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The IU Report with Grant Shouse and Mike Hutsell: Back in Bloomington (2.323.1) · The Central Indiana Sports Report

• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: You are listening to the IAU report with Grant Shouse in my Cutsle every week on the Central Indiana Sports Report.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Mike Wednesday was the first day of fall camp for Indiana Football.
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're off and running.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: First practice underway here.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, a lot of things be excited about the turnover of a new team here.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean just starting it off obviously with college football starting to get underway is the now tradition of kind of the check point you go through in the priesties like the start-up fall camp and then you know the TV schedule comes out or you know the the first coaches poll or AP poll comes out and right now we've gotten the first coaches poll of the season
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Ohio State obviously comes in at number one Indiana comes in at sticks, but Indiana had the second most first place votes and wound up being sixth in the priesties and coaches poll.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm curious your thoughts on that and why that is you think.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not stunned by it because I think the coach's pole is largely done by lazy people.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think it's something that a lot of people put a lot of time into.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think if you would ask me where I thought Indiana was going to slot into, I would
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: OK with Ohio State being the best team in the big ten Oregon is getting a lot of talk with Dante more back and Texas is kind of taking over their traditional spot of being one of the three teams that goes into preseason every year so you know pretty well who's going to be at the top of this Indian
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: they're still new money.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're still people have come up with every reason in the world while they won the national title last year and very few times that they landed on them actually being the best team, even though they quite clearly were.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm not stunned.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: 14 first place votes says a lot about what people think about them, but I think I shared it with you Grant.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: where people voted what, you know, Indiana got 14 first place votes, 13 fifth place votes, 17 sixth place votes, but then like, yeah, nine people vote and seventh.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Three people voted them eighth.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: They went as low as 14th with, thanks Lane Kiffin.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think we all know who that was.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it just kind of tells you, people don't pay attention.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's the first one of the year.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think last year we were complaining because Indiana came in and the 20 range in the preseason and we saw where that landed.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they came right at 20.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so they were 20 last year going into the season.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think we all know, we're way better than the 20th best team.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: this fine.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think they'll finish six.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think they'll end up higher.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: But again, three years ago, are we really ever going to complain about starting the season six overall in the coach's bowl?
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nope.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: Not at all.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that's a great point.
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think people are necessarily complaining.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not, I mean,
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: kind of like you said like you hit on a lot of points they're like I'm not shocked that they came in at sticks you know I would guess maybe third is probably where I would guess there at the start but six again like you're not complaining obviously the the SEC hype train like George is always going to be there Texas is there you know because of archmaning and all that crap
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: obviously people are still infatuated with the stout the eastern conference and right now i mean if you've been paying attention to media days like the last few weeks like i think it's two weeks ago the SEC did their media days and then last week the big tended theirs and obviously statements get dropped um stuff gets stirred up in the pot and kind of the rivalry between the two conferences has never been
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's never been this big, right?
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can't remember it ever being this big of a discussion on whether or not the big 10 or the SEC's better.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Now, I was the U and I are probably going to sit here and say that the big 10 is better, but there's, I mean, there's a ton of people out there that'll disagree and it's okay to be wrong, but just know that.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: you supporting that kind of discredits you a lot because of I think the way that college football has been here in the last three years.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like you've had three big 10 teams win the last three national championships.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think it's one of those things here where
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: this year is I think really open.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think Indiana's capable of going back to back Ohio States, certainly capable of winning it, Oregon is capable.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Georgia, Notre Dame, Texas, those top six, we just mentioned they are all capable of winning that actual championship.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so it'll be interesting to see here again, it's August.
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're doing this August fifth.
• 5:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're one month away from the first game and
• 5:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: still a lot to learn about this team and a lot that we're going to learn during fall camp.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of evidence that just makes it pretty cutting dry that the SEC isn't the dominant conference right now.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: They want to talk about how they are and they want to talk about how they're all tired at the end of the year and
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I guess they're tired of the beginning of the year when Florida states beating Alabama by 14 points in the season opener.
• 6:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, Alabama went all the way to California to kick a field goal last year in the playoff.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's, yeah, it's a little embarrassing because it's pretty clear that the playing field leveled.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: and the SEC advantages went away and they don't know how to react to it.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: They just simply don't know how to react to it.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Great, do understand that the PAC-12 has played for a college football national title more recently than the SEC has, right?
