:17
Speaker 1: couple that with the fact that they have three freshmen
15:19
Speaker 1: who look like they can be programmed guys. You got
15:21
Speaker 1: Trent Sisley. All of a sudden, you're hoping, if things
15:23
Speaker 1: go right this year, maybe next year in the spring
15:27
Speaker 1: of the portal, we only have to get one or
15:29
Speaker 1: two three guys instead of having this exactly. So I
15:33
Speaker 1: think that was kind of an underrated, uh just kind
15:36
Speaker 1: of tweaked that they did, and hopefully one that that
15:38
Speaker 1: works out in terms of this this team for next season.
15:43
Speaker 1: From watching the practices, and I want to get your
15:46
Speaker 1: thoughts on this from a coaching perspective and just kind
15:48
Speaker 1: of what you've seen. I'm curious to know your thoughts
15:52
Speaker 1: on how Cherrell and Egatoglu fit together on the court.
15:56
Speaker 1: Because everyone is pointing to, you know, Michigan and Bres
15:59
Speaker 1: Johnson and Linda Borg and Demara playing together. I don't
16:04
Speaker 1: really kind of see this pairing as anything similar to that,
16:07
Speaker 1: just in terms of, you know, Mores Johnson was a
16:08
Speaker 1: lottery pick. He's, you know, very agile for a guy
16:11
Speaker 1: his size, not to say that Aiden Sharrell isn't, but
16:14
Speaker 1: I think he's a little bit more versatile as a defender.
16:16
Speaker 1: Linda Borg obviously completely different player than anybody on Indiana's roster,
16:21
Speaker 1: So I'm curious the fit between those two more from
16:24
Speaker 1: the defensive side of things, how that's gonna work and
16:27
Speaker 1: do you see any potential problems with that. And then
16:29
Speaker 1: obviously Cherill, I think offensively is shown that he wants
16:32
Speaker 1: to get out shoot the three. He shot the three
16:34
Speaker 1: more then I think last year is a sophomore than
16:40
Speaker 1: he did as a freshman in Alabama, so he wants
16:41
Speaker 1: to kind of expand that to his game. And I
16:43
Speaker 1: think part of the reason he wanted to come to
16:45
Speaker 1: Indiana was because they were gonna let him play the four,
16:47
Speaker 1: and I think they kind of pitched him on the fact, Hey,
16:49
Speaker 1: we're gonna get another big to play next year, You're
16:51
Speaker 1: not gonna have to do everything you did last year
16:54
Speaker 1: from the you know, holding down everything in the paint
16:57
Speaker 1: he had to do at Alabama. I think he was
16:59
Speaker 1: looking to get away from that. But I'm just curious
17:01
Speaker 1: how that fits together when it actually gets into the
17:04
Speaker 1: meat of the Big ten schedule.
17:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think honestly, it kind of lends itself to
17:08
Speaker 2: what we talked about with the addition of Alexis being
17:11
Speaker 2: so important, where if there are matchups that that don't
17:15
Speaker 2: work for that pairing, or you need to move Schrell
17:19
Speaker 2: to the five, and you know, you bring in a
17:21
Speaker 2: smaller four, like you've just got more lineup flexibility currently.
17:26
Speaker 2: And I think it it also lends itself to some
17:28
Speaker 2: of those freshmen needing to put on some weight to
17:30
Speaker 2: where they could come in and kind of play those
17:33
Speaker 2: those big wing spots and be able to defend because
17:36
Speaker 2: what's some make notice mistake about it? And he had
17:38
Speaker 2: his defense was not good last year. It was it
17:41
Speaker 2: was very poorous. They filed a lot and and so
17:45
Speaker 2: and they didn't rebound well. So the reason his mind
17:49
Speaker 2: is thinking, all right, how do we clean up those flaws?
17:51
Speaker 2: All right, Well, I go get two monsters. You know,
17:53
Speaker 2: Ecotolu should have no problem getting boards and and Shrell's
17:56
Speaker 2: got the the athleticism and the size to go get boards.
