Nojus Indrusaitis Enters the Transfer Portal

AllInForISU

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Nov 24, 2012
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I wasn't referencing Nojus specifically. I responding to his general comment that if a player isn't get pt right away as a freshman then they should be upset.

You just have to remind yourself that players have 4-5 years to maximize their earning potential. They won’t make that from the bench. Like it or not, it’s the way it is. Most of these guys will never play pro ball, even less will not make a ton of money playing pro ball.

So you don’t play a lot as a freshman? Thats a year of earning power you lose. So, even though I’m not a fan of it, I get it and have come to accept this is the way it is.
 

Koala

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Jan 4, 2024
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It’s only a real concern if the guys transferring out go to another decent P4 team. If they transfer to a mid major that’s most likely where they stay. While the transfer rule is fairly new we don’t have to many stories of guys moving down to a mid major from a P4 and then back up.

Get the NIL money to the point where it’s smarter to stay and get some money then playing for a mid major and having your career go no where and the decisions make themselves

*edit* it’s also possible that TJ didn’t see enough from them to be motivated to keep them around
I don't know if this disproves your point or not but Caleb Grill, Dishon Jackson, and Brandton Chatfield off the top of my head started at power schools, dropped down, then came back up.
 

FriendlySpartan

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I don't know if this disproves your point or not but Caleb Grill, Dishon Jackson, and Brandton Chatfield off the top of my head started at power schools, dropped down, then came back up.
Grill I will give ya, don’t know his story or why he left but Washington state doesn’t really count as a P4 program even in the Pac12 era

But valid points, I also feel like this is super weird but maybe I’m ill informed
 

Cyclones125

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May 3, 2016
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Lol, what? Since when is every college athlete entitled to just get whatever pt they want? I guess we've come a long ways since my playing days when I had to scratch and claw for every opportunity to even play collegiate sports and it took me 3 years to even get a chance.

I guess it's just a microcosm of society now, everyone is entitled without putting in any work.
The only entitlement is a fan expecting a college kid to sacrifice the best 4 years of his life busting his a** everyday to sit the bench for the team he roots for, when instead he could be rewarded with PT at 90% of other schools.
 

Dgilbertson

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Sep 16, 2023
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Your ratio is a bit off, and I don’t know that Tamin is really relevant there. He got playing time well before he was expected to because of injuries and transfers out. I think it would be incredibly interesting to have a crystal ball and see whether or not he would’ve played at all without unforeseen circumstances. If he doesn’t play as a freshman, does he stay? Probably, because it’s Tamin. Most won’t. It seems like we are valuing the playing time of transfers at a higher level than high school kids who may have the same contributions if given an opportunity. I can’t think of a single transfer who has sat out in the same way that the high school recruits have. At some point, high school recruits will stop coming. How are we going to fill a practice squad, let alone get the right players and place that could contribute in case of injury or illness. I am a TJ supporter and am grateful reigniting basketball in Ames. That being said, I don’t think it would’ve hurt us in most of the games that we played this year to give Nojus or Watson a few spot minutes to keep them engaged, hungry, and developing skills that would allow them to contribute.
do you believe this is an arbitrary decision? That TJ isn’t putting what he believes is best for the team and program to win both short/long term?
 

SolterraCyclone

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Jul 26, 2021
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The only entitlement is a fan expecting a college kid to sacrifice the best 4 years of his life busting his a** everyday to sit the bench for the team he roots for, when instead he could be rewarded with PT at 90% of other schools.
I don’t expect a kid to do that. But I think it could be mutually beneficial for these kids to stay and develop. It’s a tough sell, but we accomplished it with Watson. I think it can be done.

We can give them a little playing time, sprinkle a little NIL (I doubt King or Hamilton are making anything at North Dakota, Georgia State). Promote the culture and NBA pedigree. Recruiting tactics to keep them.

It won’t always be successful, but we need to do better than 1 for 7.
 
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madguy30

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Matt Thomas, Niang, Monte Morris, Naz Long all had bad freshman years and all improved each year and made it to the NBA.

In an era when transferring was much more complicated, not as common and required sitting out a year.

Iirc there was an article about MT not really connecting very well with Fred and thinking of leaving but stayed when the coaching change happened.
 

