BGleas

Completely agree on the 4. Easier said than done, but put a 4 like junior year Troy Williams next to TJD? Wow! Disagree with you on Kopp. I don't think anyone is saying IU should have run the offense through him by any means, but there were a multitude of more creative ways to utilize his shooting (which the team needed) other than just having him stand in the corner.

Agree! My posts on the fans are also not denying that there are horrible fans on social media, etc. Of course there are. I'm just saying, the fans aren't remotely close to the problem with IU basketball. The bulk of the fan base is the biggest thing keeping this program on life support.

As far as development goes, I think Mike Woodson clearly helped develop TJD. Some of TJD's development was also just natural year-to-year progression, but Woodson definitely helped. Under Woodson, TJD became a better passer and ball handler, played with an improved motor, etc. Did Woodson run him through ball handling drills in the offseason? I don't know. But, I'm sure he spent a lot of time talking to him about passing, pushing the ball, etc, etc. Woodson put him in a position to be comfortable grabbing a rebound and pushing the ball, etc. With all of that said, I'd argue the opposite with Miller Kopp. I think Woodson did a terrible job developing and utilizing Kopp and some other guys.

Completely agree. Can't remember, but I think you've been one who has said this before, but the fans are one of the only things (maybe the recruiting budget too) about Indiana Basketball that keeps it elite and relevant. With the results IU has had the last 20 years, how many other programs in the country would still be top 10 in attendance, top followed programs on social media, have a player like Gabe Cupps being a leader in NIL apparel sales, etc. To your point, maybe the fans should go away for a year.

This blame the fans narrative is annoying me more and more. It's like a doctor treating the symptoms but not addressing how you can prevent the disease. If the administration wasn't a complete 🤡 show and totally unserious about the basketball program, then the fans wouldn't be an issue whatsoever.

The landscape has changed, but not that much in terms of how you construct a successful, cohesive program.

I get he's trying to be positive, this is the type of stuff that makes me mad. The vast majority of the stuff IU fans are mad about is/was controllable. It's totally controllable to not run a garbage system. It's totally controllable to not load up on bigs and leave a scholarship open when you desperately need shooting and better guard/wing play. It's completely controllable to play your McDonald's AA freshman at the 4 sometimes when he's clearly a 4 and ypu clearly need to play smaller and faster. it's completely controllable to not ignore your prized, and only 2024 recruit for 3 full months. The staff hasn't "controlled" anything.

They said it was on a campus visit, right? It really seemed like they were talking about Knect or maybe Caleb Love, but I don't think either of those guys ever visited.

100%. A competent coach is not only keeping in touch with his signed recruits, but doing things like having his video coordinator put edits together showing the players how he'll be used next year, sets he'll be in, etc., so the player can begin visualizing and understanding the system.

I agree, just making the point or asking the question, how bad does it have to get next year to where Woodson and Buckner can't claim "improvement"?

Yeah, I think most if not all of us were ready for a change at the end of Crean's tenure. But the hate Crean gets from some IU fans is absolutely absurd. The guy was a great ambassador for IU basketball and the university as a whole. He's responsible for arguably the most successful 5-year run of Indiana Basketball since maybe the early 90's (that's 30 years, folks), and I'm not sure I've seen a coach handle a firing better in major college or pro sports. Crean still to this day regularly engages with IU fans on Twitter/X, posts about IU basketball and tags the fan base, etc., etc.

To expand on your point, I don't think we all even fully realize what a weapon and difference maker Ware is at the 5 spot in college basketball, and IU has completely mismanaged the roster around him.

Yeah, his answers the other night were really kind of puzzling, though his answers to questions all season have really been kind of puzzling. Instead of, "Scott and I are on the same page. The admin and I are on the same page. While we're disappointed in this season so far, we're building momentum here in March. Hopefully we can go on a run next week at the BTT and we'll see what happens. We have a lot of these guys back next season, a stud coming in with Liam, and we're going to work our tails off this Spring to add more pieces. I'm excited about next week and excited about the work we're going to in this offseason!" Instead Woodson said, "don't ask me that."

Amongst many other things, that is the problem with keeping him another year. Where does this end next season? How bad does it have to get next season to fire him? If he squeaks into the play-in round or say a 10 seed in March, is that "improvement" and Woodson and Buckner try to sell it was a "get right" year and he now has things heading in the right direction? Where does this end?

Take our NIL money and try and pull a "Self" on Rutgers' recruiting class? 🤣

Seems like that is what happened.

Oh yeah, agree on the point the decision wasn't made in the last 24 hours. Completely agree. I think it was more Sleepy Mike fumbling the bag though, as opposed to anything $ Bill did. Self just took advantage of another coach completely dropping the ball.

Play MM at the 4. Play Banks some at the 4 instead of trying to force him to be a wing. Run the offense through Galloway and the high PnR with Ware as opposed to stuffing it in the post all season. Look at last game, MM started knocking down 3's once we played smaller with MM at the 4. But as you said, a lot of it goes back to poor roster construction and leaving a scholarship open.

But it's not about "shots" being there. It's a terrible offense and fit for a shooter. It's a bad offense. I'm with you on the timeline and that McNeely was probably waiting for Woodson to be fired, but this happened because Mike Woodson hasn't done his job, not because Bill Self pulled a fast one on an impressionable kid/family.

It does make sense though. Woodson spent two years saying the two bigs/post offense wasn't what he wanted but he had to use TJD and Race. He sold the fans and probably McNeely on that too. Then this year is more of the same, except even worse.