18:01
Speaker 2: You know, brought in some some solid rebounding guards while smaller,
18:06
Speaker 2: still able to rebound the basketball a little bit. And
18:09
Speaker 2: so in terms of the pairing fit, there's gonna be
18:12
Speaker 2: games where it's not great, but your hope is that
18:15
Speaker 2: it's not one of those situations where you know it's
18:18
Speaker 2: a BALLU renew mix and you just pound it, pound it,
18:22
Speaker 2: pound it, and you continue to pound that and even
18:25
Speaker 2: when it's not working, and you just make some changes
18:28
Speaker 2: and some shifts and change within the game and kind
18:33
Speaker 2: of take what the defense is giving you, or take
18:34
Speaker 2: what the offense is giving you if you's on the
18:36
Speaker 2: defensive end. You know, in terms of how DeVries schemes
18:40
Speaker 2: things offensively, I think it's it's fine. Like I think
18:44
Speaker 2: you're gonna see Igotolu setting a lot of ball screens
18:47
Speaker 2: and opening up the floor. Like, I don't think they're
18:49
Speaker 2: just gonna park him on the block and say throw
18:52
Speaker 2: him the ball and run the offense through him. Now,
18:54
Speaker 2: I do think they'll throw the ball to the high posts.
18:56
Speaker 2: A lot to schrelle and then run things through that
19:00
Speaker 2: and you know have split cuts and prints and actions
19:03
Speaker 2: off that, which is great. Like that opens the floor up.
19:07
Speaker 2: So from a scheming standpoint, I think there's a lot
19:09
Speaker 2: of ways of scheme around that. But I think Therees
19:11
Speaker 2: saw their number one fall last year was they just
19:14
Speaker 2: did not have the size to compete in the Big ten.
19:17
Speaker 2: You know, when you're trying to not read Bailey as
19:19
Speaker 2: your five. No, you know nothing against Reed Bailey, but
19:22
Speaker 2: like he just did not have the physique to compete
19:25
Speaker 2: in the Big ten as a starting five. So Three
19:27
Speaker 2: saw that and and decided that he was going to
19:31
Speaker 2: remedy that. Got a couple of monsters down there, But
19:35
Speaker 2: I think he's got a lineup flexibility that that one
19:38
Speaker 2: doesn't scare me as much.
19:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious. You look at Derees's teams historically, they've
19:43
Speaker 1: never been huge on going to the offensive glass, and
19:47
Speaker 1: now that he has this new personnel, I'm curious to
19:49
Speaker 1: see if he makes that more of an emphasis. He
19:52
Speaker 1: said he's going to, So we'll see when it actually
19:55
Speaker 1: the game started and they start playing. You know, the
19:57
Speaker 1: arkansass the Kentucky's earlier in the season because I think
20:00
Speaker 1: that has a chance. One of the things that I
20:02
Speaker 1: talked to coach Ton Sony about this a couple of
20:04
Speaker 1: weeks ago. One of the biggest issues I think with
20:08
Speaker 1: last year's team that I think they can make some
20:11
Speaker 1: changes with this year's team was not just the rebounding
20:14
Speaker 1: of the size is this team? The team last year
20:16
Speaker 1: didn't create any easy anything easy offensively, whether that be
20:19
Speaker 1: off turning the opponents over and getting out in transition,
20:23
Speaker 1: scoring fast break points. They didn't crash the offensive glass
20:26
Speaker 1: very well, creating any second chance opportunities. So it was
20:28
Speaker 1: almost like you had to be on from the perimeter
20:32
Speaker 1: and you had to be super efficient at the rim
20:34
Speaker 1: or you weren't going to get anything easy offensively, and
20:36
Speaker 1: I think that led itself to a lot of those
20:38
Speaker 1: cold spells offensively. You talked a little bit about the
20:41
Speaker 1: balance of this team. Do you think there's enough pieces
20:45
Speaker 1: offensively when you couple in the fact that hopefully they're
20:48
Speaker 1: going to do more on the offensive glass, Hopefully they're
20:51
Speaker 1: going to be able to create some things with their
20:52
Speaker 1: defense and get in transition. But do you think on
20:55
Speaker 1: the nights where maybe those things aren't working, is there
20:57
Speaker 1: enough and a half court offense for them to be
20:59
Speaker 1: able to or consistently because they don't have that Lamar
21:02
Speaker 1: Wilkerson that it's gonna go off for forty four. I
21:05
Speaker 1: just don't see that on this team.
21:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, a couple of points there to hit on. Yeah.