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of unbelievable when you put it in that perspective, isn't it?
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, and ironically the PAC-12 representative that played for the title is now a big
• 6:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: they're coming into this year.
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's week two game.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's week two.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ohio State Texas that is going to be like just an absolute blood feud between these two conferences.
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk here about that game all season.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And far be it for me that somebody's going to make me root for Ryan Day, and that awful just for men beard of his, but I guess that's where we are right now.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's just awful because we know his aura sucks because I got a flat tire, which soon I entered the state of Ohio.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: We all know what happens and say jump started your car from from the parking lot of memorial stadium.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's the weirdest thing.
• 7:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: But just listening to, and then obviously the big ten
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: with their media days talking about the SEC, but it was kind of just counterbalancing what the SEC did the week before.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: All they did was talk about, they haven't even played nine game schedules yet, and they're talking about how hard it is to play a nine game schedule.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's ridiculous.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this nine, I don't know what my favorite SEC talking point.
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: The one about them just being tired because of all the teams that they have to play is gotta be my favorite.
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Will Stein kudos to him, the new coach at Kentucky.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: He kind of went signetti at his media day when somebody asked, well, how can what's gonna make you, what's gonna make Kentucky better?
• 8:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he said they hired me.
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he learned a little thing in the big tin from from from the goat as far as media Day quotes Kurt Signetti and see I'd like to make fun of him for that, but
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: when the team we like their headball coach dropped just the most unbelievable quotes before even coaching it down.
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's kind of hard to like make fun of that.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's like, well, yeah, just doesn't seem as ridiculous right now.
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Does it?
• 8:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, it's hard because it's like we were getting made fun of for that and look out and turned out, you know?
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, it was his version of I win Google me.
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yes, you know, it will start and he's it's going to be interesting for me to watch.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a local guys, a little more guy played at Louisville.
• 9:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Going down to coach again, Kentucky.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm not here really to talk a lot about Kentucky football, but you know, based on that opening as like he had his dignity moment already.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's see if he becomes the sick of the SEC.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: But back to.
• 9:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: how you can possibly defend the SEC over the big 10 right now you just simply can't and people want to say well Michigan cheated and Ohio State what are you going to say about Ohio State Ohio State was the well they were the eight seed well they ran Tennessee off the damn field
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Indiana didn't they beat Miami in the national championship game I was on their home field mind you and Miami had knocked off two SEC teams on their way to that championship game so there's no argument that the SEC can rightfully make right now
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: to suggest that there anything close to the best conference.
• 9:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: But as ESPN and the polls are prone to do, they got their seven, eight teams in the top 25 to start the season.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: So now when Georgia wins in week eight against perennial number 24, Mizzou, they're going to, well, we just
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: because that's what the SEC does.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: They conflate these middleing teams into ranked team Tennessee at number 18.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Really, you have a freshman quarterback who hasn't played it down.
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: What do you really know?
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You hired Derek Owings from Indiana string stuff.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: That might be the best move for that program's made in decades.
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: But, team art, Nate walking through that door.
• 10:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got news for you, Tennessee.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: on on this subject here in light of recent events.
• 10:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Personally for you, my cutsl, would you rather really try to sit down and have an in-depth conversation with just the biggest SEC guy you've ever met or sit down and try to have a conversation with a Notre Dame football fan about the state of college football
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, as it pertains to the SEC, or out pertains to Notre Dame, not being in a conference.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: And obviously, the series with them in Indiana has now been canceled for 2030 and 2031.
• 11:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm curious to your opinion on that.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I kind of already do, I live in the SEC life in this scenario that you just outlined.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I point Blank had somebody told me last week that it's a UK guy.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: play it UK.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't even give a crap who wins.
• 11:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's got to be an SEC team this year.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: It can be Tennessee for all like that.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's unbelievable to me.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm just like just unbelievable.
• 11:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's that's all that matters to them is they have to get the conference title back.
• 11:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's all that that's all they care about.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: They don't care who it is.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: It could be Lane Kiffin.
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: It does not matter to them.
• 12:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have to get that title back because it's been three whole years since it's happened.
• 12:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bama ain't close.
• 12:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I could tell you right now, it's going to have to probably come from Texas or Georgia.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if it's not there, it's going to be another long summer of waiting for media day to find out how tired everybody was.
