KoB2011

I think we all know the NCAA is a stupid organization and there is no rhyme or reason to when they do and don't punish, but in the scheme of crimes and morality Pearl shouldn't be concerning to anyone. He's a good man. He got in trouble at UT because OSU and Aaron Craft reported him for a minor violation when Craft was on a recruiting trip, then Pearl panicked and lied about it. Not condoning lying at all, but if the worst thing he ever did was lie when being investigated I'm not concerned.

100%.

I'm not completely sure, just not Pearl. Maybe I don't have a single top choice is more how I feel than anything, I think there are several guys that could be "the guy" and it is Dolson's job to identify the right one he can land if we make a move. To be really clear on Pearl though, my reasons aren't because I think he is shady or anything like that, I actually don't think he is shady and think he is a really good human being. I do think he'd be a great hire and don't have any reservations about him.

Yuck to Cronin. I would be completely uninspired. Pearl is not my top choice but I think he’d be a great hire.

Is that actually new knowledge though? Pearl has openly talked about the job, but I am still not 100% convinced he’d actually come because of his loyalty to Auburn and their ability to match pay. Is there new info or just the same hunch people have had for a long time?

I think he still thinks, or did until recently, that we could still make the tournament as an at large bid.

Did he evaluate that at all when he made roster decisions?

I hope this is correct, but is this just a bullish opinion or you have info? Either is fine, just trying to understand.

To be fair, I think that type of criticism cost Joker a third straight MVP, among other political reasons for him not winning it last year. But to me a neutral fan, I’d take Tatum over all those guys besides Joker. The dude is unbelievable.

I mean, if you were Gabe Cupps would you want to play under this system again?

In all seriousness, how many threes would the 2015 team hit against this team? Could they hit more than 20 on us?

To be fair, the team with Harman at center would have beaten two of the three Woodson teams, and they'd have given last years team all it could handle with their ability to stretch the floor.

Gee, does throwing your team under the bus every single time you open your mouth not resonate with the players? For all the crap we were fed about Mike Woodson being a leader of men, he is the worst leader I have ever seen in charge of this program. Dan Dakich of all people had more leadership qualities than Mike Woodson does. Is it any surprise the NBA players that spoke so glowingly of him have never been remotely considered winners?

Why do you think he is coming back? Why do you think that's a good thing?

Just curious, who do you think is the influence this time as opposed to the boosters, who you seem to suggest were the influence the previous times?

I am hoping guys like @IUFLA or @Seeking6 will answer this, because if someone doesn't want Woodson back then their answer to this is probably not super relevant.... What is a reasonable expectation for what next year needs to look like to convince you that we are heading in the right direction? Does anything with the remainder of this season, the offseason, etc play into that, and if so, what are those factors? Anyone can answer that, but I am most interested in the opinion of folks that think Woodson should be back.

There is a post in the preseason prediction thread, can't remember who posted it, that said something about this being the most raw talent we've ever had and the question mark was Woodson. If that poster is to be believed about the talent level, then it would stand to reason that no amount of talent if going to fix this. And then there is the point that was made by the folks at Assembly Call, how can you fix what the coach doesn't think is broken?

The thing I don't get is that he deserves another season or it's fair for him to get one. What is fair to Mike Woodson very well may not be fair to the players, the fans, the alumni, the boosters, or anyone else in the program. When you're a highly compensated executive, you don't get the same runway or the same level of "fair". The question really should be every single season, is XYZ coach the best person to lead us forward IMO. In the case of Woodson, that pretty clearly is 'no'.

Dusty May and Ohio State are in preliminary talks. Awesome stuff.

Preach, preach, preach. And to be crystal clear, the historically bad trends aren't the result of a few rough games of late, they've been there for months and the hope was we'd correct them at some point. The scoring margin itself wasn't this bad in December, but the signs that it would be when the competition picked up sure were.

So based on this, we need to wait until Woodson is 73, yeah? And he said he may not coach into his 70s.... So what are we doing?

This is so spot on, the first two years were better than we had been but they weren't anything spectacular. We still go blown out regularly, we didn't come remotely close to going on a tournament run, we didn't remotely come close to winning the conference. Heck, @IUFLA you wanted Archie back because we could all see the next year was going to be better. The best thing Woodson did that first year was get the guys to come back and then not mess anything up. @IUFLA also made a clairvoyant post when we hired Woodson, comparing Woodson and Matta to Juwan Howard and Martelli. It is such a spot on comparison. Woodson deserves credit for reversing out fortunes against Purdue, but we are ~100 games into his tenure and if you took away those 3 wins, which I realize you can't, there is really nothing left at all to defend him.

I posted it in another thread, but we have lost four of our last five at home. The losses are to Penn State, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Purdue. And the average margin is 13.5 points in those four losses.

I don't think we should let him go midseason. I mean, I really hope we give him the option to retire and that he takes it so we don't have to let him go at all.

KenPom has fallen to 102. Lost 4 of the last 5 at home, by an average of 13.5 points. KenPom now projects us to finish with a losing record. Our best remaining chance to win is 33% at PSU.