21:11
Speaker 2: The biggest thing is, like you mentioned Debrees, teams have
21:13
Speaker 2: always kind of sacrificed the offensive rebound to get back
21:16
Speaker 2: and stop transition defense or the opponent's transition offense. And
21:21
Speaker 2: then like you know, it's just kind of a play
21:23
Speaker 2: at safe approach. They packed everything in, they want to
21:25
Speaker 2: try to force bad shots. Well, then they didn't rebound
21:28
Speaker 2: well last year either. So like that whole scheme that,
21:31
Speaker 2: you know, it just lent itself to playing with really
21:34
Speaker 2: thin margins, you know, how to get hot from three,
21:38
Speaker 2: had to get lucky kind of on some rebounding situations.
21:41
Speaker 2: Things like that. And so I do think that the
21:44
Speaker 2: way Devrees has at least talked this season is, hey,
21:47
Speaker 2: we're going to change some things, which I think is
21:48
Speaker 2: kind of a breath of fresh air. You know, both
21:52
Speaker 2: Archie and Woody both had their systems and they were
21:55
Speaker 2: married to those systems, and that's what the teams are
21:57
Speaker 2: gonna look like no matter what, and you know, obviously
22:01
Speaker 2: to their detriment and and so I think that was
22:04
Speaker 2: what was a little scary with IU last year as
22:06
Speaker 2: he saw some of the same flaws that you had
22:08
Speaker 2: seen and basically the past decade. But they went out.
22:12
Speaker 2: I mean he put his money Moor's mouth was in
22:14
Speaker 2: terms of roster construction, like he changed what the roster
22:19
Speaker 2: looked like, went out and got power for production, not
22:23
Speaker 2: just guys that produced at the mid major level, but
22:26
Speaker 2: guys that have produced in powerfol conferences. And yeah, like
22:31
Speaker 2: you not did, Like they don't have a Lamar Wilkerson
22:34
Speaker 2: that's just gonna go get you buckets. But they've definitely
22:37
Speaker 2: are more well rounded offensively where you can throw it
22:40
Speaker 2: in the paint and and shrail may cause it doubles,
22:43
Speaker 2: and you can kick it out to Burton or you
22:45
Speaker 2: can kick it out to Lindsay who can knock down
22:47
Speaker 2: some shots. So I think they've got more offensive versatility
22:52
Speaker 2: on you know, at their disposal. I think Marcus Burton
22:56
Speaker 2: is one of those questions that we kind of touched
22:59
Speaker 2: on earlier, Like you know, he's coming off of a
23:01
Speaker 2: season ending injury seemed like he deferred a lot in
23:05
Speaker 2: the Peru games. Like his Peru stat lines would not
23:09
Speaker 2: blow you away. But then you look at like what
23:12
Speaker 2: he was capable of putting up night in night out
23:15
Speaker 2: in the ACC, you know, average over twenty points per game.
23:18
Speaker 2: It's like, this is a dude that can score as
23:20
Speaker 2: showcase that, but what's his role, Like is his role
23:23
Speaker 2: to get everybody else involved? Or is his role to
23:25
Speaker 2: be that kind of alpha scorer like because those are
23:28
Speaker 2: kind of contrasting roles, right, and so what's what's that
23:32
Speaker 2: role at Indiana going to be?
23:34
Speaker 1: Like?
23:34
Speaker 2: You know, this is like he's one that's kind of
23:36
Speaker 2: flown under the radar for me. You know, this is
23:39
Speaker 2: former Indiana mister basketball twenty point games scorer up at
23:42
Speaker 2: Notre Dame. Like coming home to IU, he talked about
23:46
Speaker 2: how you as his first or degrees was one of
23:48
Speaker 2: the first coaches that recruited him and offered him. Like
23:51
Speaker 2: it's kind of an under the radar story really, because
23:54
Speaker 2: if he kind of becomes that alpha point guard that
23:56
Speaker 2: Indiana has lacked, somebody that can create get Downhill doesn't
24:00
Speaker 2: need a million different actions to free himself, Like he
24:04
Speaker 2: can just go get a bucket like that's something that
24:06
Speaker 2: I hasn't really had from that point guard position, and
24:09
Speaker 2: I would venture to say, like from a skill standpoint,
24:13
Speaker 2: probably the best point guard Indiana has had since a
24:16
Speaker 2: Yogi maybe like from a from what his.
24:20
Speaker 1: One year but obviously not didn't have anything.
