The Deuce: they did really well in the txfer portal, but not in the way most people think about it

Cignetti focused on transfers that have played football. i think their txfer portal was in the Top 3 in the country in total snaps played. something like that. Even Mendoza was not some huge name when they got him, he was solid at Cal but Cal was moving on from him for that FR they have. the really good C (Coogan) they took from Notre Dame after starting for 2 years was going to get beat out by a younger guy. guys like that.

teams are much better off getting guys that actually played football in the portal vs the high 4* guy that couldn't find the field in the SEC.

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Obviously high school recruiting is far less important in the NIL/transfer portal era, but the schools with the resources to throw at high school recruits also have the resources to throw at NIL/transfers. I don't think IU can keep up with that long-term.

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s. Is Mendoza's brother going to be good for them next year?

Hopefully they go 0-12.

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He's clearly a very good coach, and I think they'll settle as a top half of the conference team while he's there, but they're not going to overcome the recruiting of Ohio State, Oregon, U$C, Michigan, and others.

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We saw it this year with our own fans, where Bert’s rebuild that has led to Illinois winning 8+ regular season games in 3 of the last 4 seasons was being viewed in comparison to what Indiana is doing.

And every new coach at a P5 job is going to have a portion of their fanbase thinking that what Cignetti did will be possible for them again.

It’s never going to happen again. Not for us, not for any other program. And as great as Cignetti clearly is, no coach is this good. Indiana will remain way better than they have any right to be as long as there, but I have to believe that this was a once in a million roster from an evaluation/development standpoint too. A team full of 3 star or below players should never be able to compete athletically and in the trenches with Ohio State and Oregon like they did this year. It defies all logic.