• 12:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: but they they feel like they have to get no Notre Dame guy listen grant you and I both know we all had one or two friends at least that were
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Indiana basketball fans and Notre Dame football fans.
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, those guys are suddenly those guys have suddenly disappeared.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're all they've always been who's your fans.
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there's a little bit of stupidity in that metric, but Notre Dame fans don't talk.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: They just watch videos of the Jeremiah love touchdown run from the playoffs in 24.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: So they don't really have much to say.
• 13:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And see, I made a crude comment on my Snapchat story trying to provoke
• 13:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: the series with Indiana Notre Dame getting canceled and I was forced to watch the Jeremiah love 98 yard touchdown run for great I personally posted it on your Facebook page I promise I'll put it in the background please do please do I mean you got a few bad for Notre Dame their most famous football player ever it was Rudy we're not even sure he could read
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was off side anyway.
• 13:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was off sides.
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was barely literate.
• 13:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a midget.
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: He killed his friend from Illinois.
• 13:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, she terrible.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just a horrible person.
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who's your on camera, right?
• 13:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like they both killed people.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'll represent, you know, so I don't know.
• 13:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: So Indiana Notre Dame theories is canceled for 2030.
• 14:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: twenty thirty one kind of the reason being i i don't think it was necessarily like obviously the the perspective that people want to push being that oh indiana doesn't want to play a Notre Dame because they want to schedule a weaker non-conference opponent i think it was one of those mutual things here were uh... Notre Dame got their series with use uh... with u.s.c.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: back
• 14:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it just was going to interfere with the timing of when these teams were going to play each other.
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Indiana was going to be playing Notre Dame week one of 2030.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, the series with Notre Dame and USC is
• 14:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: week one of 2030 and to reschedule that would have been in the middle of the season probably the middle of the season for for Indiana Notre Dame and it just makes sense Indiana is not going to play an out of conference opponent in Notre Dame in the middle of October or November.
• 14:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean,
• 14:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: what I think Notre Dame plays three big teniponents this year and all of those are at like the beginning of the season they play Wisconsin Michigan State and Purdue all early on in the seasons so just any logical person needs to look at that and be like okay yeah I'm sure Indiana wouldn't want to play Notre Dame in the middle of the season then just isn't how it works.
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm curious your take on that, Mike, because obviously people, I think are getting it mixed up and getting the information misinterpreted here is Indie and I want to just not play Notre Dame so they can continue to play Howard.
• 15:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think you're obviously right.
• 15:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean Indian and Notre Dame or schedule for week one.
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Notre Dame comes in.
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: The NN says, look, we'll still play, but we can't play week one.
• 15:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Indiana's like, no, we're playing week one or we're not playing.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then it became, well, Indiana won't play Notre Dame.
• 15:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's really easy to
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's the one thing about Signetti that people are going to attack is he doesn't play anybody in the non-conference and here we go again, he had a chance to play a big, a big opponent out of conference and he didn't, you know, I would have loved to have seen that game as the opener in 2013 or whenever it was, but at the same time, Indiana is going to play nine conference games that your Indiana is going to have an opportunity, hopefully
• 16:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: to play in the college football playoff again that year.
• 16:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not ever going to be concerned about Indiana playing quality teams, even if they have to drop Notre Dame in one game in a non-conference schedule.
• 16:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: three, four years right now.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Stock stocks at the game won't take place.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was easier to spin it as Indiana joked them and to some degree Indiana candidate.
• 16:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: They didn't want to just want to reschedule, but like you said, it doesn't make sense to reschedule for week four or week five when you're going to be playing a nine game conference season.
• 16:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it didn't
• 17:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: The pitfalls of sked trying to schedule nine years in advance or whenever they sign that series with Notre Dame however long ago that was Something can oddly enough come up in a decade and the USC series needs to happen as better for college football if USC and Notre Dame play each other so Let him in.
• 17:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: He's to say that Indiana won't go and replace the Notre Dame game with
• 17:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: you know, Tennessee or Georgia or a home in home with like maybe not even a school like a program as big as in like a Virginia or a wake forest or something like that.
• 17:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I think people are quick to jump the gun and say that Indiana wants to cancel that series because they don't want to play the big boys.