24:23
Speaker 2: And even then, like I think he got drafted more
24:25
Speaker 2: as like a he had obviously that great game against Purdue,
24:29
Speaker 2: but like he was hyper inefficient as a college basketball player.
24:32
Speaker 2: Like I think from a college basketball standpoint, I don't
24:35
Speaker 2: I would want Burton's production over a hooch a Fino's currently,
24:38
Speaker 2: but obviously Fino was. Yeah, you know for a skilled
24:42
Speaker 2: basketball player that that his ceiling was vastly higher than
24:46
Speaker 2: what Burtons is in terms of the next level. But yeah,
24:50
Speaker 2: so like that's one of those question marks to me,
24:52
Speaker 2: is like Burton coming off an injury, he's the he's
24:56
Speaker 2: kind of that alpha point guard, prodigal son coming home,
24:59
Speaker 2: all that good stuff, But is he gonna stay healthy?
25:02
Speaker 2: And if he doesn't stay healthy, are you comfortable with
25:05
Speaker 2: Prince Alexander Moody or Bryce Lindsay being your league guard
25:08
Speaker 2: because those are two that would scare me a little bit.
25:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, on Burton, one more thing, and this is something
25:14
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about a lot. You mentioned here. You know,
25:17
Speaker 1: whatever he average at Notre Dame seventeen eighteen, nineteen twenty, whatever,
25:20
Speaker 1: he was early in score, but it wasn't on teams
25:23
Speaker 1: that won. Obviously. That's part of the reason why his
25:26
Speaker 1: coach is now probably on the hot seat and he's
25:29
Speaker 1: on the move is because Notre Dame basketball is right
25:31
Speaker 1: now kind of stagnant and really wasn't successful. So as
25:35
Speaker 1: he transitions now to Indiana, does Indiana really want him
25:39
Speaker 1: to be that? Should they want him to be that?
25:41
Speaker 1: Because I'm thinking, and you may have a completely different opinion,
25:45
Speaker 1: but I'm thinking, if Marcus Burton averages twelve or thirteen
25:49
Speaker 1: points and six and a half assists or seven assists,
25:51
Speaker 1: and you know, the ball is getting spread around, and
25:54
Speaker 1: you got you know, Bryce Lindsay averaging twelve or thirteen,
25:57
Speaker 1: You've got Darren Harris averaging ten, You've got Jayden mustav
26:01
Speaker 1: averaging eight or nine, that's probably a better outcome for
26:05
Speaker 1: Indiana than Marcus Burton going and scoring twenty and having
26:08
Speaker 1: four assists.
26:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, And honestly, I think where his skill set really
26:13
Speaker 2: comes into play is some of those scenarios last year
26:16
Speaker 2: where it's eight seconds on the shot clock, balls in
26:20
Speaker 2: his hands, and then what can you go create? You know,
26:24
Speaker 2: you just it's something that Indiana's lacked in the last
26:26
Speaker 2: ten years. Like Wilkerson as great as a scorer in
26:29
Speaker 2: Playmaker as he was, Like a lot of his shots
26:32
Speaker 2: were spot up or wonderable pull ups, things like that,
26:34
Speaker 2: Like not a guy that was gonna create a lot
26:36
Speaker 2: of gravity getting downhill. Like he got better at that
26:40
Speaker 2: as the season went on. It felt like, But I
26:42
Speaker 2: feel like Burton's that guy you put the ball in
26:44
Speaker 2: his hands with eight seconds, you maybe go set a
26:45
Speaker 2: high ball screen and then just say go play in
26:48
Speaker 2: some of those late clock scenarios. He's a guy that
26:52
Speaker 2: you want the ball in his hands because he's gonna
26:53
Speaker 2: make a good decision. Like that's where I think his
26:56
Speaker 2: value really lies. But I'm totally on board with you, Like,
26:59
Speaker 2: he's not a dude you want to go score consistently
27:01
Speaker 2: twenty points per game. Probably now we could be wrong,
27:03
Speaker 2: but if you're kind of sharing the sugar a little
27:06
Speaker 2: bit more, that's probably the better scenario for Indiana shooting wise.
