Here is Part II of our basketball mailbag series.
Part I
Question: Not sure you'll go there, but what is your take on the A-Hope "scandal" story brought forth by ESPN? Much ado about nothing, or do you think there could be something there that IU should be seriously worried about?
Answer: In time, I think whatever bad publicity IU may have taken from the story will fade away, though there will undoubtedly be some scrutiny that follows around Hanner Perea's situation.
Really, though, I think ESPN spent five months and came up with very little, maybe some smoke but no apparent fire. To people in the state who follow AAU and recruiting, there was very little new anything there. It might seem more scandalous or whatever the term would be to outsiders.
I don't know if there's anything to find, but if there's a smoking gun somewhere, ESPN either missed it or couldn't access the information that would have led to it. In short, five months produced very little, so I don't think Indiana is going to have a whole lot to worry about beside the initial dubious press and some questions about Perea, none of which would seem severe enough to jeopardize his ability to play for the Hoosiers.
I think ESPN really bungled some things as well, such as referring constantly to the fact that X number of Indiana Elite kids have committed to Indiana.
That was a convenient stat to fall back on, but completely lacked context. You have to look at every case individually. I'm pretty sure Bloomington native and IU legacy Jordan Hulls didn't choose Indiana because of inappropriate influence being wielded by his summer coaches. Cody Zeller sure as hell didn't. Ferrell, Patterson and Hollowell went through a significant portion of their recruiting processes while playing for other AAU programs. Collin Hartman committed to Indiana, then left his Indiana Elite team. You just can't lump everybody together.
If ESPN was trying to paint a grey-area picture in lieu of any real substantive findings, it missed obvious stuff. How many college programs can have their operations guy actually traveling with an AAU team full of kids being recruited by the school he works for? That's not illegal, but an advantage Indiana has had because of the family connection. College coaches can't go to AAU tournaments in the spring, but because of the family tie, Drew Adams could, with some restrictions, of course. How much of an advantage that really is, I have no idea, but it can't hurt and it put a set of eyes at events where a school can otherwise have none.
Again, not illegal in any way, shape or form, just the product of an NCAA loophole since closed.
The suggestion, though, that IU got recruits - besides the A-Hope kids - because of Adams being on staff can't be substantiated. In fact, when he was hired, the Indiana Elite player IU seemed to be the hottest after was D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who moved on from considering the Hoosiers long ago.
There's so much of this to talk about, but in short, I just think ESPN came up with next to nothing and just went with what it had. Who am I to judge another reporter, though? I obviously don't know the ins and outs of all that went on behind the scenes.
What I do know is that it was egregiously irresponsible, inappropriate and unfortunate for both the reporter and Tom Crean to throw out random accusations toward other schools for "shoveling dirt," without any sort of corroborative evidence.
Now, this has been a long, bloody battle between IU and Baylor behind the scenes over Perea. There's at least a history there to cite.
But for Purdue's name to have just been thrown in there under the guise of "wondering aloud" is borderline slanderous if there's no evidence presented to support the claim.
Question: Earlier on there was talk of "creating a position" or whatever you want to call it for Painter such as director of video or VP of towel collection. Any information what that might be or might have been? Just curious as to what Matt might be alluding to.
Answer: There's no reason to believe right now that's going to happen. I only thought it might be a possibility because of some talk of some former players being talked to about opportunities at Purdue and the possibility that Purdue's new yet-to-be-defined 'commitment' to men's basketball could produce more administrative help. Painter said a couple weeks ago before Greg Gary's hiring that he 'didn’t know' whether he'd be hiring just an assistant coach or for an additional spot as well.
Since then, though, there's not been much reason to think that's still a possibility, unless something could shake out with Brian Cardinal once the NBA Finals are over.
But it's very possible Cardinal can keep playing in the NBA after this season and even if he doesn't, for as well off as he is financially, might he want to decompress for a while post-retirement before jumping into the next phase of his basketball career, if he does in fact want to pursue coaching?
As of right now, it's just hard to see that happening, but you never know.
But it should be noted that I'm not sure Painter or Purdue would feel the urge to hire someone just to have another body in the office. There would have to be a valuable role there to be filled in addition just to being the potential 'next man up' on the coaching staff.
Question: I know this is the hot topic right now, so do you think there will be any transfers, no need to mention names. And if there are do you think we add anyone else, heard anything new on Harris? Probably not, since him and his family are like the CIA.
Answer: Yes, I think something will happen very soon with Purdue's roster.
Regarding Harris, I'll say what I've been saying for weeks if not months: Purdue's absolutely a factor there and may be in better shape than most people seem to think. But there's a long way to go still. I did not say 'leader' and I did not say 'lock.' I said, 'factor.'
