SPEAKER_01 0:34

Welcome to the Five Arms and a Lucky Finn podcast. I'm your host, Brendan McCormick, with my co-host, David Soloway, aka he is for the people. The people are for him. And for our very first episode, we have the Hoosier Homer Hour brought to you by Five ALF, Five Arms and a Lucky Finn. So, David, the portal is open, and we've had some big commits for Indiana basketball. You know, probably the biggest one is the big Turkish center from SMU. And there's some other ones.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

We can't be calling that the biggest one.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

I know. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

He is the biggest guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, that's what I mean. He's the biggest guy. No, but who do you think is the biggest commit for next year's roster?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

I mean, it's Burton, I think, and it's not even close. Right. Uh, I mean, he's an undersized guard. He's he's 5'11, six-foot point guard, but the guy has shown the ability at the the power five level. It was at Notre Dame in the ACC to put the ball in the basket and play a good point guard. And yeah. He's a kid from Indiana, from Mishawaka. And you just love to see him uh at the the flagship program of the state. And I think he's gonna be massive because it's been a while since we had a really, really good scoring point guard. I think the last time was probably Yogi. Um I mean, Rob Finissy had some ups and downs, David Johnson ups and downs. Uh those guys were more distributors, too. Burton is gonna put the ball in the basket in his three years. He's averaged 17 and a half, 21.3, and 18.5.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

You don't see that often at the college level, guys putting up those numbers.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

No, I'm pretty I'm pretty excited for him. Pretty excited to watch this guy. It does say he went to Penn on three, but I don't feel like that's very accurate. I feel feel like he went to Lala Lam Lemir, right? That's the name of the school.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

No.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Uh Marcus Burton. Where'd you go to school, big guy? Yeah, it would depend.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Who would have thought? Indian basketball in 2023.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

You know, we also have some young talent too, David. You know, Prince Alexander Moody, pretty excited for him. He was a big recruit out of Maryland. Love his name. You know, Prince, like, can't. I mean, I might be this guy's biggest fan because I mean that NIL jersey situation is gonna be electric for him. So why? I mean, Prince. He he's the Prince. How all right, whatever. I mean, the shirts, it's gonna fly off the shelves.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Oh, he better be good. I don't think people are just gonna start buying jerseys because or shirts because of the name, but hey, no, I I like him too. I I like all of our freshmen coming in.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

No, I do too. You know, the uh a big commit too as well is Aiden Cheryl, right? Sherelle from Detroit, Michigan. Cheryl, yep, Aiden Cheryl. Yep. He I mean he brings some size 6'11, 220. I thought that was what kind of started the steamroll after, you know, when he committed, all these guys just started committing. I mean, with the last one. He was one of the last ones, but I mean, I would say maybe Burton probably steamrolled a lot of these after he committed.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah, I mean, most of these guys were on campus on the same day. Uh Burton, Mustaff, and Harris were all on campus on the same day, and I think uh Cheryl was there for one of the days too. Other two dudes didn't even visit. So um obviously the coaching staff has shown these guys on film what they're looking for them to do, and yeah, they've shown them a bag with a lot of money. Uh, I think that's probably one of the bigger keys here, especially for the guys who didn't visit. Um I think it's a good mix of guys, and I think we're filling some roles in the debris scheme that I that should result in uh better finish next year.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Bryce Lindsay, you know, David. We we talked about this. I believe this is his fourth school that he's on. Fourth school in four years. Yeah, that's that's really that's a lot of lot a lot of different schools, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Yeah, I yeah. Here's an interesting case because he was at AM and then he transferred out to go to a lower level and went to JMU, yeah. Uh proved that he was you know a high-level scorer, high-level shooter at uh JMU. Yeah, so then he went back up to Villanova. Why are you leaving Villanova if you have that great of a year? It's a different era, I get it. That concerns me still, but we've seen other teams put together a bunch of transfers and it works even at multiple schools.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Maybe Signeti just gave a call, you know. The coach de R said, hey, go get this guy. You know, I saw him at JMU, pretty solid basketball player, you know. They were not there at the same time. Yeah, I know. I'm just kind of BSing you. You know, little banner.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Hey, man, the J the JMU pipeline is still strong, though. We are keeping that alive.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

We are keeping that very, very, very much alive. So yeah, I mean, obviously, some big, big portal commits. I mean, I don't want to talk, I don't want to talk too much about rejected record or or anything like that, but I have a good hope for next year's season off this route. I do want to talk about what what your expectations are. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we can uh we can dive into that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. I just want to make the tournament. That's right. I just want to make the tournament. I think they'll do a lot better than that, but that's kind of my expectation. Make the tournament. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

I'm cautiously, very cautiously optimistic.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

And I am a guy who I grew up loving Indiana basketball, but I will be completely honest that the past three years I have not really cared. I've barely watched games. I've fallen out of love with Indiana basketball while I still love college basketball. Yeah. Like I'm I'm as big into college basketball as I ever have been, which is not normal because I'm usually bigger into a sport when my team's better. I think everybody, everybody is.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

I mean, everybody's like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Yeah. Um, but I think this might be the team.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Man, how many times have we said this?