FriendlySpartan

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Creighton, Marquette, Villanova, Xavier would like a word (plus St. John's this year).
Creighton has been to 1 elite 8 in the last 80 years
Marquette has 1 elite 8 in the last 20 years
Nova is lost in the woods and hasn’t made the tourny in 3 seasons
Xavier is fair but has never been to a final 4
St. John’s hasn’t made to the sweet 16 this century.

Like I said right now it’s just UConn’s conference. Maybe nova finds their way back but right now they are rudderless without Wright
 
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CycloneVet

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Matt Thomas, Niang, Monte Morris, Naz Long all had bad freshman years and all improved each year and made it to the NBA.

Naz wasn’t ready, Matt got off to a slow start but started a lot of games, Monte and Georges did very well. Georges was starting a third of the way into the year and drug Withey from KU all over the place drilling 3s. 3 out of 4 did not have bad freshman years
 

Klubber

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Based on what? The talent gap has gotten alot further now. Mid majors can't build a program based around 3 or 4 year guys anymore because their best players leave now for NIL.

This tournament is a shining example of this. The upsets just aren't there anymore and many games were non-competitive.
The talent gap is not further now. No way. You're focusing on this year's Tourney alone. Upsets may or may not happen in a given year. And fewer mid-majors got in this year because the committee decided to put the entire SEC into the tournament.

As for your mid-major example: they have a lot more flexibility in building their rosters now than before just like everyone else. They can backfill with better players overall up and down the roster.

Colorado St should be in the Sweet 16. UCSD played Michigan tougher than A&M. The Bryant roster has guys who previously played for power conference schools as do many rosters of other similar schools.

And really, even though it's been a chalky Tourney, the mid-majors who lost were more than competitive and usually covered.

This year's Tourney's been an anomaly really. The previous 4 post COVID tournaments (all with NIL) had:

2021: 15 seed lost by 2 in the Sweet 16

2022: 15 seed made the Elite 8

2023: 16 seed upset a 1, 15 seed made Sweet 16

2024: 14 seed went to OT in Rd of 32.
 
Mar 24, 2025
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Lol, what? Since when is every college athlete entitled to just get whatever pt they want? I guess we've come a long ways since my playing days when I had to scratch and claw for every opportunity to even play collegiate sports and it took me 3 years to even get a chance.

I guess it's just a microcosm of society now, everyone is entitled without putting in any work.
Sorry, but I hate this attitude.

That's not entitlement, buddy. That's a kid recognizing that he has a short window of time where he can live his dream.

Look at people who have left for smaller programs. Jelani Hamilton, for instance. Entitled would be him pouting publicly about not getting playing time.

Instead, he's maintained friendships with his former teammates and chose to play in front of a tiny crowd at a program no one cares about because he loves to play....and then gets criticized for not being loyal or being entitled.
 

Cyclones125

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I don’t expect a kid to do that. But I think it could be mutually beneficial for these kids to stay and develop. It’s a tough sell, but we accomplished it with Watson. I think it can be done.

We can give them a little playing time, sprinkle a little NIL (I doubt King or Hamilton are making anything at North Dakota, Georgia State). Promote the culture and NBA pedigree. Recruiting tactics to keep them.

It won’t always be successful, but we need to do better than 1 for 7.
Very tough sell. Except for Cade, these guys did not grow up dreaming of being a Cyclone, they want to play college basketball and pro. And there's no guarantee they will ever develop enough to get PT, and Watson is a perfect example of that. We somehow convinced him to stay for 3 years, his minutes went down every year, and his game didn't seem to develop much. He might be regretting not going to a mid-major and getting 30 mpg.
 

SolterraCyclone

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Very tough sell. Except for Cade, these guys did not grow up dreaming of being a Cyclone, they want to play college basketball and pro. And there's no guarantee they will ever develop enough to get PT, and Watson is a perfect example of that. We somehow convinced him to stay for 3 years, his minutes went down every year, and his game didn't seem to develop much. He might be regretting not going to a mid-major and getting 30 mpg.
I’m not saying it will be easy. But it has to get better to sustain success imo. Losing all these freshmen already snakebit us this year and hopefully doesn’t catch up with us next year
 
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NoCreativity

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What? Thomas started half of his freshman year. And averaged over 20 mpg the rest of the season when he didn’t start.
The last 3 or 4 weeks he was barely avenging 10mpg and was putting up goose eggs in most of them. Who knows what would have happened, but I'd say it's at least 50/50 he leaves after that season since he was so bad at the end.
 

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