• 17:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, who's say that they won't make that up with another
• 17:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: opponent, you know, I think that people wanted
• 17:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: make that narrative that Indiana doesn't play anybody and you can make that argument this season 100% going into the year that in their first three knock off well they're only knock off for games they really don't play anyone yeah North Texas was good last year they lost their entire roster to Oklahoma state how are that games going to be a joke Western Kentucky who knows how good they are that's how they played each other well now last night played each
• 18:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know where I'm going with this.
• 18:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can make the argument that they're not conference schedule.
• 18:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Is it good this year and you're probably right, but who's to say that in 2030 that why are we even going to be talking about what was going on in 2026 with Indiana's not conference football schedule?
• 18:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, everybody said Indian is on conference scheduled last year with garbage and let's let's be realistic.
• 18:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was.
• 18:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, old and Indian was it was the Indian was worked in a decent son belt team and can a saw was a pretty good whatever conference there and I can't even remember at this point.
• 18:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And any of the stages, yeah, CUS, any in a state was in the in a state, but none of those games were a challenge.
• 19:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But just what, any in a ended up playing five ranked, you know, top five teams last year over the course of schedule.
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It did not matter because when you play in a conference, the size of the big 10 with the quality of the teams of the big 10.
• 19:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then if you make the play off, you're going to play good teams.
• 19:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
• 19:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: You just might not play them in September.
• 19:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what's happened here.
• 19:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's probably going to happen again this year.
• 19:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Indiana's got some damn good teams on its schedule that will probably be ranked by the time they play them, but it's not going to be one of the first three games of the year.
• 19:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, and speaking of football here, this probably our biggest headline of the podcast Mike is it was announced on Tuesday that due to the new ruling out in Colorado that is granted by
• 19:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: uh... that is going to qualify athletes from the high school class of twenty-two for a fifth year of eligibility and steven daily is returning to indiana and then of course we're talking about this off the air you mentioned to me telling why it could now be a possibility or uh... hold and stays who was the tight-end last year that kind of was in the shadow of Riley know a calcium but still played a significant amount he could also be returning but as of now we know that steven daily is back
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: and that's huge.
• 20:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: He led the big tin and tackles for loss and he would have been huge down the stretch in the playoff for a last year if he didn't get hurt during the celebration in the big tin championship.
• 20:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: But last year 35 tackles 24 solo 11 assisted tackles five and half sacks and two force fumbles and again led the conference and tackles for loss.
• 20:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that is an unbelievable pickup here right as we go into fall camp in the seasons right around the corner.
• 20:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: and just see in the videos today of Stephen Daley out there hitting the sled again for Indian football.
• 21:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: When you didn't think that was ever going to be a site that you saw again, especially after that freak injury in the Big Ten title game last year, you know, him not being there during the run last year was, you know, it was disheartening because he was such an important guy over the course of the whole season and
• 21:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: for a season in the way that it did, it's poetic in some ways that he might get a happy ending and get to go out like on top again as a player rather than go out on a cart in the big ten title game, driving through the confetti of a game that you won, but you blew your knee out, you tore up your patella, whatever it ended up being.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: jumping to high five a fan in the crowd.
• 21:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: So awesome to see him back and in impact, we just talked about it.
• 21:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have to be great week one.
• 21:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have to be great week two.
• 21:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have to be great week three.
• 21:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: If he's back by the northwestern game to open conference season and he's one hundred percent, which he's cleared for everything already, but getting him back
• 22:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: For more, more of an impact snaps, it's kind of, that's why you like on ramping your season, the way Indiana does with those three non-conference games because Indiana can slow build to getting, maybe the best defensive player in the conference, potentially, back on the field, 100% going into conference season.
• 22:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're talking about Steven Dayly here,
• 22:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: this new ruling by Charlotte Sweeney, shout out Charlotte Sweeney for giving these athletes that were 2022 high school graduates, another year of eligibility for a fifth year of eligibility in college sports now is Santa Lexus for Indian basketball's taking advantage of that.
• 22:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: uh... he's going to be back he played with the team down in peru uh... in those extubishing gains which indian absolutely dominated all of them he kind of filled in for for cement you get to glue could not play due to
• 23:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: some of these are something going on there.
• 23:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, but he joined the, but St. Alexis joined the team down in Peru and now is back on the roster.
• 23:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, they post the other day he's going to run it back.
• 23:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so certainly another big pick-up here is a guy averaged about nine a game last year, five rebounds, 38 blocks.