SPEAKER_00 8:17

No, I know, but there's some to me, to me, it comes down to these aren't just the top guys in the portal who are chasing the bag, which Woody's last season, we just brought in a couple guys that were chasing the bag. Umor Balo, that dude, was absolutely not a great fit for what we were doing. I mean, he was he was a good fit in the Woody offense because we wanted to play two bigs and all that, but yeah, he was he was just a guy chasing a bag. We threw a bag at him, and hey, it didn't work. Crazy. I can't even name you another guy on that team. I forget that team completely because Anthony Leal. Yeah, him and Galloway, sure. All right, name another guy.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Um, what's his face? Uh any annual Carlisle. Tomor Bates.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Tomor Bates is not on that team.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

That was the that was a good year, though. That was a great year for Indiana basketball.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Oh, yeah, Cannon Carlisle. I completely forgot about that dude.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Oh, you're trying to make me sound crazy from Stanford.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

I completely forgot about him. That guy sucked.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Yeah, he wasn't he wasn't very good.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Dude, Miles Rice, oh, horrible.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Man, you know, Tucker? Uh of course, Malik.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Bad era.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

You know who I forgot about, David? Ken Baco. CJ.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Yeah, he's still playing at DePaul this year. I know he he won the three-point college. Oh, that's right. He did, yeah. Yeah, in his hometown. Good for him.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

I'm like, that dude, man, I actually like that guy. Caleb Banks. Caleb, haven't even heard anything about that guy.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

He was awesome at Tulane last year, and then went to DePaul to be with uh CJ Gunn this year and barely played. Wow, that's sad. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I think I think this team is more about fit than it is, and you know, during that offseason, we thought Carlisle was gonna be a great fit. We thought mild rice coming from Washington State was gonna be a great fit. I think DeVries is a better coach than Woody, and that's nothing against Woody. Woody developed the absolute shit out of TJ D. And I will I will I will always love him for that because TJD is a top three favorite player for me ever because of the way he developed. Yeah, it was fun. But as far as the scheme and how it worked in college basketball, it just it just wasn't the best fit.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

We just needed a shooter, we need an elite shooter next to TJ D, and we go very far that year, yeah. Or yeah, yeah, or not play too big. Miller Cop is not an elite shooter, he's a G League player. He's pretty, pretty damn good shooter.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

He wasn't, he wasn't enough. Yeah, I mean, okay, yeah, sure. He wasn't enough. No, I agree with you. He wasn't enough. No one was enough. We were five seed, though. Jalen Hood's Cafino stays for his sophomore year.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

We we go very far. Yeah, of course, but you I mean you can't rely on that. I know, but he was also so fun to that. Was our last true point guard.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

I forgot about him. Yeah, it was I did too.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

He's so good.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

He's so he was so fun to watch.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

A little less of a scoring guard than I think Burton's gonna be, but more of a true all-around point guard, yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

But I mean, him and TJ D had some of the sickest alley oops I've seen in a long time for Hooser Bass.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Yeah, you're right, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Like, we just need to bring electricity back, and I know DeVries playing style is gonna bring that, but like it's it's been years, David, since I've been truly excited for honestly since 22-23 season about Indiana basketball. Like, it's been that long for me, and I'm with you. Like, last year, I was like, I could see my spark dying as a fan. That's why I was like, we just need to win. Like, I yeah, cool. We get these big players in the portal. As a fan, I just want to win. Like, I'm tired, I'm tired of being tired. Like, it's it's this, you know, with Indiana football before Sig, like we knew what to expect. We were happy with the bowl game. That's fine. If we get a bowl game, we're good. With Indiana basketball, is always like make the tournament, get us to a sweet 16, maybe have a chance to that final four. Like, not all, not always the expectation, but sweet 16 is kind of no, it should be the expectation. I mean, that's the thing, is like we grew up right 2002, they go to the natty, like it it's it's those type of players that spark that love for Indiana basketball.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Yeah, and I think the the the thing that sucks about the transfer portal era is that it's hard to create a connection to players now, even on those teams that weren't yeah, the best, you know, that didn't make it to the 2016 or did make it to the 2016 and lost like 2013, 2016. You we had some transfers on on the 2016 team, I guess, with uh Bill Felton's off, but you still felt a connection to the guys. And even like the if you look at the football team this year, we felt a connection because a lot of those guys had at least been here two years, even if they did transfer and they stayed for two years. And I think it's hard now, unless you win immediately, for the fans to truly be behind you when the going gets tough. If you're just a first-year guy, mercenary who's one and done as a fifth-year senior, it's a it's it's very hard for the fans to get behind you because there's no connection.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

