BLOOMINGTON — When Archie Miller took over at Indiana University in 2017 I figured that it would be more of the same foolishness down in Bloomington. As an alumnus of more than 28 years I’ve seen the same formula over and over again and it’s been a complete failure. Indiana used to be an elite program and some kind of way it’s fallen all the way off over the years and now it’s an after thought. Oh yeah, remember when IU was great? Young folks are like, “Naw I don’t.”
It’s been extremely frustrating for me because even when I was a student living in Brisco right across the street from Assembly Hall I didn’t like Bobby Knight because he wouldn’t recruit the real ball players (Dogs) from the state. He only wanted the safe cats and he wouldn’t even allow those kids to get loose on the floor. There was no show boating, dunking or having fun on the floor like the other elite teams at the time were doing. Teams like Kentucky, Kansas, UNLV, Georgetown, North Carolina etc. were runnin’ and gunnin’! IU was pass the ball 100 thousand times and then lay it up. If you get excited and dunked Bobby was sittin’ your butt down. Boring!!!!!
Knight was a tyrant and finally got his walking papers. The fan base didn’t want Mike Davis or Kelvin Sampson and had a huge problem with the types of kids they recruited even though they were winning. And trust me playa, those kids were doing the same things that the players were doing under Knight off of the court. They were being college students and having fun. It just didn’t make the news because the powers that be protected the program.
They tolerated Tom Crean but he couldn’t coach his way out of a brown paper bag. He was a good recruiter but couldn’t develop players. To add insult to injury the powers that be down there kept every coach’s hands tied on who and what types of players they could recruit.
Well playas…in my Eddie Murphy, 48 Hours voice, “There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Archie Miller!!” Since taking over the program ole boy has gotten into the Indiana streets and recruited his butt off signing three of the top four recruits in the state from last year’s recruiting class in Romeo Langford, Rob Phinisee and Damezi Anderson.
Now when the Hoosiers step on the floor they’ve got some DOGS!!! Not only do they have the swag but they’ve got the talent to compete and Miller let’s his team go. They don’t play the IU restricted basketball of old. They’re runnin’ and gunnin’, dunking on boyz and gettin’ up with an attitude that the fans have been waiting for, for decades.
That’s how you build a program bruh! Someone finally told the old farts to get out of the way and let Archie do his thing. The formula to winning at Indiana and restoring it to an elite level program is to simply sign the best kids from Indiana. IU’s recruiting budget should be gas money. There’s no reason for an IU coach to get on a airplane at all. NONE!!!
We’ve got the best high school basketball in the country. If you don’t believe me look at the NBA and point to all of the cats that are currently playing and those that have played in the league that are from the state of Indiana didn’t go to IU.
Here’s a list just off of the top of my head. Rick Fox (UNC), Glenn Robinson (Purdue, POY), Bonzi Wells (Ball State), all three of the Plumlee brothers with Mason, Miles and Marshall on deck (Duke), they missed on two of the Zeller brothers, Tyler and Luke (UNC and ND), Rodney Carney (Memphis), Josh McRoberts (Duke), Zach Randolph (Michigan State), Greg Oden (OSU) Mike Conley (OSU) George Hill (IUPUI) Shawn Kemp (UK, JUCO), Sean May (UNC), Jeff and Marquis Teague (Wake Forest and UK) Courtney Lee (Western Kentucky), Eric Montross (UNC), Luke Harongody (ND), Robbie Hummel, E’Twan Moore amd JaJuan Johnson (Purdue), Gordon Hayward (Butler), Gary Harris (Michigan State), Trey Lyles (Kentucky), Glenn Robinson III (Michigan), Trevon Bluiett (Xavier) and Caleb Swanigan (Purdue). There may be more but you get my point.
If over the years they would have had a coach like Archie Miller recruiting these Indiana streets and having the old farts getting out of the way. Just signing half or even a third of those players the Hoosiers could have hung another 5 title banners and gone to countless Final Fours. This new group of Hoosiers are playing with an attitude that we’ve never seen before. They beat the brakes off of No.23 Marquette on Wednesday night 96-73 and it was like taking candy from a baby. This is what we expect from Indiana Basketball. Why? Because we’ve got the best feeder system in America, our high school basketball!!!
On the same day they destroyed Marquette, Miller was able to sign Armon Franklin from Cathedral one of the best kids in the state and there’s still hope that the two top players in the state, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Keion Brooks, could end up at IU. That’s not off of the table because they both still have the Hoosiers on their lists. So if Miller keeps doing his thing out here in these streets the Hoosiers could finally become the powerhouse that all of us old heads have always known it could be. Stop me when I start lyin’!