27:10
Speaker 1: Obviously a lot was lost with Tucker Derees. Moving on Wilkerson,
27:16
Speaker 1: obviously one of the most prolific three point shooters we've
27:18
Speaker 1: seen in an IU uniform ever. Really, just in terms
27:22
Speaker 1: of a single season performance. Nick Dorn, as many wards
27:26
Speaker 1: as he had in terms of his overall game, was
27:28
Speaker 1: a guy that could make three pointer, had a really
27:31
Speaker 1: nice run there in the middle of the season where
27:33
Speaker 1: he kind of carried the team for a couple of games.
27:35
Speaker 1: Do you think there's enough on this roster shooting from
27:38
Speaker 1: a shooting perspective three point shooting, because you look at
27:41
Speaker 1: kind of some of the kin Pond numbers. I think
27:43
Speaker 1: they were like top fifty in the country last year
27:45
Speaker 1: in three point right, maybe even higher that fourteenth. Okay,
27:49
Speaker 1: So I don't necessarily see that repeating itself. I think
27:55
Speaker 1: that'd probably be a bad thing if it did, because
27:57
Speaker 1: then your what are you actually getting out of Cherrell
27:59
Speaker 1: and Ecotoglu offensively? Potentially Sam alexis too. So just overall,
28:04
Speaker 1: do you think with what they got? Obviously Brice Lindsay's
28:06
Speaker 1: a guy that can make the three pointer. Burton not
28:11
Speaker 1: a high volume guy. I think they guy one guy
28:13
Speaker 1: that's kind of the X factor that they're kind of
28:15
Speaker 1: looking at and saying you're gonna have to make some
28:17
Speaker 1: threes consistently. As Darren Harris, we saw a little bit
28:20
Speaker 1: of that in Peru. I saw it in the open
28:22
Speaker 1: practices that he looks like a guy that can fill
28:24
Speaker 1: that role. But do you think they have maybe enough
28:27
Speaker 1: shooting to kind of piece it together from a bay
28:29
Speaker 1: committee a perspective to at least be where they want
28:32
Speaker 1: to be from a perimeter shooting perspective.
28:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, to me, it just goes to you know, their
28:39
Speaker 2: three point rate last year was so high in my opinion,
28:41
Speaker 2: because they couldn't get paint touches and they were just
28:44
Speaker 2: throwing the ball around the perimeter and guys were chucking it,
28:48
Speaker 2: you know at the first semi open look that they got.
28:51
Speaker 2: I think they've got better gravity on the floor of
28:53
Speaker 2: guys that can get downhill, get into the paint, didn't
28:56
Speaker 2: spray it out. They've got big men that they could
28:58
Speaker 2: throw it into where they could also have gravity on
29:00
Speaker 2: the floor they're gonna command to or they're gonna be
29:03
Speaker 2: able to put their back to the basket and score it.
29:04
Speaker 2: In terms of Shirell you Geitolu and you know even
29:07
Speaker 2: Alexis at points can do that. So while I don't
29:10
Speaker 2: think they're you know, shooting prowess is necessarily what they
29:16
Speaker 2: had last season. I think they've got a broader range
29:19
Speaker 2: of shooters. I think they've got better offensive weapons that
29:25
Speaker 2: are going to command defenses to key on a little
29:28
Speaker 2: bit more where they're going to open up some guys
29:31
Speaker 2: that you're gonna get better shots, if that makes sense,
29:35
Speaker 2: and so, you know, I think that if you looked
29:38
Speaker 2: at kind of Indiana's shot scoring, like at GCA, we
29:43
Speaker 2: basically have our shot selection. A nine is a layup,
29:46
Speaker 2: a seven is an open three, and then after that
29:49
Speaker 2: you've got your five is a contested three, and then
29:52
Speaker 2: a three is a contested mid range. Like I think
29:54
Speaker 2: Indiana took a lot of fives and threes last year,
29:57
Speaker 2: where like not great shot selection where they I think
30:00
Speaker 2: they're going to be able to get better shots, and
30:02
Speaker 2: so I think that's gonna make them more efficient, but
30:05
Speaker 2: maybe not have the shooting prowess that they had at
30:08
Speaker 2: times last year. But you know, I was looking up
30:10
Speaker 2: some stats coming into this because shooting was one of
30:12
Speaker 2: the questions I had on my list too. You know,
30:15
Speaker 2: in Indianda's fourteen losses last year, they shot thirty percent
30:17
Speaker 2: from deep and so you know, while they had some
30:21
Speaker 2: guys that could shoot it, you know if they didn't, again,
30:25
Speaker 2: those margins were so thin that if they didn't shoot
30:28
Speaker 2: it well last year, they were going to lose. Where
30:31
Speaker 2: I don't think that this team has that kind of
30:34
Speaker 2: makeup where if they don't make their threes that they're
30:37
Speaker 2: just pretty much form one conclusion they're going to lose.