And Indiana basketball is built on connections. It used to be a program that recruited the state of Indiana and built its teams around that and supplements it with elite talent from elsewhere, but we've lost that.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

And I think one of the great things about this team, and we talked about it, uh, we were texting about it, is that these guys do have multiple years of eligibility. And in this era, it's hard to be like, we got a bunch of guys who are gonna be here for two years, because there's a good chance that at least half of these guys, you know, three of these six transfer out next year, even if we're good, there's a there's still a good chance that they transfer out. It's it's just the nature of it.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

It is the nature of the beast.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Hopefully, we're good and we can keep these guys around because it's not none of these guys, other than maybe Cheryl, are NBA prospects. I wouldn't think. Burton could get up there. He's 5'11. If Yogi couldn't make it in the league, this dude's not making it in the league.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

But I hope that we can get off on a good foot early in the season so that we can start to rally around this group because it's been so toxic over the past. Yeah. I mean, I guess really only three years, like Woody's first couple years were fine, things were trending in the right direction, but that's it's really been toxic ever since Green's last year. Ten yeah, a decade, and it's sad. It sucks. Like, and it sucks not to care because I want to care.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

There, there used to be nothing I love more than Indiana basketball, and that's why we connected so well with the football team because we kind of like, yeah, basketball's like, yeah, it's it's basketball.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Yeah, I mean, football took over as number one for me when I worked for the program.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Right, right. But I mean, we definitely connected basketball was still number two, and now I mean, I only have three real teams, so they're probably number three, but but I mean, like, we definitely connected with Indiana football because you worked there, but at the same time, it was mainly the players, like they had nothing to lose, like they went to Indiana to to play for Indiana, like we had not we didn't have a SIG, we didn't get the highest recruits. We we just had some dogs that wanted to play, scrappy underdogs, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

And and um the iU basketball shouldn't be scrappy underdogs, but they should be scrappy dogs, they just need to be scrappy dogs. Yeah, we need some scrappy fucking dogs.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Yeah, bring the dogs out, like we there needs to be like in there needs to be this level of intensity and edge, and I just haven't seen it in these in these basketball teams. I think that is why, besides winning the national championship, obviously, last year was Indiana football. But I mean, still that team we'll never forget that team. I mean, ever most of those players on that team that started or like came in at pivotal points, we will never forget.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

No team will no team will ever surpass that team as my favorite team. I don't care what happens. We could go undefeated in basketball next year, no team will surpass that team because like I want to name my kid storyline. I want to name my kid Daniel and Duqueway.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah, like it it's just that team is just it was just something special, and like that's why this year it's like I don't have any expectations of the DM football. Like, I'm good, like we're gonna be good, but like we could lose every game. I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

I'm honestly swear to god, I'm good, dude. I'm with you. If if we go back to the the cellar, I'm I'm good with it as well. But it's a hell of a lot more fun to be at the games when we're winning, and beat the shit out of people. They don't 21 beers go down a lot differently when you're losing versus when you're winning.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

True, that's true, that's very true. Now it'll be interesting with Indiana football this year. Obviously, SIG in year three really are we're moving off of basketball. No, I just okay all right. But all right, what is what do you think I I'm not talking about other Indiana basketball fans because they're they're gonna have way too high expectations, and I already know that it's gonna be very toxic, and I don't even want to talk about that. But at the same time, what do you think is gonna what do you think is gonna appease, I guess, the Indiana staff and directors of DeVries' second year performance with this NIL budget?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

I think that's a good question because of the budget. We're spending a lot of money to make this thing work, and it has to happen. Yeah, I think top six in the Big Ten.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Yeah, I was honestly saying top five, but yeah, I mean five, six.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Like it's what 18 teams now, so top third of the league if you're six or higher. Yeah, um, you've got a lot of really good programs that are here to stay. Yeah, where I'm not I don't think we should surpass them at this point. No, I don't think Illinois and Michigan were both just in the final four, and Michigan won the title. We're not surpassing them. Michigan State consistently great. We're not surpassing them.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

