College Basketball 2007-2008

[Sosa21MVP]

Homan is gone from IU and I've also heard that DeAndre "The Giant" Thomas is gone as well. I think that drops them to 3 scholarship players with one of them being a former walk on.

 

Counting the incoming freshman class, IU currently has 7 players under scholarship for 2008-09. Scary. But it's worth having a bad year to clean up Sampson's mess. Hopefully Crean has a couple more aces up his sleeve. Our backcourt might be decent but the frontcourt is a wreck.

[hawkeyecub]

Tony Freeman is leaving Iowa. Too bad, he was our best player who was ridiculously hard working and wanted to win like a madman. Never got in trouble and was a good kid by all accounts.

 

He and Lickliter just never saw eye to eye. At least once the games started.

[illiniguy]

Tony Freeman is leaving Iowa. Too bad, he was our best player who was ridiculously hard working and wanted to win like a madman. Never got in trouble and was a good kid by all accounts.

 

He and Lickliter just never saw eye to eye. At least once the games started.

What, where is he going. This is very suprising.

[SouthSideRyan]

Good for Crean. I gain some respect for him.

 

It's gonna be quiet around here next season.

 

Why did the Illini lose players too? You guys were doing all the talking last year.

 

Haha yeah...

[hawkeyecub]

Tony Freeman is leaving Iowa. Too bad, he was our best player who was ridiculously hard working and wanted to win like a madman. Never got in trouble and was a good kid by all accounts.

 

He and Lickliter just never saw eye to eye. At least once the games started.

What, where is he going. This is very suprising.

 

Don't know yet. I wouldn't be shocked if he went to New Mexico. I guess there's the potential of walking on at IU with their situation and the fact that Crean went after him in high school but that would seem unlikely.

 

Yeah it stinks. Even though he was productive last year, he freelanced way too much forcing bad shots and turning the ball over too much. Bobby Hansen told some stories about an unnamed player (likely Tony) ignoring coaches at times. During the pregame at PSU Lick called for an inbounds play to go to a guard and then right down to Cyrus off a cut. 3 straight times he caught the inbounds pass and chucked up a 3 right away.

 

When they weren't winning, Tony played his own game and infuriated the coaches. During the BTT game with Michigan, he made 3 straight awful, forced plays and Lick pulled him out. When he came to the bench he tried talking to the coaches and they just told him to sit down.

With our roster there were simply no other options if we wanted to be competitive. Reportedly during the post-season meetings, Lick told Tony that this year we had many more options in the backcourt and if he continued to do his own thing he wouldn't be playing much.

 

Also last week the coaches named the captains for next year and went with Cyrus Tate and Jarryd Cole who was a freshman and missed the entire Big Ten season last year with an ACL tear. Maybe they were sending a message, but at that point this was almost expected.

[SouthSideRyan]

With Freeman leaving along with Indiana's entire team along with Northwestern being Northwestern, even the most pessimistic of Illinois fans has to have us at least 8th. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'd be shocked to see us lower than 6th (Michigan has no help coming in and Penn St. loses Claxton)

[hawkeyecub]

With Freeman leaving along with Indiana's entire team along with Northwestern being Northwestern, even the most pessimistic of Illinois fans has to have us at least 8th. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'd be shocked to see us lower than 6th (Michigan has no help coming in and Penn St. loses Claxton)

 

Probably. If you're talking about the bottom of the league last year, Iowa (even with the loss of Freeman) Illinois, Michigan and Northwestern should be improved. Indiana will drop into the bottom tier and PSU will probably be roughly the same.

 

They all need to get better for the sake of the conference and I expect that in '09-'10 the Big Ten will be a really strong league.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah the Big 10 is going to get good with all the coaching talent it's brought in. It won't be next year though. 5 teams tops in the tourney.

[Magnetic Curses]

i'm excited to see the illini guardplay next year. they have some big perimeter players that can torch the nets and a point guard who started hitting his stride late last season.

 

i'd like to see keller start next season alongside davis. that would be a tourney team.

[SouthSideRyan]

i'm excited to see the illini guardplay next year. they have some big perimeter players that can torch the nets and a point guard who started hitting his stride late last season.

 

i'd like to see keller start next season alongside davis. that would be a tourney team.