30:40
Speaker 1: I have one more question that's kind of a bigger
30:42
Speaker 1: picture question than I wanted to get into. Anything else
30:44
Speaker 1: you had on your list that you wanted to discuss
30:48
Speaker 1: talk about that stood out that we haven't covered so far.
30:51
Speaker 2: I think pace is one that it kind of lends
30:53
Speaker 2: itself to the creating turnovers and things like that. Indiana
30:57
Speaker 2: was very slow last year. Defrees as a whole generally
31:02
Speaker 2: likes a slow paced team in some of that is
31:05
Speaker 2: because of what they do on defense and in the
31:07
Speaker 2: pack line, if you will, and then offensively getting set
31:11
Speaker 2: heavy because he's running things for shooters. I would love
31:14
Speaker 2: to see Indiana pick up the pace. Obviously, we saw
31:16
Speaker 2: it in Peru. They were able to get in passing lanes,
31:18
Speaker 2: get steals, they were running on everything. But it's like,
31:22
Speaker 2: is that gonna be your identity or is that something
31:24
Speaker 2: you're gonna do when you play inferior opponents and then
31:25
Speaker 2: you kind of backtrack when you play other teams and
31:28
Speaker 2: you kind of, you know, go back to old ways,
31:32
Speaker 2: Like I would love to see Indiana play faster. I
31:34
Speaker 2: would love to see them get more aggressive defensively. I'd
31:36
Speaker 2: love to see him get more aggressive on the offensive boards,
31:39
Speaker 2: all things Devreese has said they're gonna do. But all
31:42
Speaker 2: those things are gonna help pick up that tempo, which
31:44
Speaker 2: is just more fun to watch generally than just some
31:47
Speaker 2: of those slog just you know, eight minutes scoring droughts
31:52
Speaker 2: where just nobody can put the ball in the bucket.
31:54
Speaker 2: Like if you get more aggressive, you see the ball
31:56
Speaker 2: go in all of a sudden, the lid comes off
31:58
Speaker 2: and and things just happen and a little bit better offensively.
32:01
Speaker 2: So that is one question that I'm interested in seeing,
32:04
Speaker 2: is how you're going to pick up that pace or
32:06
Speaker 2: are they going to kind of backtrack into what we've
32:08
Speaker 2: seen in kind of the Devirees mold of teams he's
32:12
Speaker 2: had over the last decade or so?
32:13
Speaker 1: Am I crazy and thinking from a pace perspective that
32:17
Speaker 1: as a coach, And you can answer this a lot
32:21
Speaker 1: better than I can do. Do you've have more willingness
32:26
Speaker 1: to try to play faster when you feel like you
32:27
Speaker 1: have a more talented team? I mean, is it is okay?
32:31
Speaker 1: You know? Because I feel like some of the teams
32:33
Speaker 1: that like, I don't want to say this from as
32:36
Speaker 1: a knock on Den McCollum, because I think he's a
32:38
Speaker 1: great coach, but if you kind of watched his team
32:40
Speaker 1: last year, he definitely managed the game right. He was
32:44
Speaker 1: trying to milk the game into their face, like play
32:48
Speaker 1: their pace and kind of drag the other team into
32:50
Speaker 1: the mud because he knew that he wasn't going to
32:53
Speaker 1: night in a night out with the talent he had.