Question: Given who we recruited what is the earliest fans can expect to have a national contender type team comparable or better to what we had in 2010-11?
Answer: That's obviously impossible to tell, because as things are right now, many of the kids who could conceivably make up Purdue's next great teams still have a year or two of high school to play.
I wouldn't write Purdue off the next couple seasons, but when you look at the 2013 class as it stands now, that would seem like a group based solely on talent that could compare to the 2007 class that changed the program for the better.
Now, that's a lot to live up to, probably an unrealistic standard, and a comment that doesn't make mention of how much Robbie Hummel's, JaJuan Johnson's and E'Twaun Moore's character, unselfishness, toughness and steadiness meant to Purdue. Those are things rarely reflected in recruiting rankings and such.
But it would seem like the combination of the 2012 and 2013 classes have outstanding talent; we'll see about their intangibles. If they have both, Purdue can have some great teams in the future.
It's really hard to go to Final Fours, though, so I don't know if you can ever really say, 'This is when it happens.'
Question: Is the work ethic & desire out of Sandi Marcius such that we may expect an improvement out of him sooner, later or not at all?
Answer: Marcius is going to get better with experience, without question. But the way things are now with the Internet, if a kid's not a stud right away, people wonder about them.
Hummel and Moore were the exception for freshmen, not the rule. They set a standard future freshmen shouldn't necessarily be held to, because they were so good so fast.
But big men do often come along slower and there's obviously potential there with Marcius once he learns enough to understand better what he's doing and not set a moving screen within seven seconds of leaving the bench.
He's gigantic and more athletic than he's perceived to be. At the very least, he has a chance to be nice rebounder for Purdue with experience.
Last year, the fit wasn't quite there, an issue Painter seems to think will be resolved this year, with Marcius being able to play next to Robbie Hummel, whose skills will allow Purdue to surround the center with all guys who can pass, shoot and defend the perimeter. Last year, when Marcius came in, JaJuan Johnson generally had to move out to the 4, putting him in difficult defensive matchups, for one thing.
Travis Carroll is going to be a good player at Purdue. It was his built-in know-how, ability to hit the open jumper and pass facing the basket that put him ahead of Marcius last season. This year, I could see both those logging bigger minutes and maybe making the Boilermakers slightly more physical in the post than they've been.
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Question: Not sure you'll go there, but what is your take on the A-Hope "scandal" story brought forth by ESPN? Much ado about nothing, or do you think there could be something there that IU should be seriously worried about?
Answer: In time, I think whatever bad publicity IU may have taken from the story will fade away, though there will undoubtedly be some scrutiny that follows around Hanner Perea's situation.
Really, though, I think ESPN spent five months and came up with very little, maybe some smoke but no apparent fire. To people in the state who follow AAU and recruiting, there was very little new anything there. It might seem more scandalous or whatever the term would be to outsiders.
I don't know if there's anything to find, but if there's a smoking gun somewhere, ESPN either missed it or couldn't access the information that would have led to it. In short, five months produced very little, so I don't think Indiana is going to have a whole lot to worry about beside the initial dubious press and some questions about Perea, none of which would seem severe enough to jeopardize his ability to play for the Hoosiers.
I think ESPN really bungled some things as well, such as referring constantly to the fact that X number of Indiana Elite kids have committed to Indiana.
That was a convenient stat to fall back on, but completely lacked context. You have to look at every case individually. I'm pretty sure Bloomington native and IU legacy Jordan Hulls didn't choose Indiana because of inappropriate influence being wielded by his summer coaches. Cody Zeller sure as hell didn't. Ferrell, Patterson and Hollowell went through a significant portion of their recruiting processes while playing for other AAU programs. Collin Hartman committed to Indiana, then left his Indiana Elite team. You just can't lump everybody together.
If ESPN was trying to paint a grey-area picture in lieu of any real substantive findings, it missed obvious stuff. How many college programs can have their operations guy actually traveling with an AAU team full of kids being recruited by the school he works for? That's not illegal, but an advantage Indiana has had because of the family connection. College coaches can't go to AAU tournaments in the spring, but because of the family tie, Drew Adams could, with some restrictions, of course. How much of an advantage that really is, I have no idea, but it can't hurt and it put a set of eyes at events where a school can otherwise have none.
Again, not illegal in any way, shape or form, just the product of an NCAA loophole since closed.
The suggestion, though, that IU got recruits - besides the A-Hope kids - because of Adams being on staff can't be substantiated. In fact, when he was hired, the Indiana Elite player IU seemed to be the hottest after was D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who moved on from considering the Hoosiers long ago.