 

You'd rather Keller start over Tisdale?

 

I'd like

 

McCamey

Smith

2 of Meacham/Brock/Davis

Tisdale

 

Then when Legion gets in the swing of things, say end of January bring him with DMac and Jamar.

[illiniguy]

i'm excited to see the illini guardplay next year. they have some big perimeter players that can torch the nets and a point guard who started hitting his stride late last season.

 

i'd like to see keller start next season alongside davis. that would be a tourney team.

 

You'd rather Keller start over Tisdale?

 

I'd like

 

McCamey

Smith

2 of Meacham/Brock/Davis

Tisdale

 

Then when Legion gets in the swing of things, say end of January bring him with DMac and Jamar.

I agree with Sully. I think that Tisdale is a good player in spurts. He will be best suited for coming off the bench.

[SouthSideRyan]

I'm just leery of counting on JUCOs to be contributors right out of the gate.

[Hosak8]

Bruce Pearl dismissed Junior PG Ramar Smith and Junior PF Duke Crews today. Wonder if either- or both- could end up at IU?

[snoodmonger]

Bruce Pearl dismissed Junior PG Ramar Smith and Junior PF Duke Crews today. Wonder if either- or both- could end up at IU?

 

would seem like a strange way to "clean up" the program

[SouthSideRyan]

Bruce Pearl dismissed Junior PG Ramar Smith and Junior PF Duke Crews today. Wonder if either- or both- could end up at IU?

 

I doubt it. I'm guessing the reason IU is down to 4 scholarship players is because they want their program to be as clean as possible when the NCAA report comes down this summer.

[Magnetic Curses]

I'm just leery of counting on JUCOs to be contributors right out of the gate.

 

i think he'll be more ready than tis, who showed me next to nothing last season. he's the poster boy for projects. he certainly is tall, but he better get good, fast if he wants to be a starter.

 

keller has shown that he can fill it up night in and night out at a higher level than tis, and i'll bank on that.

[illiniguy]

 

and to think everyone of the Hoosier fans hated the hire, now. Sure didn't seem like it then.

[CubColtPacer]

 

and to think everyone of the Hoosier fans hated the hire, now. Sure didn't seem like it then.

 

Who said every Hoosier fan hated the hire? Most people were either slightly disapproving, or reserved but willing to give him a chance. The ones who were willing to give him a chance then became more excited as he did good things for the program, and then turned on him when he betrayed their trust.

[illiniguy]

 

and to think everyone of the Hoosier fans hated the hire, now. Sure didn't seem like it then.

 

Who said every Hoosier fan hated the hire? Most people were either slightly disapproving, or reserved but willing to give him a chance. The ones who were willing to give him a chance then became more excited as he did good things for the program, and then turned on him when he betrayed their trust.

 

Either way this youtube clip is great. He didn't do any of the three things he was going to do. Especially number 2. I love that he gets to land on his feet after railroading another school too. He is just a class act.

[Bruno7481]

Crean actually got a pretty good commit today. 6-4 SG Maurice Creek from Connecticut. Had offers from Pitt, Georgetown, and Texas.

[SouthSideRyan]

Any word on what Indiana is planning for next year? Is Crean just gonna say f it and go with the 7 rather than waste a scholly on a lesser player? Or is he gonna pick up a few JUCOs to fill some spots?

 

EDIT: I can't count.

[Bruno7481]

Any word on what Indiana is planning for next year? Is Crean just gonna say f it and go with the 7 rather than waste a scholly on a lesser player? Or is he gonna pick up a few JUCOs to fill some spots?

 

EDIT: I can't count.

 

I've got a newborn at home, so I'm a little behind on IU news, but here is what I can gather. 2 players remain from Sampsons 2008 class, those will be Matt Roth and Tom Pritchard. Crean has signed two players for next year since he took the job. Those are JUCO SG Devan Dumes and Alabama Mr. Basketball Nick Williams, also a 6-4 SG.

 

Who knows what will happen next. He has said that he isn't going to offer someone just to fill a scholarship. he wants quality players, and if that means being short-handed next year than so be it.

 

For 2009 he has committments from Derek Elston, Bobby Copabianco, and now Maurice Creek.

 

Next year might be ugly, but I think he will get things in order. Just out of curiousity, what do you think?

