The latest “State of the Hall,” which we’d like you to read, is after the jump.

When we opened up the site for donations back in the spring, it was based on feedback we received on our reader survey that indicated that over 40% of you would be willing to contribute. We had few donations initially and since then, haven’t really mentioned it further on the site.

A couple of things to point out:

- The site is free for everyone to read. Some of the information we publish is considered to be “premium” elsewhere. We began with a goal of building a community that would be available to and resonate with all IU fans and we feel like it’s been mission accomplished so far. To date, we’ve had over 34,000 comments and we’re on target for our best traffic month ever this month. We’re thankful for the 23,000 of you who read us each month.

- Yes, we run ads on the site. And you’re probably asking, why ask for donations if you run ads? This is a three-part answer:

1) The ads help us maintain the site: server costs aren’t cheap and we might need to upgrade very soon due to growth.
2) The ads help put a little bit of change (ITH isn’t full-time for any of us, we do have jobs) in our pockets for the time we invest to author and maintain the site.
3) The feedback we received suggested that some of you would like to show your support by donating.

Plans for the season:

With the season about to tip-off, we wanted to pass along our plans for coverage this season. We will be covering select home games in-person for the first time. Since none of us live in Bloomington, there will be an expense associated with this. We also plan to bring back ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’ and ‘The Morning After.’ And ‘Film Session’ could also make its triumphant return from time-to-time as well when warranted.

Additionally, we would like to travel around the state to watch and bring you video content and interviews from some of Indiana’s recruiting targets. Among those we’d like to see: Cody Zeller, Matt Carlino, Austin Etherington, D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and others. Again, there is a cost associated for us to provide this type of coverage.

Where you come in:

Collectively, the best way for us to make all of this happen is to ask for your support. We’re not asking for a monthly donation and by no means should you feel obligated. We’ve decided the best way to approach this is essentially have a “donation drive” once before the season starts and then another one in the spring/summer for AAU. Consider the “donation drive” to be underway.

If we’re able to garner the support needed, we’ll be able to deliver on much of what we outlined above and that’s what we’re hopeful will happen. If that isn’t the case, we’ll be limited on what we are able to do and will likely implement some changes.

If you’re able to contribute, please click the Make a Donation button in the top right corner next to the search bar. We look forward to your feedback and questions.