There's so much of this to talk about, but in short, I just think ESPN came up with next to nothing and just went with what it had. Who am I to judge another reporter, though? I obviously don't know the ins and outs of all that went on behind the scenes.
What I do know is that it was egregiously irresponsible, inappropriate and unfortunate for both the reporter and Tom Crean to throw out random accusations toward other schools for "shoveling dirt," without any sort of corroborative evidence.
Now, this has been a long, bloody battle between IU and Baylor behind the scenes over Perea. There's at least a history there to cite.
But for Purdue's name to have just been thrown in there under the guise of "wondering aloud" is borderline slanderous if there's no evidence presented to support the claim.
Question: Earlier on there was talk of "creating a position" or whatever you want to call it for Painter such as director of video or VP of towel collection. Any information what that might be or might have been? Just curious as to what Matt might be alluding to.
Answer: There's no reason to believe right now that's going to happen. I only thought it might be a possibility because of some talk of some former players being talked to about opportunities at Purdue and the possibility that Purdue's new yet-to-be-defined 'commitment' to men's basketball could produce more administrative help. Painter said a couple weeks ago before Greg Gary's hiring that he 'didn’t know' whether he'd be hiring just an assistant coach or for an additional spot as well.
Since then, though, there's not been much reason to think that's still a possibility, unless something could shake out with Brian Cardinal once the NBA Finals are over.
But it's very possible Cardinal can keep playing in the NBA after this season and even if he doesn't, for as well off as he is financially, might he want to decompress for a while post-retirement before jumping into the next phase of his basketball career, if he does in fact want to pursue coaching?
As of right now, it's just hard to see that happening, but you never know.
But it should be noted that I'm not sure Painter or Purdue would feel the urge to hire someone just to have another body in the office. There would have to be a valuable role there to be filled in addition just to being the potential 'next man up' on the coaching staff.
Question: I know this is the hot topic right now, so do you think there will be any transfers, no need to mention names. And if there are do you think we add anyone else, heard anything new on Harris? Probably not, since him and his family are like the CIA.
Answer: Yes, I think something will happen very soon with Purdue's roster.
Regarding Harris, I'll say what I've been saying for weeks if not months: Purdue's absolutely a factor there and may be in better shape than most people seem to think. But there's a long way to go still. I did not say 'leader' and I did not say 'lock.' I said, 'factor.'
Question: Given who we recruited what is the earliest fans can expect to have a national contender type team comparable or better to what we had in 2010-11?
Answer: That's obviously impossible to tell, because as things are right now, many of the kids who could conceivably make up Purdue's next great teams still have a year or two of high school to play.
I wouldn't write Purdue off the next couple seasons, but when you look at the 2013 class as it stands now, that would seem like a group based solely on talent that could compare to the 2007 class that changed the program for the better.
Now, that's a lot to live up to, probably an unrealistic standard, and a comment that doesn't make mention of how much Robbie Hummel's, JaJuan Johnson's and E'Twaun Moore's character, unselfishness, toughness and steadiness meant to Purdue. Those are things rarely reflected in recruiting rankings and such.
But it would seem like the combination of the 2012 and 2013 classes have outstanding talent; we'll see about their intangibles. If they have both, Purdue can have some great teams in the future.
It's really hard to go to Final Fours, though, so I don't know if you can ever really say, 'This is when it happens.'
Question: Is the work ethic & desire out of Sandi Marcius such that we may expect an improvement out of him sooner, later or not at all?
Answer: Marcius is going to get better with experience, without question. But the way things are now with the Internet, if a kid's not a stud right away, people wonder about them.
Hummel and Moore were the exception for freshmen, not the rule. They set a standard future freshmen shouldn't necessarily be held to, because they were so good so fast.
But big men do often come along slower and there's obviously potential there with Marcius once he learns enough to understand better what he's doing and not set a moving screen within seven seconds of leaving the bench.
He's gigantic and more athletic than he's perceived to be. At the very least, he has a chance to be nice rebounder for Purdue with experience.
Last year, the fit wasn't quite there, an issue Painter seems to think will be resolved this year, with Marcius being able to play next to Robbie Hummel, whose skills will allow Purdue to surround the center with all guys who can pass, shoot and defend the perimeter. Last year, when Marcius came in, JaJuan Johnson generally had to move out to the 4, putting him in difficult defensive matchups, for one thing.
Travis Carroll is going to be a good player at Purdue. It was his built-in know-how, ability to hit the open jumper and pass facing the basket that put him ahead of Marcius last season. This year, I could see both those logging bigger minutes and maybe making the Boilermakers slightly more physical in the post than they've been.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2011. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
Check out GoldandBlack.com on