• 23:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: He
• 23:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: played in 32 games started in 23 of them.
• 23:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: So this is a huge guy to get back a starter from last year's team that really I think was a fan favorite for a lot of people.
• 23:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think a lot of people like watching play and so knowing that you're going to have him back on what kind of is starting to look like a really really good roster going into the season is something that Indiana fans should be excited about.
• 23:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that one of the things that this team still felt it was a little short on was that front chord depth piece.
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you had Aden Shoreau that you picked up.
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he's more of a four.
• 24:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think they would love to see him stay at that four spot.
• 24:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Simit is a very, very large human to put in the middle.
• 24:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: But having watched him in the ACC a lot,
• 24:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: he can he can get foul trouble pretty quick and I'm not saying it's going to happen but we all know in the big 10 sometimes you get on the road in the big 10 fouls find you and when you're 7 foot 3 they find you a little bit quicker so Indianists seem to be lacking that one piece behind its starters in the front court and
• 24:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: you're not going to pick up a better person for that role.
• 24:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like then Sam Alexis at this point in the off season.
• 24:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And like you said, he was kind of a fan favorite last year.
• 24:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's tough to Lamar Wilkerson was everybody's guy last year for very good reason, but I kind of feel like Sam Alexis was maybe their second most consistent guy over the course of the whole season.
• 25:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Simit doesn't have a different type of player and Sam can come in and be that more athletic style big man And you can divide the minutes up a lot more easily now keep guys fresh Just a perfect addition, you know, we talked I feel like months ago grand about if you could keep one guy from
• 25:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: from last year, we both said Lamar Wilkerson for obvious reasons, but I feel like we both landed on Sam Alexis being the guy that realistically, if he could come back, we would love to see back.
• 25:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when he turned up in Peru, it made me think, even though initially there was denial about it, I was like, something has to be in the works here.
• 25:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: for him to just decide to fly to Peru with the Indiana basketball team after he played in the summer league and hadn't signed a contract with Oklahoma City or whoever he was with.
• 26:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Something had to be in the works and you talked about the Colorado case and the NCA is doing everything they came to fight that he got named as one of five players in a separate case out of
• 26:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: So he's got a fallback, even if the NCAA can shut down this Colorado thing as much as they are trying to, he's got a second injunction out of Tennessee that allows him to play.
• 26:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's good news.
• 26:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's going to stick.
• 26:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's the perfect fit at the perfect time.
• 26:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it makes Indiana obviously a better team and quite frankly, it's a guy that I'm glad to see back because I love to watch him play.
• 26:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: I had a percent agree with you there and I've done like we touched on a lot in this show here tonight and as the week's go on here We get closer to football like we're gonna have more things here We'll be able to kind of go in depth on who's gonna play a lot now Especially with Stephen daily being in the mix now kind of changes some things up with Indiana's depth for football And then maybe making I think the first podcast we did last year was like
• 27:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: best case in worst case scenarios for Indiana football.
• 27:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: In 2025 we're probably do for one of those in 2026 here in the next few weeks.
• 27:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: So.
• 27:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: And on the day we're recording this Wednesday.
• 27:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: August the fifth like we are exactly one month away from the first Indiana football game of the season which is our belief.
• 27:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And my tickets hit my apple wallet today for the games that
• 27:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm stocked up.
• 27:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm ready to go.
• 27:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's do this.
• 27:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's can't believe that it's football season.
• 27:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: It still doesn't feel right.
• 27:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Indiana is the defending national champion grand.
• 28:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just say it a few more times, especially to a Purdue fan.
• 28:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Indiana football is the defending national champion.
• 28:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much to Grant and Mike.
• 28:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening.
• 28:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Always appreciate it.
• 28:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Going forward into season three and a couple of weeks, we're gonna be a lot less formal with our podcast.
• 28:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: We just kind of noticed that what day of the week, whether or not there was repetition on the same day of the week every week.
• 28:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Didn't make much difference, so we're just gonna record whenever everybody has time.
• 28:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: It'll still be pretty much every day, but probably won't be every day,
• 28:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: some really cool high school coverage coming up and have some big news on that front as well.
• 28:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Please just a huge favor share this podcast with an IU fan in your life help us spread the word that the Central Indiana Sports Report is talking about what Central Indiana Sports fans are talking about every single day.
• 29:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Central Indiana Sports Report is a product of ITG Media.