No.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Uh Wisconsin and Purdue, I think we could surpass them because I think they are falling off a little bit just because of what they've lost.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

I think Purdue lost a lot.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Yeah, they did. I mean, this this obviously Luke Urgel kid coming in, though, their freshman.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Yeah, they're they're hyping this kid up.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Like, I think he's really good. He's really good, yeah. Yeah, I think he's really good. Is he? Yeah, but we'll be all right. I'm not worried about him like now. He'll probably transfer out.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

But like, you think he'll transfer out? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Well, I mean, I have no idea yet, but we'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

But if you look at like the top teams, David, even this year that have retained their players, they were all teams in the Elite Eight that have kept most of their players that haven't transferred. Michigan's one of them.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Yeah, I'm trying to think.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Yukon's one of them.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Yeah, it's almost like you have to win at that high of a level to really retain your talent because even if you're just like a top, you know, you you'll win one or two games in the tournament, you're still likely gonna lose half your team just because they're gonna test the waters of the portal.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

This is what I don't get, right? And I'm going to BYU and I'm going to I'm going to Wright, right? Obviously, right went in the portal, and then he comes back and says, Oh, I'm saying a BYU. If you go in the portal, I don't think you should be allowed back at all. Like I think like I think both parties should move on at that point. Because now you're sending your teammates saying that you just want a bigger bag wherever you're gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Two two things on that point. One his agent wanted a bigger bag. He wanted to stay at BYU all along. Oh, his agent kind of forced him into the portal just to see if they could get like double the salary because BYU wasn't gonna give him that. No. Uh, but the second thing is a free agent in professional sports who doesn't sign an extension before reaching free agency and then re-signs in free agency. Do you have a problem with that? I see your point. Same scenario.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Yeah, no, I don't have a problem with that. I see your point. It's on point. It's on point there.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

I just I don't like it when it looks like they're trying to get a bag. But then it if you really think about it, like it's the same thing as pro sports. Like dudes test free agency, even if they want to stay with their team, they test free agency just to see if they can make more money.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Fair enough. Get the bag. I get it.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

The one guy from this transfer class that I am really intrigued by, and I do not think enough people are talking about him because Duke sucks, and this guy barely played.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Darren Harris, top 40 guy who was recruited to Duke. Yeah. Out of high school. I don't care if he played or not. There was a lot of talent in front of him at Duke.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

And he could still grow a lot. He's only only, you know, he's going to be a junior. I think I'm expecting big things out of him. If you look at his stat line as compared to the other guys, he's obviously not as proven. Right. But it's not like he like he played 36 games this year, averaged 10 minutes a game for a Duke team that was number one in the country all year long. I think I think he's going to be a surprising pickup. I think we're going to look back and be like, we didn't expect much out of this guy just because his stats coming in weren't that crazy. Yeah. I think he's going to be a surprisingly great pickup.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Time will tell, David. Time can only tell. That was another person when he committed. I go, yeah, you show some promise. Show some promise there. I don't really like to look into stats too much because where they come from, it's like mid-major or power, you know, power five. It's it's just almost all like I like looking at the analytics of things, like you know, how long they are, like what does their jumper look like, you know, things like that. You know, how well can they defend, defense efficiency, things like that. So it's really intriguing, and there's several sites, David, that break that all down and projections and things like that. It's really it's really intriguing what people will say about about different commits and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

So yeah, I I'm looking something up really quick. Okay, he had an offensive rating this year of 126.3.

unknown 25:21

Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Which means every time he touches the ball, or every time a possession ends with him either passing the ball or shooting the ball, they'd score 1.26 points per possession, right? Yeah, that would be second highest on Indiana's team from this year. Wow. Behind Sam Alexis, who was a very efficient big man. He was um intriguing. Yeah, I agree. That's very intriguing. See if that we can extrapolate that over 20 minutes a game, 25 minutes a game. I like Sam Alexis. Same dude. Yeah, he was solid. Too bad, too bad we wasted. I wish he had one more year because I feel like Lamar, obviously. Lamar was incredible.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Lamar was so fun to watch. Oh, he he he's up there a favorite Hoosiers for me. Yeah, he's up there. The one year thing is tough. Yeah, it's it's very tough, very tough. As always, guys, we appreciate your support, tuning in, listening, watching the first very episode of Hoosier Homer Hour. Brought to you by Five Arms of Lucky Fan. Everything Hoosier related, we'll be talking about that on this segment. Appreciate you guys' love as always, and give us a follow on Instagram, FiveLF Podcast, X5LF Podcast, YouTube, Five Arms of LuckyFan. Subscribe. We will see you in the next one. Peace. Love you guys.