[illiniguy]

Any word on what Indiana is planning for next year? Is Crean just gonna say f it and go with the 7 rather than waste a scholly on a lesser player? Or is he gonna pick up a few JUCOs to fill some spots?

 

EDIT: I can't count.

 

I've got a newborn at home, so I'm a little behind on IU news, but here is what I can gather. 2 players remain from Sampsons 2008 class, those will be Matt Roth and Tom Pritchard. Crean has signed two players for next year since he took the job. Those are JUCO SG Devan Dumes and Alabama Mr. Basketball Nick Williams, also a 6-4 SG.

 

Who knows what will happen next. He has said that he isn't going to offer someone just to fill a scholarship. he wants quality players, and if that means being short-handed next year than so be it.

 

For 2009 he has committments from Derek Elston, Bobby Copabianco, and now Maurice Creek.

 

Next year might be ugly, but I think he will get things in order. Just out of curiousity, what do you think?

I think you guys made a very good hire.

[Jon]

Carmody has answered his recruiting critics. We just landed 7 footer Kyle Rowley out of Lake Forest, beating out some big local programs. He recently received an offer from Indiana. Bill is putting together very nice classes in back to back years. And now we're actually going to have a team with a significant amount of size. A lot of credit should go to Tavares Hardy, though.

[SouthSideRyan]

Any word on what Indiana is planning for next year? Is Crean just gonna say f it and go with the 7 rather than waste a scholly on a lesser player? Or is he gonna pick up a few JUCOs to fill some spots?

 

EDIT: I can't count.

 

I've got a newborn at home, so I'm a little behind on IU news, but here is what I can gather. 2 players remain from Sampsons 2008 class, those will be Matt Roth and Tom Pritchard. Crean has signed two players for next year since he took the job. Those are JUCO SG Devan Dumes and Alabama Mr. Basketball Nick Williams, also a 6-4 SG.

 

Who knows what will happen next. He has said that he isn't going to offer someone just to fill a scholarship. he wants quality players, and if that means being short-handed next year than so be it.

 

For 2009 he has committments from Derek Elston, Bobby Copabianco, and now Maurice Creek.

 

Next year might be ugly, but I think he will get things in order. Just out of curiousity, what do you think?

 

I think they have to pick up a couple JUCOs.

 

For your returning guys: Jordan Crawford is a player, he should score 20+ per game. I think McGee will turn out to be pretty decent, but this year's way too early to count on him as the # 2 guy. Taber is what he is. A solid body, but him being the # 1 big guy would be a nightmare if the Big 10 had a good frontcourt presence.

 

I gotta plead ignorance on the recruits besides Roth, who I think could turn out to be a lights out shooter, but he's gonna have problems getting it done with only Crawford for defenses to focus on. Come his senior year though he's gonna be really valuable.

 

My whole point in all this is that there's just not a lot of talent left on the team/coming in(solely going off star ratings and other schools of interest for recruits besides Roth) To ask these 7 to not only be the stars of the team but to play ~30 minutes apiece will just kill this team, such that the end of the year could turn out some really ugly games. That's not even getting into potential injuries leading to Brett Finklemyer getting playing time. Getting a couple JUCOs in there just to eat some minutes so the freshmen don't have to be forced to contribute right off the bat is crucial. I say JUCOs because of the point Crean brought up about not just filling spots. Even if the JUCOs don't turn out, those schollies free up by '10, so you're not killing the program with non-big 10 caliber players. I'm not really familiar with what JUCO recruits are out there, so I don't really have guys I think they should target, but history tells me some decent enough contributors are out there for them.

 

Right now they have 7 taken up for '08, 9 for '09. Taking 2 JUCOs leaves 2 open rides for '09, and then come '10 you've got 2-4 open depending on what you do with '09. This is all assuming I'm able to add correctly and the NCAA doesn't knock out a scholarship for the future.

 

Beyond the problem of wearing down and making ugly games from a fan perspective, I'd be worried about how things look from the recruit perspective. I know it's not a big deal getting good recruits in with bad teams(look at Baylor, Purdue, or our last season), but you don't want to voluntarily put yourself in that spot, and I think IU in its present state would turn out a really ugly record and some really ugly ball come big 10 play.