32:55
Speaker 1: And this makes him a really good coach, don't get
32:57
Speaker 1: me wrong, But you know he had to run the
33:00
Speaker 1: shot clock down on all these possessions because why shoot
33:02
Speaker 1: the ball earlier and gives it, you know, the other
33:04
Speaker 1: team another chance at scoring kind of you know, make it,
33:09
Speaker 1: you know, you know, a knockdown, drag him out type
33:13
Speaker 1: of affair. And now with Indiana and you look and
33:16
Speaker 1: you say, all right, you have more talent, so you
33:19
Speaker 1: should be more a little bit more willing to take
33:21
Speaker 1: some risk and try to impose your will on somebody else,
33:25
Speaker 1: and you know, try to make them adjust to what
33:28
Speaker 1: you're doing, rather than just accepting the fact that it's
33:30
Speaker 1: going to be the sole place. Because while I'm describing
33:34
Speaker 1: with Iowa, I think Indiana kind of had to do
33:36
Speaker 1: sometimes last year out of necessity because they really had
33:39
Speaker 1: nobody that could go do anything. Sam Alexis for his
33:42
Speaker 1: efficient as he was offensively, you know, he try to
33:45
Speaker 1: think close to sixty nine percent from the field, but
33:47
Speaker 1: a lot of that was just you know, getting dump
33:52
Speaker 1: off things like that. It wasn't like throw the ball
33:54
Speaker 1: to Sam and let him go get a look. Connor
33:56
Speaker 1: in Wright ended up with the ball a lot in
33:58
Speaker 1: late Shotcock situation and it didn't typically end well because
34:02
Speaker 1: he's not a creator and a guy that can go
34:04
Speaker 1: get a bucket for himself. So now you look around
34:06
Speaker 1: and say, hey, we got more guys, maybe we're a
34:08
Speaker 1: little bit more Well, I'm not saying they're going to
34:09
Speaker 1: be top fifty in pace, but as you said, I
34:12
Speaker 1: mean be somewhere in the top half, right, I mean,
34:14
Speaker 1: but the talent they have, there's no reason that shouldn't
34:16
Speaker 1: be the case.
34:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, you're You're spot on, Like, if you have
34:19
Speaker 2: more talent, you're more willing to run. You're not trying
34:22
Speaker 2: to limit possessions. But if you again, if you're less talented,
34:25
Speaker 2: you want the least amount of possessions as you can't. Like,
34:28
Speaker 2: that's why you see some of these teams hold the
34:30
Speaker 2: ball in Indiana high school basketball for the entirety of
34:33
Speaker 2: the quarter, you know, because you're trying to make it
34:35
Speaker 2: a coin flip game where you know, if we can
34:37
Speaker 2: out play them in four possessions, it's a lot easier
34:40
Speaker 2: than out playing them in one hundred. And so yeah,
34:43
Speaker 2: I think that's what we saw with Indiana last year,
34:45
Speaker 2: especially their offensive playmakers in terms of Wilkerson and Derees.
34:49
Speaker 2: Derees certainly was not going to create his own shots,
34:52
Speaker 2: so they're having to run all these sets and run
34:54
Speaker 2: them off screens and things like that, which are going
34:56
Speaker 2: to take time. Like they didn't have guys where they
34:58
Speaker 2: just put the ball in their hands, goeset a hig
35:00
Speaker 2: ball screen and then go play out of that. And
35:02
Speaker 2: so I think that lent itself a lot to what
35:06
Speaker 2: we saw with those teams. And yeah, I think that's
35:09
Speaker 2: why he's he knows he's got more of a hot
35:12
Speaker 2: rod this year rather than maybe a Chevy Malibu or
35:15
Speaker 2: whatever last year's team was, and so he's more willing
35:18
Speaker 2: to kind of say these things because he knows he
35:20
Speaker 2: can kind of live them out just because he's got
35:23
Speaker 2: a more talented roster.
35:24
Speaker 1: Last thing I wanted to ask you about. It's a
35:26
Speaker 1: bigger picture thing. As I mentioned earlier, what in your mind,
35:31
Speaker 1: and this has kind of been a moving target for
35:33
Speaker 1: so long, what does Indiana actually have to do this
35:35
Speaker 1: season to kind of make people feel good about the
35:38
Speaker 1: direction of the program. Because last year it was all right,
35:42
Speaker 1: we're gonna recruit this old team and it's NCAA tournament
35:45
Speaker 1: or bus we're gonna make the tournament. And it looked
35:48
Speaker 1: like they were on track until that late season collapse.
35:50
Speaker 1: I think if they would have made the tournament, people
35:51
Speaker 1: feel obviously different. I think people were really down on
35:54
Speaker 1: things at the end of the season, and then this
35:58
Speaker 1: portal class comes in and all of a sudden, you know,
36:00
Speaker 1: you kind of see it, Like I see it in
36:02
Speaker 1: the comments on inside the hall. I see it. You know,
36:04
Speaker 1: the feedback that we get. I think people have like
36:06
Speaker 1: slowly but surely now bought back in, but you're gonna
36:10
Speaker 1: have to give them a reason to actually fully commit
36:15
Speaker 1: once the season starts. They have some really good opportunities
36:17
Speaker 1: when the when the non conference schedule hits, to kind
36:20
Speaker 1: of make some statements early in the season. But big picture,
36:25
Speaker 1: what do you feel like has to be accomplished for
36:27
Speaker 1: this team? And I'll say, from my perspective, it's not
36:30
Speaker 1: just making the NCAA Tournament, it's being solidly in the tournament.
