Trace Jackson-Davis withdraws from draft, returning to IU
Tested positive for COVID, had to skip the combine, and as a result IU gets another year of him. Mike Woodson using biological warfare? Huge for the Hoosiers with their incoming freshman class, they could be legit.
Also, we get a shout out in the article.
>Indiana was ranked No. 15 in ESPN's most recent Way-Too-Early Top 25, one spot behind Michigan. The Hoosiers and Wolverines are likely to enter next season as the favorites to win the Big Ten.
Good. I really like watching him play. Fun player with a ton of athleticism.
Nice get (back) for IU. I wasn't entirely impressed with Mike Woodson's coaching last year, but its too early to tell if he's good or not.
With that, I agree its a Michigan/Indiana favorite right now. No doubt to be changed as teams get more active in the portal.
Much better than the alternative ...
There were some MSU folks that actually thought they'd have a good chance at him if returned to college.
I personally have no problems with crushing an undermanned MSU* - Izzo never seemed to have an issue when the roles were reversed.
* Not claiming victories before they occur just noting that they are more likely without TJD falling into Izzo's lap for next year.
I like when Indiana is good. It means more then when you beat them.
You realize when they are good, Michigan rarely beats them, right?
Yeah thank god the 90s are over.
Been the most overrated player in the B1G for the past 3 years
LOL, wut? He was 6th in the league in scoring and rebounding last year. He also had a higher assist/turnover ratio than Hunter.
He was 4th in scoring and 2nd in rebounding the previous year.
As a freshman, he was 12th in the league in scoring and 7th in rebounding.
While a little aggressive, I kinda see what njvictor is saying. Putting stats aside, TJD hasn't been the greatest of leaders in taking his team to the next level. Indiana barley made the NCAA tournament this past year, and if it wasn't for that, TJD would have never experienced the NCAA tournament (last time Indiana was in the tourney was in 2016). He's had a lot of talent around him for years, but he couldn't lead his team to the any success in the post-season. Some of this is coaching for sure.
If I was to use a Michigan bball analogy, TJD kinda reminds me of Daniel Horton. Highly recruited, could generate some nice stats, but couldn't lead a team to much success.
Eh, hard to blame him for the tire fire that was the end of the Archie Miller era. And given the rest of the roster, it's a huge credit to him that he got them in the tournament at all last year.
He's not the kind of player that racks up his stats inefficiently and at the expense of other guys getting looks, like many overrated players do.
He had a very good 117 Ortg last year, by far the best on the team and yet wasn't even their highest usage player.
And he's a very good defender on what was a good defensive team last year. Usually overrated players are bad defenders (and just get overrated because of offensive stats). I would argue his defense is underrated.
And to be fair to Trayce, Indiana likely makes it in 2020 if there's a tournament. https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/joe-lunardi-complete-2020-ncaa-tournament-bracket
Given the type of player he is, he's extremely inefficient. He's also terrible against legit big man in the conference
Really good players don't always look the greatest when they've got no help. IU couldn't shoot worth a damn this year and the middle was always clogged up, yet he still managed to put up some impressive numbers.
Izzo just called Bo Boroski screaming thinking about rolling out foul machine Mady Sissoko and Joey Hauser vs TJD and Big Dick next season.
He kinda dominated Dickinson in the Big Ten Tournament.
Yes, but I am referring to Hunter’s 58 points and 15 boards on 54% shooting in 2 games vs MSU last year against better big men that are now gone. He also had 25 and 9 vs TJD @ Assembly Hall last year so…
Michigan is losing 5 of their top 6 usage guys from last year. I don’t seen them winning the conference.
They have 9 minutes per game returning in their back court. Hopefully our guards are as intimidating to the opposing teams as they were to Frankie Collins.
Commented this on an earlier post but this seemed a bit like our situation with Hunter. IU could have gotten him a lot more money to stay than he likely could have made in the pros. Slightly higher upside than Dickinson but he's not a first rounder.
I agree that this probably makes them the slight favorites in the conference. They get most guys back on what was a solid team and everyone else is losing so much.
Unrelated to basketball, trace is my favorite opening word for Wordle.
“Adieu” would like a word with you…
Both are “great” choices. I’ve never lost when starting with “fried” and “bacon”.
I like adieu, and roate as well. This is what lead me to trace.
The best Wordle strategy – according to science
Fried bacon (see below) is for dinner tonight.
I highly doubt he withdrew because of covid. It's likely he received no guarantees and he was leaning that way. Regardless it's a big win for IU. Dude kills it at the college level, he's just not regarded that highly as a 6'9" 4/5 prospect at the NBA level.
lol @ biological warfare.
Let's not give Izzo any ideas, keeping parents tied up in the basement is rough enough.
Definitely can understand him coming back. He's a tweener like E.J. Liddell, except that Liddell can step out and hit a jumper. He can put up numbers next season in the B1G and hopefully get some NIL. Not a lot of proven big men returning next season.
Nba - “He is no Caleb Houstan.”
I really, really like his game. Especially at the college level.
What’s interesting is that his style of play is a bit similar to Moussa (being an inch shorter and less natural athleticism), and I was much more impressed with TJD as a freshman as a basketball player than I was Diabate.
Brian mentioned on the roundtable that we should aim for the #20-40 ranked players (Jackson-Davis was 30), and I have to agree with him. Give me someone of his skill set for 3 years than Diabate for 1
I don't think we are going to be the favorites to win Big Ten. We are looking to lose CH and MD which would make us losing 4 out of 5 starters. Now if we get Pete Nance and someone else then I could see us to be the favorites but without those two guys or at least one coming back we are replacing a lot of players.
Cannot understand this. They are never contenders. He's getting past "great potential" .. And kinda is what he is at this level.
I think the draft buzz was already a bit down on him so not a total surprise. I liked him as a player so happy he gets to play again. I'm not sold Woodson is a good college coach but IU being good is probably good for the conference as a whole.
He should transfer to Michigan.