He got 29 minutes last year and 30 this year and is the starter...doubt that would have happened the last two years at LU. Seems better than being Alfred to Batman.

With respect to TY, I am glad to see he is doing well. I am not sure how he would be doing if he stayed here. He only played 52 minutes as freshmen. He was behind Lucas, Braden, Marquis and Clemons.

You need to remember there was very little playing time when he was a freshmen and it looked like it was going to be more crowded in the backcourt his sophomore year. There was more competition coming in and there was no guarantee of playing time. Braden was coming back and he going to play more than 30 minutes a game. Marquis was returning and he played 20+ minutes a game. TY was smaller than the new recruits rolling in - Dawson and JQ. We had Sheldon Edwards transferring in. He averaged 11.4 points a game at Valpo. He lit us up twice. He was all MVC All Bench Team, and All MVC Freshman. I am sure everyone thought that Marquis, Braden and Sheldon would take up 75% of the game minutes.

Everyone was excited about Schwieger's size and offense. Hard to believe, but Schwieger averaged 29 minutes a game last year.

Found another Swella-worthy nickname for Robbie Avila on the Internet: "Larry Nerd", a reference to fellow Indiana State baller Larry Bird.

TY is listed at 6'3". Dawson is listed at 6'4" and Quinn is listed at 6'3" so it was not a size issue. For whatever reason he decided to leave and my guess is that the limited minutes was the main reason. My fear when Rubin got here was that we were going to either redshirt him or not give him minutes. Fortunately, despite being slender, he's been playing.

We do have a tendency to want to redshirt kids who are freshmen. Schwieger, Lewis were redshirted. I am surprised Lewis did not leave last year. My guess is that was probably discussed with him and he thought he would be playing more this year. Schwieger was just coming into his own at the HS level. He was a late bloomer basketball wise and was probably OK with it. When you bring in kids who are established and successful HS players, not all of them want to be redshirted. Even fewer want to get paltry minutes and lose a full year of eligibility.

Of the guys you listed, only Braden was a true point guard. Quinn is a point guard, Dawson is not. TY would have been well positioned to have gotten minutes here had he stayed.

The feature column in today's (3-8-24) Wall Street Journal Sports Page (page A12) is about Robbie Avila which they call "Cream Abdul-Jabbar."

My Robbie Avila predictions of August 2021 have become fully realized. It is an impressive display of wisdom and foresight, even by swella standards.

Back then I wrote that Avila "has the potential of becoming a folk legend based on his Old School game and Man-of-the- People personna.
And with the new NIL rules he could market his Robbie Buckets Dork Goggles to the hipster crowd and make a fortune!"
https://www.ramblermania.net/forum/view ... ila#p40424

As this thread has already shown, Avila has become a cult figure/folk legend, and maybe the biggest thing in college basketball today, just like swella predicted.

And it looks like the second part of my prediction is in the works.

The linked article talks about Avila's NIL opportunities and what Indiana State is doing to keep him there. Here's a quote:

"In just the last several days... Avila has signed on to collaborate with four merchandise companies; is close to finalizing a partnership/internship with a Major League Baseball team; and has entered discussions with several eye-glass manufacturers, including Oakley, about an Avila-branded line of protective lenses."

https://www.sportico.com/leagues/colleg ... 234770019/

TOLD YOU SO!

If they win a couple games in the tourney, his folk legend status will absolutely explode.