36:34
Speaker 1: I would never say a team has to get to
36:36
Speaker 1: the second weekend, they have to get to the Elite eight,
36:38
Speaker 1: but I think you have to be solidly in the
36:41
Speaker 1: tournament to make people feel like this thing's going in
36:44
Speaker 1: the right direction.
36:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, what I think? Honestly, I think back to that
36:52
Speaker 2: year of the watch Shot, where Indiana won a big
36:55
Speaker 2: non conference game, they competed in the Big Ten, they
37:00
Speaker 2: comfortably made the NCAA Tournament. Obviously they made the Sweet sixteen,
37:04
Speaker 2: but that wasn't necessarily What like got people excited about
37:07
Speaker 2: the following year was that it looked like something to
37:11
Speaker 2: build on, right they all a lot of those guys
37:14
Speaker 2: were returning for the next season. I think they lost
37:16
Speaker 2: Fordell Jones and maybe one other senior, but you know,
37:20
Speaker 2: holes in Watford and Zeller and those guys are returning.
37:24
Speaker 2: They were bringing in Yogi Ferrell and the movement was
37:28
Speaker 2: coming in. But I think that is the type of
37:32
Speaker 2: season I'm looking for, is a season with positive momentum.
37:37
Speaker 2: But I think because of this roster construction, it gives
37:42
Speaker 2: people hope that next year is even better. If you're
37:45
Speaker 2: able to lay a solid foundation here and you see
37:48
Speaker 2: pieces that are starting to work together, and then you
37:52
Speaker 2: have most of this roster back next season. Granted, you're
37:55
Speaker 2: gonna have a few or a couple hit the portal.
37:57
Speaker 2: It's just natural attrition. You're gonna have to bring in couple.
38:00
Speaker 2: But because of this roster construction this year, you can
38:03
Speaker 2: really plug holes, which allows you to go after exactly
38:06
Speaker 2: what you want. You know, you're not having to go
38:08
Speaker 2: after thirteen guys and trying to make those pieces fit.
38:11
Speaker 2: It's like, all right, this is exactly what we need.
38:14
Speaker 2: This guy fits that profile in the portal. We can
38:16
Speaker 2: plug that in. So from my perspective, it's it's similar
38:20
Speaker 2: to yours, you know, comfortably in the tournament, but really
38:24
Speaker 2: just something that builds hope for the following season, Like
38:26
Speaker 2: It's just something that Indiana fans have not had because
38:30
Speaker 2: their teams have lived in the portal and it's always
38:32
Speaker 2: kind of a wild card of what they're gonna do.
38:34
Speaker 2: Just as this season is like they've got P four
38:37
Speaker 2: production and it seems like they could have a good season.
38:40
Speaker 2: But if you can actually have a good season and
38:43
Speaker 2: you've got pieces that look like they could play together
38:46
Speaker 2: and you know you're getting them back the following season, Like,
38:49
Speaker 2: to me, that's what I'm looking for, is a season
38:51
Speaker 2: that actually looks like it's a foundational season and you
38:54
Speaker 2: can build positible minimum on top of that toward next year.
38:57
Speaker 2: Maybe is that year where it's like, all right, this
38:59
Speaker 2: is legit team that can make some noise in March.
39:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Tony, thanks for carving the time out for us
39:06
Speaker 1: this week. I always appreciate you taking the time to
39:09
Speaker 1: talk with us. Good luck with continued practices fall with
39:13
Speaker 1: your team, and best of luck. I'm sure we'll have
39:15
Speaker 1: you on plenty of times before now and the meat
39:18
Speaker 1: of your season begins. But thanks as always for coming on.
39:22
Speaker 2: Absolutely always a pleasure being on.
39:24
Speaker 1: Thanks everybody as always for listening to the show. If
39:26
Speaker 1: you enjoy the show as I said at the top,
39:29
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39:31
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39:37
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